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Showing posts with label P 47. Show all posts
Showing posts with label P 47. Show all posts
Sunday, February 16, 2025
Friday, July 05, 2024
Saturday, June 15, 2024
Wednesday, June 12, 2024
Saturday, May 25, 2024
Friday, May 17, 2024
Major General William Kepner, boss of the 8th Fighter Command, he got around in style in his P-47.
What? How many pins did he have above his right breast pocket? Huh, only 1. In the Navy, you can wear at least 2 warfare pins
From 1909 to 1913, Kepner served in the US Marine Corps, then the Indiana National Guard. After a short spell in the US cavalry, in 1917 he transferred to the infantry as a captain and commanded a company at the Battle of Chateau-Thierry. He subsequently lead the 3rd Battalion of the 4th US Infantry in the Meuse-Argonne offensive.
In 1920, at the age of 27, he transferred to the US Army Air Corps and trained as a balloon pilot, then subsequently as an airship pilot.
From 1927 to 1929 he participated very prominently in several US national and international balloon races, most notably winning the prestigious Gordon Bennett Cup with co-pilot William Olmstead Eareckson in June 1928.
In the summer of 1934, Kepner took command of the joint National Geographic Society - US Army Air Corps Stratosphere Flight near Rapid City, South Dakota to make an attempt with the specially constructed balloon Explorer on the manned balloon altitude record.
Prior to leaving for Europe in 1942, Kepner demanded increased fuel capacity in aircraft like the P-38 and P-51. He demanded fuel be put into the wings of the aircraft, only to be told it couldn't be done by Lockheed. When he insisted they comply, complaints by the companies to Material Division (Wright Field) resulted in a threat to have charges laid against him for tampering with aircraft specifications. Fortunately, he was backed by Maj Gen Barney Giles and the modifications went ahead. These later proved critical in enabling the USAAF to introduce fighters with sufficient range to enable escort of bombers on deep penetration missions into Germany.
Anyone wanna bet that Brett Kepner is related to him?
Wednesday, April 17, 2024
the P 47 Rae caught my attention for it's ASTONISHING billboard, and mission symbols, but then... I see it's pilot had the same name as my maternal grandfather, H Shook! (this post motivated by all the wonderful readers who boosted my spirits today and got me posting instead of glumly applying to jobs)
He had a childhood dream of flying, and on his 21st birthday, he entered flight training for the Army Air Corp. He graduated just days after Pearl Harbor and remained in the states as an instructor pilot, further sharpening his flying skills.
He was a career Air Force pilot and commander. As the D-Day invasion neared, he was offered a squadron commander position and promoted to major while still only 23 years of age.
He participated in three different combat theatres including leading a squadron of P-47's for 3 missions during the D-Day invasion and 3 more the following day.
He finished his USAF career leading an Air Division during the Vietnam War.
this is the best version of the billboard I can find
Wednesday, April 03, 2024
Sunday, March 31, 2024
WASP and instructor in front of a Republic P-47 (thanks Jack S!)
anyone else notice she's been pranked by being given something to hold something that says "do not remove from airplane"?
Thursday, October 19, 2023
the P 47 Corny Babe has an incredible scoreboard
3 trains, 3 tanks, 40 bombing runs, one air to air kill represented as an Iron Cross marking, 6 escort missions, 5 fighter sweeps, 4 buzz bombs
Monday, April 24, 2023
Ever heard of Squadron 201? Also known as the Aztec Eagles, who were 33 hand picked Mexican pilots and 270 support personnel who arrived in Manila Bay in April 1945, 4 months before VJ day
the Aztec Eagles flew P47 missions alongside the U.S. Air Force during the liberation of the Philippines in 1945.
https://lonestarflight.org/events/aztec-eagles-hangar-talk/ and https://www.af.mil/News/Article-Display/Article/117449/museum-remembers-aztec-eagles says 795 combat sorties, and 2000 hours combat air time, and dropped 1,457 bombs on the Japanese
In early July 1945, 58th Fighter Group members deployed to Okinawa, Japan, and Escuadron 201 members assumed responsibility for air operations in their area. The airmen provided close-in-ground support to the advancing U.S. 25th "Tropic Lightning" Division and Philippine Army units on Luzon, and seven-hour long-range fighter strikes on strategic Japanese targets on the island of Taiwan.
The following report of Missions completed by the 201st Mexican Fighter Squadron was supplied by MEAF pilot E. Alfonso Velasco Jr.: 53 ground support missions flown in support of American troops in Luzon from 4 June to 4 July 1945; 37 training missions from 14-21 July 1945 (including missions of transporting new aircraft from Biak Island, New Guinea); 4 fighter sweeps to the island of Formosa, 6-9 July 1945; 1 dive bombing mission against the Port of Karenko, Formosa, 8 August1945; 1 convoy escort mission in the Sea North of the Philippines, 26 August 1945.
Though that was not more than a note in a history book, compared to most other countries involved in the European or Pacific theaters of war defending the European countries, and Pacific islands, and preventing the Germans and Japanese from conquering neighboring countries and expanding their empires, Mexico provided more strategic resources to the United States than any other Latin American nation, including vital minerals such as copper, zinc, mercury, cadmium, graphite and lead. To do this, it underwent a period of industrial and economic development during and after the conflict that became known as the “Mexican Miracle.”
I'm unaware of what the central and South American countries did during WW2, or how any of them assisted in the effort or maybe even stayed out of the war, I know that for the longest time the USA was staying out of it on the European front, and provoked Japan into attacking Pearl Harbor (by depriving them of international trade/natural resources is the way I heard it, oil, steel, the sorts of things a country needs to begin an offensive war on it's neighbors, Korea and Manchuria I think it was)
It remains Mexico's only official military unit in the history of Mexico to engage in combat outside of its national borders. Pancho Villa's raids into Arizona were not sponsored by the govt of Mexico, and the helicopter incursion in 2014 that shot at USA Border Patrol was officially ignored https://www.businessinsider.com/mexican-helicopter-fires-border-patrol-arizona-2014-6 because neither govt wanted that shit show kicked off into a battle over the USA Mexico border. https://time.com/2933940/mexico-us-border-patrol-helicopter/
Saturday, December 03, 2022
I figure you all know what a Gow Job is, (I've posted about the term, and about the cars) but I just learned that 1st Lieutenant Loren Hintz named his P 47 Thunderbolt, "Gow Job"
this artistic rendering is by Gaetan Marie
On April 21, 1945, Hintz was shot down over Italy in his P-47 Thunderbolt while on a combat mission during the final days of World War 2.
Hans Wronka spearheaded a 12-year search that culminated in the recovery of the wreck of his grandfather’s P-47, dog tag, and bones from the crash site and resting place, beneath a farm field in Bologna Italy in 2016.
Hintz is no longer MIA.
The descendants and family of 1st Lt Loren Hintz cleaned dirt off pieces of metal, glass, and other material that was excavated from 18 feet below the field's surface.
Among the objects found at the location, his dog tag
a 50 cal
The carb, a good-sized piece of firewall, and the R-2800 engine
restored 78 year old P47 just fired up the engine, that had to be a nervous moment! The last time this engine ran, it was in New Guinea, 78 years ago, in 1944
The new 13-foot, wide-blade props were designed to take full advantage of the increased power available with water injection. However, they had the disadvantage of leaving only about 6 inches of ground clearance on landings and take-offs.
The P-47’s gained 400 feet per minute rate of climb with the new wider blade props, a huge performance improvement
Wednesday, September 30, 2020
The University of Nebraska, Omaha - students working on a P-47 Thunderbolt for their aircraft engineering studies. 1949.
it crash landed in 1953, and probably was hauled to the junkyard
Thursday, September 05, 2019
Hairless Joe (character from Lil Abner comics) the P47 of Col Schilling, whose 56th fighter group accounted for 25% of all the enemy kills in the 8th Air Force, and after surviving as a combat pilot, died in '56 when he lost control of his speeding Cad Allard when trying to pass a car
Hairless Joe, maker of the Kickapoo Joy Juice with his buddy Lonesum Polecat
Hairless Joe was crash landed in Sept '44, repaired, and flown again
23 Dec. 1944 Col. Schilling added 3 Bf 109s and 2 Fw 190s to his victory tally. This would be recognized as a record day not only for Col. Schilling but for the group as well as they downed 37 E/A in an historic air battle over Bonn, Germany.
By the end of WWII Col. David Schilling was the third-ranking ace of the 56th FG “Zemke’s Wolf Pack” having flown 132 combat missions with 22.5 air victories and 10.5 ground victories
He was the 8th highest ranked fighter ace in the European Theater. He helped the 56th Fighter Group become the first Group to destroy more than 1,000 enemy planes.
After the war he was a pioneer of long-distance jet flight, making the first non-stop fighter jet crossing of the Atlantic.
if anyone says that a clip should only hold 5 bullets, just show them this, then tell them to shut the hell up when they don't know what the fuck they are talking about, and then tell them to return to Berkeley, or whatever vegan liberal left winger hippie commune they came from. The purpose of guns is to kill, the reason for more bullets is to guarantee the job is done, and done well.
On April 13, the second anniversary of its first combat mission, the Wolfpack celebrated by savaging Eggebeck Airdrome. Coming across the field at 400 to 450 mph, they fired more than 78,000 rounds of .50 caliber, destroying 91 enemy aircraft where they sat and becoming the first Eighth Air Force group to surpass the magic number–1,000 destroyed.
Later that score was reduced, but the 56th Fighter Group finished the war with 992 1/2 confirmed kills, including 664 1/2 in the air, more than any other Eighth Air Force fighter group. Furthermore, the 56th scored 58 probables and 543 damaged in the air and on the ground. At war’s end a P-47M was exhibited under the Eiffel Tower, its nose emblazoned with the legend: Zemke’s Wolfpack, 56th Fighter Group, 1,000 Enemy Aircraft Destroyed!
On August 14, 1956, while serving as Inspector General in the Strategic Air Command's Seventh Air Division, Schilling died in a car accident on a narrow, two-lane country road in England
Colonel Schilling was driving a Cadillac/Allard sports-racing car; he, General Curtis LeMay, and other race enthusiasts had each purchased a model to form a stable for Sports Car Club of America events.
On the day of the accident, he was driving to meet at the Officer's Club with an Army lieutenant who had expressed interest in buying the car. At fairly high speed, he approached another car from behind, intending to pass. The cap he was wearing started to blow off and as he reached up to grab it, the car skidded sideways and struck the stone side-railing of a bridge at Eriswell in Suffolk, cutting the car in half at the driver's seat and causing the front of the car to topple into the stream below.
On March 15, 1957, Smoky Hill Air Force Base in Salina, Kansas was renamed Schilling Air Force Base in his honor. The Air Force Association's Award for Outstanding Flight, which Schilling won in 1952, was named for him after his death.
http://www.axis-and-allies-paintworks.com/e107_plugins/forum/forum_viewtopic.php?132.530
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/rc-warbirds-warplanes-200/11591827-p-47-thunderbolt-brotherhood-all-p-47s-welcome-16.html
http://www.americanairmuseum.com/person/39465
http://www.eagle-editions.com/wolfpack-leader-downs-five-ap.html
https://www.historynet.com/56th-fighter-group-in-world-war-ii.htm
http://mentalfloss.com/article/28236/enduring-legacy-lil-abner
http://www.donhollway.com/wolfpack/
The last flight of the Half Pint
Half Pint, a P 47, was bringing up the rear when Robert Johnson spotted 16 more fighters above and behind– Focke-Wulfs, the Abbeville Boys, diving in for the kill. He called out a warning to the rest of the group, but for a fateful second nobody moved. Johnson held position, a perfect target, as the Germans raked him with fire–and then his P-47 was spinning downward, out of control, with the canopy jammed shut, trapping him in a cockpit full of fire.
“Half Pint” took the brunt of multiple German aircraft, including the full magazines of a FW-190.
https://www.historynet.com/56th-fighter-group-in-world-war-ii.htm
https://i.pinimg.com/originals/57/83/64/578364eb0de5e43ad25c554b860679ff.jpg
http://www.americanairmuseum.com/person/195482
http://www.donhollway.com/wolfpack/
Sunday, August 11, 2019
Wednesday, January 03, 2018
I found a P 47 with nose art, the Hun Hunter, and the first thing I did was hope it was by George Rarey, but no. The second thing I did was spend 15 minutes finding that post on P 47 nose art by Rarey. Some posts really make me do extra work!
If you don't recall the George Rarey story, here's the link.
http://justacarguy.blogspot.com/2015/02/i-had-not-known-p-47s-had-nose-art-too.html
He was an incredible nose art painter, cartoonist, and a P 47 pilot!
the above image is from http://pistonwings.tumblr.com/post/166734286605
and now we know the name of the airplane http://pistonwings.tumblr.com/post/154403526650/usaac-official-hun-hunter-xiv#notes
by coincidence they also had the next photo of this P 47 getting repaired... but get a load of the art down the side!
lower left corner of the bottom photo... THAT'S THE SAME NOSE ART! Whoa!
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