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44-13761, Capt. Jack M. Ilfrey, 79th FS, 20th FG, 8th AF, USAAF Station 367 Kings Cliffe,
Northamptonshire, Great Britain, autumn 1944
44-13316, Leonard K. Carson, 362nd FS, 357th FG, 8th AF, USAAF Station 373 Leiston,
Suffolk, Great Britain, June 1944
Captain Jack Ilfrey became an ace in North Africa,
where he claimed 5½ kills (plus two damaged
enemy aircraft) while flying P-38F “Texas Terror”.
He joined 20th FG, 79th FS at USAAF Station Kings
Cliffe in England on April 20, 1944 and served
as an Operations Officer from June 14, 1944.
He claimed two more Bf 109Gs on May 24, flying
P-38J “Happy Jack’s go Buggy”. He was shot down
behind enemy lines in France on June 12, but he
successfully evaded capture walking and cycling
150 miles to Allied lines in Normandy with a help
of French civilians. He became 79th FS CO on
September 7, leading the unit until December 9,
1944. He completed 142 combat missions over ETO
and MTO. The 20th FG did not replace their P-38Js
with P-51Cs until July 1944, changing them for
P-51Ds shortly afterwards. The early Mustangs of
the 20th FG are known to have upper surfaces
overpainted with green color, probably with RAF
Dark Green, with irregular splitting line between
green upper surfaces and silver/natural metal
bottom surfaces. The 20th FG was nicknamed
“Loco Busters” because made significant number
of attacks against railroad network.
The second top scoring Fighter Group of the 8th
USAAF and the top scoring FG equipped with
P-51D Mustangs was 357nd FG, credited with
609 German aircraft destroyed in the air and
106 on the ground, with their own losses of 128
aircraft. With the unit served 35 aces, led by Major
Leonard “Kit” Carson with 18½ aerial victories.
He became 362nd FS CO on April 8, 1945. The key
to the success of the unit was its fighting academy,
called Clobber College, where the experienced
pilots taught the newcomers the fighting
tactics. The 362nd FS received their P-51Ds just
a few days before D-day. Most of the unit’s early
Mustangs had upper surfaces camouflaged Dark
Green with Neutral Grey bottom surfaces, or Dark
Green upper surfaces over the aluminum/natural
metal bottom surfaces with border between
green and NMF surfaces high on fuselage sides.
The colors were probably RAF paints overtaken
from RAF stock. The “Nooky Booky II” wore full
D-day stripes, as the aircraft was delivered to the
unit probably around June 6, 1944. The previous
name of this plane was “Mildred”.
KITS 01/2024
INFO Eduard
63
January 2024