Strana 50
P-51B-5-NA, s/n 43-6315, Lt. Col. James Howard, CO 354
th
FG, 9
th
AF,
Lashenden, Great Britain, April 1944
P51B-5-NA, s/n 42-106471, Lt. Col. John C. Meyer, CO 487
th
FS, 352
th
FG,
8
th
AF, Bodney, Great Britain, May 1944
The nickname Ding Hao was a Chinese expression
for good luck that Jim Howard brought to Europe
from his service in the Far East, where he flew
with the AVG. The number of kill marks on
his aircraft is misleading, as Howard did not
actually down six Japanese aircraft during his
service with the Flying Tigers in 1941-1942. The
official number of kills with the AVG was two
plus one shared, to which he added four enemy
aircraft destroyed on the ground. On January 11,
1944, he single-handedly faced a group of about
30 Luftwaffe fighters while protecting a group
of bombers. During the action, he shot down four
aircraft and damaged several others and in the
following days he added two more victories. Due
to the pressure from the USAAF propaganda
department, he had allowed S/Sgt Marcus
Hanson to paint six “rising suns” on his aircraft
in addition to six swastikas, even though this
did not correspond to his combat achievements
with the AVG. Howard’s Mustang later became
one of the first aircraft of this type in the 354th
FG to be equipped with a Malcolm hood canopy,
which was highly valued by P-51B pilots.
The appearance of the name Lambie on Meyer’s
Mustang went through several phases. Initially,
it was painted black but when the Mustangs
of the 352nd FG were given their famous blue
nose paint in the spring of 1944, the inscription
was first changed to yellow and then was given
red shading on the black and yellow lettering
as portrayed in this scheme. John Meyer shot
down a total of five aircraft flying this P-51B
between April 10 and May 12, 1944, plus one in
cooperation with others. He added six more
aircraft destroyed on the ground. In total, Meyer
achieved 24 victories during his wartime career
and destroyed another 13 aircraft on the ground.
The Lambie II was destroyed on June 7, 1944,
when Lt. Clifford Garney collapsed in its cockpit
near Bodney while returning from a mission to
France and died.
KITS 01/2026
INFO Eduard50
January 2026