Strana 91
BUILT
P-51B-5-NA, s/n 43-6315, Lt. Col. James Howard, CO 354
th
FG, 9
th
AF,
Lashenden, Great Britain, April 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 354
th
FG to be equipped with a Malcolm hood canopy,
which was highly valued by P-51B pilots.
INFO Eduard
91
May 2026