Strana 46
P-40N-5, Lt. David R. Winternitz, 8
th
FS, 49
th
FG, New Guinea, March 1944
42-105174, P-40N-5, Maj. Julian Thomas, 45
th
FS, 15
th
FG, Makin atoll, January 1944
David Robert Winternitz was born on April 20,
1922, in Colorado Springs. He joined the army in
March 1942 and was sent to the Pacific region
after training. At the beginning of 1944, he was
assigned to the 8
th
FS, 49
th
FG. In February of
that year, he achieved his first kill when he shot
down a Japanese Oscar in aerial combat. He left
the service immediately after the war and later
became a doctor. He died on July 11, 1982. His
P-40N with nose art and the name Mary Lou is
one of the most famous P-40Ns from the 49
th
FG.
The drawing was based on Vargas’ “September
Girl” of 1940 Esquire calendar. Many sources
mention the color of the MARY LOU inscription
as only a white border, but the red or dark blue
color appears the same as Olive Drab on many
black-and-white photographs, and on some of
the nose sections of this aircraft, the inside of
the inscription appears darker. Furthermore, it
is more likely that the colored inscription was
outlined with a white line than that someone
painted only white line. The version with red
lettering outlined in white is our reconstruction,
but we also leave the option of a purely white
outline in the decal. The aircraft later changed
pilots and was flown by Lt. E. V. May, who had
the inscription painted over with fresh paint of
Olive Drab and added a yellow border to the
cooling opening in the nose. Later, the aircraft
was transferred to the 71
st
TRG. There, too, the
drawing of the girl on the nose was left intact.
The home of the 15
th
FG was the Hawaiian Islands,
where it was activated on December 1, 1940, and
served as part of local defense system. During
the war, however, it sent its individual squadrons
to various locations in the central and southern
Pacific. The Warhawks of the 45
th
FS took off for
combat missions from Makin Atoll, which the
unit reached via a detour. The squadron was
first sent to Baker Island, where it operated until
October 1943, then moved to Abemama Island.
At the repeated request of Maj. Julian Thomas,
the CO of the squadron, first a detachment and
then the entire unit was transferred to Makin
Atoll, where the 46
th
and 72
nd
FS Airacobras
had been operating for several weeks already.
Finally, the 45
th
FS was brought into action as
they flew their first mission on January 17, when
they attacked flak emplacements and barracks
on Mili. Because the standard paint scheme
was not effective on the coral atolls, technical
personnel mixed a sand color that was suitable
for the local conditions. In black-and-white
photos, the paint sometimes appears as if the
undersides were also painted sand color, but
upon closer inspection, the color border is
visible on the aircraft, and the undersides were
most likely repainted with a light blue color
mixed from insignia blue and white. The stencils
were masked during repainting and therefore
had original colour background. The Warhawk
named Jickie IV was flown by Maj. Thomas, who
later took command of the whole 15
th
FG on April
16, 1945. At the time he was already promoted
to Lieutenant Colonel rank and the 45
th
was
equipped with Mustangs P-51, conducting Very
Long Range sorties from Iwo Jima.
KITS 04/2026
INFO Eduard46
April 2026