KITS 06/2022

s/n 44-13321, Capt. John M. Simmons Jr., 317th FS, 325th FG,

15th AF, Lesina, Italy, August 1944

John Mack Simmons, native of Gadsden in Alabama,

joined army reserves in June 1942 and in January

1943 started his pilot’s training. After the graduation

he was dispatched to 317th FS in the Italian theater.

From the second half of April, he flew P-47s with this

unit, in May, the whole 325th FG was re-equipped with

superior Mustangs. While flying combats during the

World War II, John Simmons shot down seven enemy

aircraft and after it he remained in the USAF service.

On January 18, 1961, he perished in the T-33 crash

during the final approach. Since their African assignment the 325th FG aircraft were marked with yellow-black checkerboard painted on the tail surfaces

to distinguish them from the bombers they covered

and which gave them the nickname “Checkertails”.

The checkers’ dimensions were 10 by 10 inches. The

plane marked with number 27 carried the inscription

“Devastating Dottie” on the port side of the nose, the

starboard side sported the name “Lady Janie VII” as

all the aircraft of crew chief Ebert.

s/n 44-13606, Capt. Claude J. Crenshaw, 369th FS, 359th FG, 8th AF,

East Wretham, United Kingdom, September 1944

Twenty-four years old native of Monroe in Louisiana, Claude James Crenshaw, joined the ranks of the

Army Air Corps in December 1942. After his training

he was assigned to 359th FG based on East Wretham

in Great Britain. He completed nine-months long tour

of duty there, during which he shot down seven enemies. After that, he was ordered back to the United

States where he was flying as instructor. He also flew

combat in Korea and Vietnam retiring in 1965 with the

rank of Lieutenant Colonel. The aircraft flew in its

original factory finish. The green-painted nose was

359th FG marking the plane’s so-called invasion stripes on the fuselage and wings were already removed

as well as the black stripe painted on the vertical tail

surface and the rudder.

s/n 44-13859, Lt. Walter Mullins, 55th FS, 20th FG, 8th AF, Kings Cliffe,

United Kingdom, September 1944

Besides decorating the aircraft with girlfriend’s,

children’s or wife’s names, drawings of the sparsely

clad ladies decorated some aircraft noses as well.

Its artistic appearance depended on the ground personnel skills, if any could be found at the unit level.

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INFO Eduard

One of the Mustangs that sported the “pin up girl”

artwork was the aircraft belonging to 55th FS flown

by Lt. Mullins. Factory finish was supplemented with

the olive color coat on the fuselage and wings upper

surfaces. 55th FS affiliation is further confirmed by

the fuselage code KI as well as the black triangle on

the vertical tail surface and the rudder carrying the

plane’s individual letter in white color.

June 2022