Strana 75
1/Lt. Arthur A Bridge, 45
th
FS, 15
th
FG, Makin Atoll, Gilbert Islands, December 1943
The traditional home of the 15
th
FG was the
Hawaiian Islands, where it was activated on
December 1, 1940, and served as part of the
Hawaiian Islands 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
the commander, 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. Because
the standard paint scheme was not effective
on the coral atolls, technical personnel on
Canton Atoll 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 by ground personnel from insignia
blue and white. The stencils on the upper
surfaces were masked during repainting and
therefore have an Olive Drab background. The
Warhawk named Miss Cappy was assigned to
Art Bridge, but it was used by several pilots
for combat flights, and the number of bombs
painted under the fuselage represents all the
missions in which Miss Cappy participated.
Lt. Art Bridge flew 20 combat missions during
his deployment to Makin Atoll, the most of any
pilot. In the spring of 1945, he participated in
several VLR missions from Iwo Jima in the
cockpit of a Mustang.
BUILT
INFO Eduard
75
June 2026