KITS 07/2023

P-51D-15, 44-15492, Lt. Billy Clemmons, 38th FS, 55th FG, 8th AF, Wormingford,

United Kingdom, April 1945

Billy Clemmons started his pilot training in

January 1943 and in February 1944 obtained his

“wings“. After he completed his training in August

1944 he was assigned to 38th FS, 55th FG. In the

course of his war-time career he flew 62 combat

missions and scored four and half air victories

including one individual and one shared kill of the

Me 262 jet. He destroyed five more aircraft on the

ground. He decorated his personal Mustang with

an Indian’s head with inscription “Huacoar“ on the

port side of the nose and the starboard featured

the inscription “My Gal Sal“. During the Korean

War Clemmons was called back to the active

duty and attached to the 75th Fighter Incerceptor

Squadron which flew F-86 Sabre jets. Then he

was ordered to the 513th FIS in England and

France. After his return to the United States he

was assigned to the Flight Training Headquarters

as an instructor on T-37 and T-38. He attented

several military schools, including the Air War

College in Montgomery, Alabama. Consequently

he was attached to the Department of the Chiefs

of Staff in Pentagon, Washington D.C. and later

took part in the introduction of the global military

command and management system which was,

in fact, the predecessor to the internet. After he

finished his military career for several years he

worked for Waco Hotel Supply and in the end he

started his own restaurant equipment company,

Clemco Restaurant Equipment Co.

P-51D-15, 44-14985, Maj. Edward B. Giller, 343rd FS, 55th FG, 8th AF, Wormingford,

United Kingdom, September 1944

Edward Giller was born in Jacksonville, Illinois,

in 1918. He graduated from the Kemper Military

School in Boonville, Missouri and in 1940,

the University of Illinois with BS in chemical

engineering. In September 1941 he joined the

military and at the same time the pilot school

where he gained his wings in April 1942. During

WWII he commanded the 343rd FS and later

became the deputy commander of the 55th FG. As

a fighter pilot he flew 115 combat missions and

July 2023

logged 465 hours in P-38 and P-51. He destroyed

three enemy aircraft, including Me 262 jet and

six more airplanes on the ground. Giller flew

two Mustangs, s/n 44-14985 and s/n 44-15701.

Both of his Mustangs were christened “Millie G“

after his wife Mildred who was a flight attendant.

Giller’s Mustang sported the standard 343rd FS

marking i.e. black prancing horse on the yellow

rudder. After the war, in 1948, he obtained MS in

the chemical engineering and in 1950 a doctorate

in the chemical engineering. He served as an

executive director of the Weapons Effect Division

center. After that he became an assistant director

and then director of the research at the Air Force

Special Weapons Center at Kirtland airbase

where he also acted as a USAF liason officer in

the Orion, nuclear spaceship project. He passed

away in October 2017 at the age of 99.

INFO Eduard

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