Markings for Tales of Iwojima 1/72
COL A
P-51D-25, 44-73382, Lt. Col. John W. Mitchell, CO of 15th FG, 7th AF, Iwojima, Summer 1945
Lt. Col. John W. Mitchell assumed command of the 15th FG few days after the previous CO, Lt. Col. Jack Thomas was killed during an attack on the Kagamigahara airfield on July 19, 1944. John Mitchell achieved eight kills while flying P-39 Airacobras and P-38 Lightnings on Guadalcanal. As the CO of the 339th FS, John W. Mitchell led the flight of P-38F Lightnings of the 339th FS to shoot down the aircraft with Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto aboard on April 18, 1943. He is credited with three victories during the VLR sorties. Annie Lee was a 78th FS aircraft and sported marking with glossy black propeller spinner, black wing tips and tail tips. Note the non-standard two-digit fuselage number.
COL B
P-51D-20 s/n 44-63483, Maj. Gilmer L. Snipes, CO of 45th FS, 15th FG, 7th AF, Saipan, February 1945
Gilmer L. Snipes achieved the first kill of the 45th FS on October 23, 1943, when he shot down an H8K Emily flying boat over Gilbert Islands in the cockpit of P-40N. He became the unit’s CO on April 4, 1944. The 45th FS arrived at Iwojima on March 7, 1945 and provided aerial support to the allied forces and also flew ground attack sorties against Chichijima and Hahajima. Snipes is credited with a Ki-44 Tojo on the first VLR Mission on April 7, 1945. He left unit on April 16, 1945, returning to the USA. Tom-Cat shows the early unit marking with black bordered slanted green stripes on the wing and tail and green/black/green stripped spinner. Note the squadron badge, the Indian rides a P-51, not P-40, as it is often shown. Note the single antenna mast.
COL C
P-51D-20, 44-63483, Maj. Robert W. Moore, CO of 45th FS, 15th FG, 7th AF, Iwojima, August 1945
Major Robert W. Moore became the top scoring fighter ace of the VII Fighter Command with 12 confirmed kills. He achieved his first kill, a Mitsubishi Zero, over Gilbert Island on January 26, 1944, but most of his aerial victories were achieved during his service with 78th FS. He led the 45th FS since July 19, 1944, and then he overtook also the Mustang s/n 44-63483, named then Stinger VII. Stinger VII wore the simplified late unit marking with green wing and tailplane tips and green propeller spinner. Note the green painted undercarriage door.
COL D
P-51D-20, 44-63420, Capt. Eurich L. Bright, 47th FS, 15th FG, 7th AF, Iwojima, Summer 1945
Pilots of the 47th Pursuit Squadron were credited with seven kills during Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. At the time the unit was still part of Hawaiian Air Force. Three and a half years later, on March 6, 1945, 47th FS was the first unit of VII FC which arrived to Iwojima. Eurich L. Bright achieved his three kills during the first VRL mission over Japan on April 7, 1945, shooting down Ki-61, Ki-45 and A6M5 Zero. Later, on May 25, 1945, he shared a Zero together with George Petrouleas. The unit markings were most probably very dark blue, not black as it is often suggested.
COL E
P-51D-20, 44-63984, Maj. James B. Tapp, CO of 78th FS, 15th FG, 7th AF, Iwojima, May 1945
During attacks on Tokyo vicinity airfields on May 25, 1945, the 7th AF Mustang pilots fired unguided HVAR rockets for the very first time. A quartet of thusly armed Mustangs was part of a force that included initially some 128 fighters, but a mere 67 aircraft found their mark. The flight of HVAR-armed Mustangs was led by Maj. James Buckley Tapp, who hit a hangar with his rockets at Matsudo Air Base and then shot down a Ki-44 Tojo in aerial combat. This was his 7th kill, while his first four happened during the first escort mission of B-29 Superfortresses bombers over Japan on April 7, 1945. Margaret IV sported the early unit marking, with yellow/black spinner, six-inch black band around the nose, yellow/black strips on the horizontal and vertical tailplanes, and black outlined yellow wing tips, with “The Bushmasters” unit badge on both sides of the forward fuselage.
COL F
P-51D-25, 44-73407, Maj. James B. Tapp, CO of 78th FS, 15th FG, 7th AF, Iwojima, Summer 1945
Maj. Tapp became the first USAAF ace to gain all his kills during VLR missions. His fifth victim was a Ki-61 on April 12, 1945. Unfortunately, Tapp also damaged the Mustang of his wingman, Lt. Fred W. Whitte, who bailed out, but his parachute didn’t open, and the pilot died. With a total of eight confirmed kills and two damaged enemy aircraft, Maj. Tapp ranked second among Mustang pilots of the VII Fighter Command. The Margaret V replaced Margaret IV in the line of Tapp’s aircraft and wore the late squadron marking with yellow wing and tailplane tips and yellow propeller spinner. Unit badge was not painted. Curiously part of the black vertical tail band remained painted on the vertical stabilizer.
COL G
P-51D-20, 44-63451, Lt. Robert J. Louwers/Lt. John E. Montgomery III, 46th FS, 21th FG, 7th AF, Iwojima, July 1945
As this aircraft was shared by two pilots, it was also double-named. It was Mary Alice on starboard and My Miss Moe on portside. Mary Alice was Robert Louwers wife’s name, the girl was painted from an Esquire magazine picture. Such painting was quite rare among the 46th FS aircraft, most of them were marked just with black-outlined blue vertical tail strip, black outlined wing and horizontal tail tips and blue spinner with black outlined nose of aircraft, which was the same style as the other 21st FG squadrons where the other squadron colors were white for 531st FS and yellow for 72nd FS. One interesting detail is that Louwers served also as photography officer for 46th FS yet he flew nine VLR missions to Japan and one over Chichijima.
COL H
P-51D-20, 44-63733, Maj. Paul W. Imig, CO of 72nd FS, 21st FG, 7th AF, Iwojima, March 1945
Major Imig, a veteran of VII FC, named his Mustang for his girlfriend and later wife. Dede Lou completed altogether 26 missions flown by various pilots from Airfield No.2. Paul Imig left the squadron in mid-May and returned back to the USA. He spent some three years overseas, having been a P-39 Airacobra pilot of the 333rd Squadron on Canton Island in late 1942. The 72nd FS as well as the whole 21st FG operated less colorful Mustangs than the aircraft of some other units. The black bordered yellow strips on vertical tail, black bordered yellow wing and horizontal tailplane tips, yellow spinner, black outlined nose, a name of the plane on the nose side under the exhaust, that´s it.
COL I
P-51D-25, 44-73623, Maj. Harry C. Crim (later Flt.Off. Theo Gruici), CO of 531st FS, 21st FG, 7th AF, Iwojima, July/August 1945
My Ach’in was delivered from Guam in late May 1945 as a replacement for destroyed aircraft. Flown by Major Harry Crim it was his second aircraft at 531st FS. Harry Crim, the CO of 531st FS was an old-timer who flew P-38s over Tunisia in the MTO in 1943 and became top-scoring pilot of 21st FG with six aerial victories. He claimed his first kills, Ki-45 and Ki-61, on April 7, 1945, during the well-known VLR Mission over Tokyo. Later on August, My Ach’in was flown by Theo Gruici, who replaced the mission symbols with another pin-up girl on the starboard side of the aircraft. The number 300 was replaced while the aircraft was moved to Guam to no. 3623 after the end of the war.
COL J
P-51D-25, 44-73379, 2nd Lt. William G. Hetland/ Lt. Hinkle, 457th FS, 506th FG, 7th AF, Iwojima, June 1945
When the 457th Fighter Squadron was activated on October 21, 1944, the Allied offensive in the Pacific brought American bombers within striking distance of the Japanese homeland. With the capture of Iwo Jima in March 1945, the U.S. Army Air Force gained an outpost to provide fighter escort for long-range B-29 bombers. Late the following month, the 506th Fighter Group, consisting of the 457th, 458th, and 462nd Fighter Squadrons, arrived. On Iwo Jima, the 506th Fighter Group, in addition to assisting in the defense of the island, participated in VII Fighter Command’s attacks on enemy-held neighboring islands. One of the Mustangs used by the 457th Fighter Squadron was an aircraft named “Lil Ole Meanie II”, which was regularly flown by Lt. Hetland and Lt. Hinkle.
COL K
P-51D-20, 44-72579, Capt. J. B. Baker Jr., 458th FS, 506th FG, 20th AF, Iwojima, July 1945
Captain J. B. Baker Jr shot down a Ki-44 during the escort sortie over Nagoya and Kobe area on June 23, 1945. He was also credited with J2M Raiden probably destroyed during another raid to Tokyo area, when the Mustangs strafed the airfields east and northeast of Tokyo. The 506th Fighter Group struck Katori and strafed Yachimata and Miyakawa. Based on No. 3 Airfield, the marking of Mustangs of 458th FS squadron consisted of 4-inch wide angled dark blue stripes but the replacement aircraft’s tails were painted in solid blue except vertical rudder. Note the Luftwaffe style spiral on the spinner and an attractive archer emblem on the right side of the aircraft.
COL L
P-51D-20, 44-72587, 2nd Lt. William G. Ebersole/2nd Lt. James R. Bercaw, 462nd FS, 506th FG, 20th AF, Iwojima, July 1945
This Mustang was shared by 2nd Lieutenants Bill Ebersole and James Bercaw. Bill Ebersole, the youngest pilot of the 462nd FS, arrived to Iwojima’s east side No. 3 Airfield on May 1945, at the time of the last night attacks of the remaining Japanese soldiers on the island. Ebersole flew his first combat sortie over Chichijima on May 15, 1945 and flew the first VLR Mission among his total 10 on June 7, 1945, which was an eight-hours long escort sortie over Osaka. He was credited by Zero destroyed on ground during the attack on Hyakurigahara airfield on June 26, 1945 and also destroyed small transport ship Sugar Dog type on early August. His final strafing mission was flown against Tachikawa on August 5, 1945, only one day before the atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima.