Strana 41
15.000
th
Curtiss aircraft delivered to customers worldwide, Buffalo, NY, USA, November 1944
Capt. Philip E. Colman, 26
th
FS, 5
th
FG, Ankang, China, 1944
The Curtiss company celebrated its 15,000th
fighter aircraft delivered to its customers
worldwide by special commemorative marking
with all the national insignias of the countries
of its customers placed all around the aircraft
surface. The serial number of the plane which
was used for the commemorative marking is not
known.
Philipp Eddy Colman enlisted in the USAAC in
1941 after graduation from Jefferson Senior High
School and was accepted for flight training.
He graduated as Flying Sergeant at Spence
Field and his first assignment was towing
targets for the gunnery school at Eglin Field,
Florida. Later he served as a test pilot, flying
not only US types, but also captured German
Bf 109 or Japanese Oscar fighters. He survived
the sinking of HMT Rohna which was sailing him
to his first combat assignment. The hit by German
guided flying bomb killed 1,149 out of 2,000 on
board. Colman’s next combat assignment was
as a pilot with the Chinese-American Composite
Wing where he flew 86 combat missions in the
P-40 and shot down five Japanese Zero fighters
with two probable victories and five damaged
enemy planes. After the war he joined the 158th
Fighter Squadron, 116th Fighter Group of the
Georgia Air National Guard. He was assigned to
the 335th FIS in 1952 and added four MiG-15s to
his fighter tally during the Korean War. In 1983,
he retired as a lieutenant colonel. As there are
no known photos of his P-40N, the paint scheme
reflects the aircraft displayed in the Museum of
Flight, Seattle, Washington.
KITS 08/2025
INFO Eduard
41
August 2025