Strana 62
P-51B-5-NA, s/n 43-6431, Mjr. Claiborne H. Kinnard Jr., 354
th
FS, 355
th
FG, 8
th
AF,
Steeple Morden, United Kingdom, March 1944
P-51B-15-NA, 43-24769, Capt. Willard W. Millikan, 336
th
FS, 4
th
FG, 8
th
AF,
Debden, United Kingdom, May 1944
Claiborne Holmes Kinnard was one of the
most successful ground targets strafer.
From November 1943 to June 1944, he led
the 354
th
Fighter Squadron. On June 12, 1944,
he was placed in command of the 355
th
Fighter
Group, which he led until the end of August.
In September, he was transferred to the
4
th
Fighter Group, which he also led for a short
time from November 3 to November 29, 1944.
He then returned to the 355
th
FG, where he
served until May 1945. During his career,
he scored eight aerial victories and destroyed
another seventeen aircraft on the ground. The
P-51B shown here was Kinnard’s first Mustang
with the 354
th
Fighter Squadron, and between
March and July 1944, he scored five aerial
victories and the same number of ground
victories with it. This aircraft bore the name
“Man O’War” on both sides of the engine cowling,
painted in white on a red background. Above the
exhausts was the white inscription “Bulldogs
1.” Under Kinnard’s command, the 355
th
Fighter
Group was the highest-rated group in ground-
attack victories, earning it the nickname
“Steeple Morden Strafers.”
Willard Wesley “Millie” Millikan enlisted as an
aviation cadet in the United States Army Air
Corps on August 16, 1941. After failing his flight
test, he went to England and joined the Royal
Air Force, where he served as an F/Sgt with No.
133 Eagle Squadron flying Hurricane and Spitfire
aircraft. After the United States entered the
war, Millikan was transferred to the U.S. Army
Air Forces and, with the rank of 2
nd
Lieutenant,
served with the 336
th
Fighter Squadron, which
he later commanded. He flew Republic P-47C
Thunderbolt and P-51B Mustang aircraft named
Missouri Mauler. On May 22, 1944, he scored
his final, 13
th
aerial victory in the Mustang
shown here. A few days later, on May 30, 1944,
he had to bail out of his Missouri Mauler near
Wittenberg, Germany, after colliding with the
Mustang of his wingman, Lt. Sam Young, who
was evading anti-aircraft fire. Millikan was
captured by the Germans and held as a prisoner
of war until April 1945, when, just before Victory
in Europe Day in May 1945, he escaped back to
his own lines. During World War II, he flew over
200 combat missions, during which he shot
down 13 enemy aircraft in aerial combat and
destroyed two more on the ground while strafing
enemy airfields.
KITS 07/2026
INFO Eduard62
July 2026