USAAF 18th Pursuit Group (Interceptor) - 18th Fighter Group
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6th FS - 12th FS - 19th FS - 19th FS - 36th FS - 44th FS - 55th FS - 67th FS - 68th FS - 70th FS - 73th FS - 74th FS - 74th FS - 78th FS - 333d FS - 333d FS - 419th FS
Curtiss P-40F Warhawk 18FG44FS White 102 Guadalcanal, April 1943 00
Profile 00: P-40F USAAF serial number 41-13825, 44th Fighter Squadron (18th Fighter Group), Guadalcanal, April 1943. This plane bore the white stripes for this theatre of operations. Aircraft named Miss Alma.
Curtiss P-40F Warhawk 18FG44FS White 49 Pilot A.B. Westbrook Guadalcanal, April 1943
Profile 00: P-40F Warhawk operated by 44th Fighter Squadron (18th Fighter Group) Guadalcanal, April 1943, flown by Major A. B. Westbrook.
Curtiss P-40F Warhawk 18FG44FS Pilot Jack Bade Munda, New Georgia Isl. Sep 1943 00
Profile 00: P-40F (serial unknown) White 111 of 1Lt Jack A Bade, 44th FS/18th FG, Munda, September 1943. Bade joined the 44th FS in Hawaii in 1942 and deployed with it to Guadalcanal in late January 1943. The squadron had its first battle with the Japanese a week later, and Bade scored his first confirmed victory on 4 February. He achieved his fifth, and final, victory on 30 June 1943, but continued to fly with the squadron until September, when he returned to the US. Bades White 111, which was one of the last P-40Fs in the squadron, carried the name Reckless Prostitute and 14 Japanese kills flags on the right side of its fuselage.
Osprey - P-40 Warhawk Aces of the Pacific (Aircraft of the Aces 55)
Curtiss P-40F Warhawk 18FG44FS Pilot Jack Bade Munda, New Georgia Isl. Sep 1943 01
Photo 01: 1Lt Jack Bades well worn P-40F White 111 was named Destitute Prostitute on the port side and Reckless Prostitute on the starboard side (Jack Cook)
Curtiss P-40F Warhawk 18FG44FS Pilot Jack Bade background Munda, New Georgia Isl. Sep 1943 03
Photo 01: By the summer of 1943 the tail surfaces of Warhawks in the Solomon Islands were painted solid white to further distinguish them from inline-engined Ki-61 Tonys of the JAAF. Shown here at Fighter Two airstrip on Guadalcanal, White 116 was the regular aircraft of 44th FS ace 1 Lt Henry E Matson (five victories) and White 111 was flown by ace 1Lt Jack Bade (Frank Crain via Jack Cook)
Pilots 18FG44FS Pilot Jack Bade Munda, New Georgia Isl. Sep 1943 01
Photo 01: 1 Lt Jack A Bade scored five victories and one probable in the 44th FS on Guadalcanal between 4 February and 30 June 1943. After the war he became a test pilot for Republic Aviation and was killed in the crash of an F-105 in 1963 (Grant Smith via Jack Cook)
Curtiss P-40F Warhawk 18FG44FS Pilot Henry Matson Munda, New Georgia Isl. Sep 1943 01
Photo 01-02: By the summer of 1943 the tail surfaces of Warhawks in the Solomon Islands were painted solid white to further distinguish them from inline-engined Ki-61 Tonys of the JAAF. Shown here at Fighter Two airstrip on Guadalcanal, White 116 was the regular aircraft of 44th FS ace 1 Lt Henry E Matson (five victories) and White 111 was flown by ace 1Lt Jack Bade (Frank Crain via Jack Cook)
Pilots 18FG44FS Pilot Henry Matson 01
Photo 01: 1 Lt Henry E Matson was one of the many graduates of Flying Class 42-G who became aces in the 44th FS, scoring five confirmed victories and one probable. His best day in combat was 2 June 1943, when he brought down two Zekes of the 251st AG, including one flown by ace PO Masuaki Endo, who rammed Matson head-on. The American parachuted safely - Endo did not (Henry Matson via Jack Cook)
Curtiss P-40K Warhawk 18FG78FS White 10 Pilot Gordon Hyde Hawaii 1942-43 00
Profile 01: P-40K white 10 of the 78th Fighter Squadron (16th/18th/81st Fighter Groups - the squadron was affected to both groups), Hawaii, 1942-3, flown by Capt. Gordon Hyde. Camouflage: Dark olive drab, sand and neutral grey.
Curtiss P-40K Warhawk 7FC Sun Setters 01
Im not sure if this photo is the same aircraft certainly looks very close.
Curtiss P-40K Warhawk 18FG78FS White 205 1943 00
Profile 00: P-40K White 205 USAAF serial number 42-469140, 78th Fighter Squadron (18th Fighter Group), 1943. Aircraft named 'Shelby IV'
Curtiss P-40M Warhawk 18FG44FS White 125 Pilot Joseph Lesicka Munda, New Georgia Isl. Aug 1943 00
Profile 01: P-40M (serial unknown) White 125 of Capt Joseph J Lesicka, 44th FS/18th FG, Munda, August 1943. Lesicka had already scored three victories in four months with the 44th FS when he took off on a mission over the invasion beach at Munda, on New Georgia Island. His patrol met a large formation of Japanese bombers and fighters, and in a hectic 20-minute engagement he shot down five enemy aircraft. Lesicka was the second 44th FS pilot to become an ace in a day, as 1 Lt Elmer Wheadon had accomplished the feat on 1 July 1943. Lesickas aircraft was named after burlesque star Gypsy Rose Lee, this being a reference to the fact that the P-40M was stripped of weight in an attempt to improve performance. It also had a diving eagle design painted on its white wheel centres.
Curtiss P-40M Warhawk 18FG44FS White 125 Pilot Joseph Lesicka Munda, New Georgia Isl. Aug 1943 01
Photo 01: 1Lt Joseph J Lesicka of the 44th FS scored five victories in a single mission on 15 July 1943 flying his P-40M White 125 Gypsy Rose Lee. The top-scoring Warhawk ace of the squadron with nine confirmed victories at the end of his first tour, Lesicka returned to the 44th FS as CO in 1944, and later moved to 18th FG headquarters (Frank Crain via Jack Cook)
Curtiss P-40M Warhawk 18FG44FS Pilot Frank Gaunt Guadalcanal Jul 1943 00
Profile 00: P-40M (serial unknown) White 126 of Capt Frank L Gaunt, 44th FS/18th FG, Guadalcanal, July 1943. As the 44th FS used up its P-40Fs during the summer of 1943, they were replaced by Allison-powered P-40Ms such as this one assigned to Frank Gaunt, a former pre-med student. Gaunt had no opportunities for aerial combat during his first six months on Guadalcanal, but he scored seven victories in The 'TWERP'! during the summer of 1943. He completed his score with a victory in a P-38 on 11 January 1944, before returning to the US. Gaunt flew a second combat tour on P-51 s in the Mediterranean theatre, but did not add to his score.
Curtiss P-40M Warhawk 18FG44FS Pilot Frank Gaunt Guadalcanal Jul 1943 01
Capt Frank Gaunt peels off in his P-40M White 126 The Twerp as fellow ace Lt Cy Gladen prepares to follow in Lt Frank Crains White 134. This shot shows the 44th FS markings system in the summer of 1943 to good effect. Later, white bars were added to the national insignias for increased visibility (Jack Cook)
Pilots 44FG18FS Pilot Frank Gaunt Guadalcanal Jul 1943 01
A smiling Capt Frank L Gaunt of the 44th FS poses in the cockpit of his P-40M after scoring three victories on 15 July 1943. Gaunt recorded his seventh, and last, P-40 kill a month later, and completed his scoring with a P-38 victory on 11 November 1943. He flew a second tour in P-51s with the 325th FG in Italy, then became a physician after the war (Jack Cook)
Curtiss P-40F Warhawk 18FG44FS White 129 01
Main Reference: Osprey - P-40 Warhawk Aces of the Pacific (Aircraft of the Aces 55)
- Curtiss P-40 Warhawk and Kittyhawk
IL-2 Sturmovik 'Cliff's of Dover' Blitz
IL-2 Sturmovik Battle of Stalingrad
DCS World - has no 3D model
Solomon Islands Map
Bibliography: +
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Magazines: +
- Airfix Magazines (English) - http://www.airfix.com/
- Avions (French) - http://www.aerostories.org/~aerobiblio/rubrique10.html
- FlyPast (English) - http://www.flypast.com/
- Flugzeug Publikations GmbH (German) - http://vdmedien.com/flugzeug-publikations-gmbh-hersteller_verlag-vdm-heinz-nickel-33.html
- Flugzeug Classic (German) - http://www.flugzeugclassic.de/
- Klassiker (German) - http://shop.flugrevue.de/abo/klassiker-der-luftfahrt
- Le Fana de L'Aviation (French) - http://boutique.editions-lariviere.fr/site/abonnement-le-fana-de-l-aviation-626-4-6.html
- Le Fana de L'Aviation (French) - http://www.pdfmagazines.org/tags/Le+Fana+De+L+Aviation/
- Osprey (English) - http://www.ospreypublishing.com/
- Revi Magazines (Czech) - http://www.revi.cz/
Web References: +
- Wikipedia.org - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Messerschmitt_Bf_109
- Wikipedia.org - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Messerschmitt_Bf_109_variants#cite_ref-100
- Wikipedia.org - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Messerschmitt_Bf_109_operational_history
- Flickr.com - https://www.flickr.com/photos/farinihouseoflove/2209839419/in/photostream
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