George A Davis and his aircraft
 

All

Frank Olynyk in his post WW 2 US victory credit book says George Davis flew F-86E during his short career in Korea.

However a well known photo here actually shows him standing in an F-86A 49-1225. The aircraft clearly has victory markings, and while the text states the photo was taken Dec 13, 1951 that is not necessarily correct.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/my_pub...n/photostream/

Did Davis use 49-1225 on a regular basis and if so when?

Cheers
Stig

Re: George A Davis and his aircraft
 

49-1225 is usually associated with Creighton.
Exists a pic of Davis standing in front of a Sabre with five victory markings, serial is not readable, but the names of the pilot and the crew chief are :
(MAJ?) R.D. CREIGHTON
SGT SINGLETON

Re: George A Davis and his aircraft
 

Thanks Udf

I had a feeling the aircraft was not really his.
It is of course perfectly natural to use any available aircraft during missions, not to mention when taking a PR photo, but I also know how different aircraft can be, and you develop a liking for a certain individual.

Anyone else with thoughts about this?

Cheers
Stig

Re: George A Davis and his aircraft
 

Stig,
When I published my US Post-WW2 Victory List, I relied on the microfilm copies of USAF Form 5s held at the Military Personnel Records Center in St Louis, a part of NARA. His Form 5s for Korea showed his credited victories for each mission, and all of those were noted as flying the F-86E.

Since then I have received a copy of a list of victories prepared by a North American Aviation tech rep who was assigned to the 4th FIW. He kept track of the serial number, type of gun sight, and ammo fired for each claim. These show George Davis as flying a mix of F-86A-5 and F-86E-5 (and an F-86E-10 on his last mission).

Creighton appears to have flown the F-86A-5 for all of his victories. The serial number for only one is given as 49-1225 (Oct 23, 1951), the other serial numbers are unknown (to me). Claims for 2/1/2 are given for 49-1225 involving four different pilots.

When I get the time I plan to bring back all my Victory Lists, and hopefully publish a few more. But it is going to take some time.

Enjoy!

Frank.

Re: George A Davis and his aircraft
 

Thanks Frank

So in your opinion, could Davis have scored any victory in 49-1225?
Or is it, as I now more and more believe, simply a PR shot inside 'first available' F-86?

Cheers
Stig

Re: George A Davis and his aircraft
 

Stig,
None of George's victories were scored in 49-1225. It is certainly possible that he flew 49-1225 on one or more missions, but he did not score in it. So there is no way to know what the occasion was when he was photographed in 1225.

Enjoy!

Frank.

Re: George A Davis and his aircraft
 

Thanks again Frank

Cheers
Stig