Mustang I

[Col Ford]

The first pair of photos show AP212 'V' of No.268 Squadron, which was flown by F/O Tony Bethell and shot down by flak near Bergen on 7 December 1942. The damage in those photos match other photos taken of this Mustang soon after it crashed, in particular the damage to the vertical tail leading edge and behind the cockpit, plus the absence of the port wing. The second supposed photo of 'V' - Mustang on its undercarriage - I do not think is AP212, due to the fact the port wing is still attached and other clues in the photo. In the other known photos of AP212 'V' taken in December 1942 at its crash site near Bergen showing it from multiple angles, it is shown on very close cropped ground, winter in the Netherlands, no growth, and there are no trees close to the crash site. In the photo of 'V' on its undercarriage it has a left wing and reasonably longish growth on the ground, plus trees with foliage relatively close to the aircraft. There is also to my eye, in comparing the photos of AP212 'V' soon after the crash that I have, differences in the damage to the nose area in the picture of 'V' on its undercarriage. I suspect two different Mustangs.

Also a point of correction to an earlier post. Army Co-operation Command dropped Squadron identification letters from their Mustangs from November 1942 and they did not return during the war. Only the individual aircraft id letter was displayed on the Tac/R Mustangs for the remainder of the war and immediate post war period. By the time the last of the Allison Mustangs left the last Squadron using them operationally post War, being No.268 Squadron, up until August 1945, they still only carried the individual aircraft id letter. The Spitfire FR.XIVes which had first supplemented and then replaced the Mustangs on the Squadron, also only carried individual aircraft id letters until around late September to early October 1945 when Squadron identification letters started to be re-implemented in the post-War Tac/R Squadrons remaining in Germany.