Individual letter on F/Lt. Frederick Hilley Bradford's P-51 Mustang MK.IV?

[Jagdkommando]

Dear members,

Does any one know the individual letter on F/Lt. Frederick Hilley Bradford's P-51 Mustang MK.IV, (K-version) in 1945 ???
He served with the 65.Sqdn.

In advance,thanks.

Warmest regards,
Jagdkommando

[Kjetil Aakra]

And regarding the camouflage of this plane, any ideas or suggestion as to wether it was camouflaged or not? I am making a profile of it for Jagdkommando and would appreciate any input on this matter. It seems Mustangs IV were Silverbirds or camouflaged in a rather random manner.



or



?

Regards,

Kjetil Aakra

[SteveB]

Hi Guys

Nice profiles!

The indications are that Bradford’s a/c was YT*F but I do not have any more specific information about his a/c.

As you say the finish of RAF MkIVs in paint or NMF seems fairly random but the indications are that the very early serials delivered were more likely to be painted than NMF.

There seem to be very few photos of 65Sqn a/c from this period. There are two photos in “Mustang at War” by Roger Freeman. One of these photos shows a mixed group of NMF and painted a/c taxiing out for take off. None of the three painted a/c that can be picked out seem to have the white type identity markings; they all seem to have a light coloured spinner most likely to be Sky as was standard for ADGB. There is a photo around of YT*E crashed in Sweden which also seems to show the same markings/finish.

I don’t think there is any evidence that 65Sqn used red spinners on their Mustangs and I don’t think there is any evidence that RAF MkIVs were fitted with the rear view mirror.

Steve

[Alex Smart]

Hello,

Sdn Ldr Westrena's P51 III is shown in a photo "YT-J" the Spinner is dark in colour and is said to have been Red in colour. "J" had the normal camoflage with white nose band and sky aft fuselage band.

Andy Thomas did a good peice on 65 Sqdn in Scale Aircraft Modelling way back in 1988, perhaps he could add to this some further details.

In 1945 two of 65's Mustangs went down in Sweden,

YT-E, KH695 of F/L G.C.S. Pearson was in camoflage had sky spinner.
while the earlier crash was FZ110 "YT-S" of F/Sgt. R.T.Williams.

Other a/c were KH643 - YT-S
KH684 - YT-C; KH775 - YT-X; KM140 YT-E; KM314 YT-L.
All for now great profiles by the way like them.

Alex

[Graham Boak]

The Mustangs would almost certainly have been delivered to the units with Sky spinners, but at some time coloured spinners were adopted to identify the units, presumably following 8th AF practice. I have never seen a proper listing of which units had which colour spinners, but I'd be reluctant to rule out the possibility of 65 Sq having red ones.

[Kjetil Aakra]

Many thanks for your comments all. Much appreciated.

I'll check with my sources again regarding the red spinner. I have the photos to which you refer, Steve, as well as some of those photos mentioned by Alex. I think it will be best to use them as a basis for the profile.

YT-F is as good a suggestion as any, at least I know of no other contemporary 65th Sqd. Mustang with that code.

Would it be possible to see scans of the article on 65th Sqd you mentioned, Alex?

The rear view mirror will be deleted, as will the antenna as it seems RAF Msutangs used a mast-mounted VHF. And I've made stupid error with the rudder outline which will also be corrected. Should stick to my Bf 109s and Fw 190s and not doodle with these allied fighters!! :-)

Thanks again, all.

Kjetil Aakra

[Kjetil Aakra]

Profiles have been updated slightly.

Kjetil Aakra

[Stein Meum]

Widespread practice among RAF Mustang Squadrons was the use of a red spinner by the S/L.Norwegian Mustang pilot,and later Wingco,Werner Christie said i started the practice while commanding 234 Sqn,but I have a feeling it had already been started by 234's previous commander.

Westenra's plane had a red spinner while C/O but when the plane was passed to Norwegian pilot Kristian Nyerrød the spinner was painted in another colour,possibly black.Unfortunately,Nyerrød could not remember what colour in an interview some 5-6 years ago.His memory was fading already at that time.

The Peterhead Wing had their Mustang Squadrons adopt a scheme incorporating several stripes.One of the Polish adopting red and white while 19 Sqn applied yellow and black.According to Dane "Ronnie" Rønhoff,the third squadron on the base was to have yellow and green stripes but this is unconfirmed.

Stein

[Alex Smart]

Hello Steve B,

You are correct, in my haste to respond I had overlooked the fact that Williams had inded come down in Denmark.

Williams did however escaped Denmark to Sweden and later to repatriation.

It seems that an escape hatch from one of his targets(Ju88's) had hit and lodged in the intake scoop holed the cooler causing overheat which brought about Williams's forced landing. [Making for Sweden pt 1 by Wegmann & Widfeldt]

Flt/Lt R. Barrett however was shot down and killed in FX993 by an Fw 190.
Thanks for correction.

Alex

[Franek Grabowski]

It is my understanding that the first 30 Mustang IVs were delivered with camouflage, the remaining Mustang IVAs being in NM/silver finish. Camouflage was gradually removed during the service.
Red spinners were applied to 306 Sqn Mustangs, so I doubt if any other Squadron had such markings as well. I am wondering, was not 19 Sqn supposed to have white-blue spinners instead? Ah, 316 Sqn (white-red) was never at Peterhead!