Gentile's Spitfire(s) ...

[chicoartist]

Hey guys,

I recently got bit big time by the "Spitfire" bug - the Eagle Squadron/4th FG variety. I must confess that in the past I've only glossed over the Spitfire period of the Eagles/4th, preferring to concentrate on the P-47 and P-51 eras.

Doing a little bit of research in primary 4th FG sources, including the official daily diaries of the 133 ES/336 FS and Gentile's log book, I have a question/observation:

His Spit Vb, "Buckeye Don", of which I've only seen one picture (Gentile standing by the nose art - no fuselage serial shown), is depicted as BL255 (serving with 133 Sqdn & then 336 FS) in decal sheets and beautiful models. However, in digging through the logs, and cross-referencing Gentile's log book, I see MD-T being BL776 . . . BL255 is not mentioned at all in the daily sortie lists.*

*[One caveat/qualification: The official 133 ES/336 FS records only begin mentioning actual serial numbers, e.g., BL776, in March 1943, just about the time the slow transition to Jugs began (the 4th FG introduced the P-47 into combat). Prior to that, there's only a written narrative for each day (no specific sortie/pilots/serial numbers) . . . and Gentile's logbook, following RAF practice, only lists aircraft flown each day by code letter, e.g., "T" - no specific serial for each plane is mentioned.]

So, going only on the "March 1943" sortie lists, and Gentile's logbook, my theory is this: somewhere BL255 must be shown as "Buckeye Don" - I'll accept that, though I don't know exactly where historians are sourcing this. But this plane isn't listed at all in March 1943's sortie lists. Until evidenced otherwise, I'm going on the assumption that Don flew BL255 with 133 ES, and maybe a short time with 336 FS -- then, at some point in late 1942, BL255 transferred out (it is in fact known that BL255 had a life after 336 FS), and BL776 became the new "T", and the "Donnie Boy" art panel was switched from BL255 to BL776.

This same thing happened with the art panel for Gentile's later P-47D-1 VF-T 42-7884 "Donnie Boy", and then his assigned P-47D-5 VF-T 42-8659 "Donnie Boy" -- the latter is the only one showing up as "Donnie Boy", but in fact 7884 (later Godfrey's VF-P "Lucky - Reggie's Reply") carried the art panel first. There are numerous documented other examples of "panel swaps" in the 4th FG, both in P-47s and a couple in P-51s, so the practice was not unheard of.

Anybody have anything to add?

Thx,

Wade

[shooshoobaby]

Wade - 4th Fg book " Escort to Berlin " Aircraft assigned Appendix :
Spitfire VB BL776
P-47D 42-8659
Cheers

[chicoartist]

Originally Posted by shooshoobaby

Wade - 4th Fg book " Escort to Berlin " Aircraft assigned Appendix :
Spitfire VB BL776
P-47D 42-8659
Cheers

Thx ... I don't have the book handy - I did see BL255 in the Spitfire listing, but not BL776. Is BL776, as you imply, listed in Gentile's assigned planes? I'll look.

P-47D-1-RE 42-7884 isn't listed as assigned to Gentile in ESCORT, IIRC, but in fact it was the first P-47 coded VF-T. Gentile, as a flight commander, got one of the very first D-5s (8659) in September 1943, and 7884 was passed on to crew chief Larry Krantz, becoming VF-P, Krantz's code (following RAF practice, the individual aircraft letters in the 4th, with very rare exceptions, belonged to the crew chief rather than the pilot). Godfrey flew 7884 "P" regularly, eventually being formally assigned the kite and allowed to paint his 'own' artwork on the plane around Dec 1943, about the time of his first kill.

I know the author, Garry Fry, very well. He and I correspond regularly. Those that know him know he's not shy about expressing his opinion (refreshing!), and I get all my 4th FG work run through his gauntlet. But, I digress.

When Garry and Jeff Ethell wrote ESCORT, they only had the 334 FS daily history to go by, 335's and 336's were 'discovered' later. Fortunately, 334's is by far the most detailed of the three squadrons, and all in all Fry and Ethell did an absolutely amazing job considering what they had to work with.

Thx,

Wade

[shooshoobaby]

Wade - in appendix 8 4th FG Book:
BL 255 " Buckeye Don" code MD-T
cheers