Looking for P-51D 44-72942 WWII service record/photos

[T33driver]

WIX brain,

A friend of mine who owns P-51D serial #44-72942 (currently painted as "Petie 2nd) is researching the history of his aircraft's WWII combat record and hasn't been able to learn much. All he's been able to uncover was that the USAAF took delivery of it in January 1945 and shipped it back to the USA in the fall of 1945. He knows it served with the 15th AF in the Mediterranean Theatre. He recently had a chance meeting at an FBO with a Tuskegee Airman veteran and they got to talking about his Mustang and began corresponding since there's a chance his aircraft could have been flown by them. Well, the vet thinks there's a good chance 44-72942 was assigned at one time to the 332nd Fighter Group/100th Fighter Squadron but is networking to get confirmation and hopefully documentation. Apparently the operations tempo was high and units were frequently changing bases and believe it or not, recordkeeping was not very good. There's no wartime record of it in my buddy's searches at NMUSAF, NASM, and the USAF's History Branch at Maxwell AFB. According to the Tuskegee vet, the maintenance guys kept the best records if any. Because the Tuskegee Airman red-tail paint scheme didn't typically include the serial number, it may make it difficult to find a wartime photo of 44-72942. If anyone has good resources for tracking down this kind of info, Tuskegee Airman unit histories/aircraft serial numbers, or even WWII era photos of 44-72942, please let me know (already checked the Tuskegee Airman website). Thanks!

[Taylor Stevenson]

Man that'd be neat to have a P-51, let alone a P-51 with Tuskegee Combat history!!! I hope you discover that it WAS a tuskegee aircraft!
Good luck!

[harvard_1]

HI Im in the same situation with 44-63476. Records show it went to Italy, then came back, went into storage and was sold to Uruguay.Sure would appreciate a note if you find a sourse for history on the Mediteranian.
Bob May

[Forgotten Field]

If the search has already taken you through all the usual places, you have photos, log books, and sales brochures from the War Assets Administration to look further. We are at this point with the L-5. It definitely went to SOXO, which was Gloucester, and it is in the same batch of aircraft that were assigned to the 167th Liaison Squadron, which was activated for 3-4 months near the end of the war. But the notation on my record card is AGF (Army Ground Forces), and the AAF didn't keep records of AGF aircraft except when they were in possession of the AAF. So I am looking for a photo of 44-17543 somewhere in Europe when it was there April to August 1945. We know it got about 200 hours over there, but where, we don't know.

[Mark V]

We are also in the same position with 44-72035. Movement card shows a pencillied note indicating shipment to the MTO (15th AF). After that, we know nothing until it returns to the USA post WWII.

As said earlier the lack of complete records and the practice of obliterating tail numbers in some units such as 332nd FG does not help.

[T33driver]

The story goes that after the war, 200 Mustangs were disassembled, crated and shipped back to the USA from the 15 AF--the rest were scrapped! The reason for this was largely to give maintenance guys something to do so they'd stay out of trouble postwar. The criteria for the aircraft to be shipped back to the USA was that they couldn't have any combat damage and they had to have less than 100 total hours flight time. As I said, my buddy's Tuskegee Airman aquaintence intially queried Tuskegee pilots and found not many of them logged aircraft serial numbers in their logbooks. Things were too chaotic and hurried during combat/moving to different captured bases and attention to paperwork just wasn't a priority (that part sounds like my kind of Air Force). Again, it was the maintenance troops that kept the best records. Besides the gap in documentation during it's WWII combat service, the rest of the service life of P-51D #44-72942 is very well documented. Good luck to everyone with your own research.

[T J Johansen]

HI Im in the same situation with 44-63476. Records show it went to Italy, then came back, went into storage and was sold to Uruguay.Sure would appreciate a note if you find a sourse for history on the Mediteranian.
Bob May

Not trying to hijack the thread, but I notice your 51 is not listed as a participant at the gathering in Ohio this fall. Does this mean we won't see your Canadian painted Mustang there?

T J

[harvard_1]

The 100 hours or less sounds in line with my ships records . It went to Uruguay and had less than 190 hrs when it crashed.
I have registered for the gathering and recd the package . Ive been a bit tardy so expect it will eventually show up on the list.

[Django]

What about the Checkertail Clan? Or the red striped tails? Or the solid yellow tails? All Italy, right?

http://www.ipmsstockholm.org/magazine/1 ... stang2.htm