Warbird Information Exchange

Hi All,

I'm watching an old (2003) episode of "War Stories" on VMF 214. Ollie North is shown standing on the wing of the F4U-1 in the museum at Pensacola. "Gregory Boyington, Maj. USMC" is stenciled under the cockpit, but the plane is overall dark blue, probably wrong for "Pappy's" plane. I noticed the somewhat incongruous marking on the plane when I visited the museum in 2005, and when I snapped a pic into the cockpit (holding the camera over my head on the end of the tripod) I noticed the stencil was stll laying on the console. My question (if you're still reading this and haven't moved on to something relevant) is this: was Boyington's name painted on the plane just for it's appearance on "War Stories" or simply because everbody has heard of him?

An obscure question I know, but it's amazing the things that rattle around in your brain at 3:30 a.m...

Thanks,

Steve

This is for show. Boyington was the name associated with the U-bird that everybody knew. That is most likely why his name is on the plane in Pensacola.

In combat, most Marine squadron pilots did not have their "own planes". Pilots may have had preferences and some planes were named and such. Generally, they just took the ones that worked or were assigned to them for the days mission. Sometimes plane assignment was as random as the airplane the truck dropped you off at.

When Boyington got back to the states after his POW stint, they had a plane painted up for him to take some publicity photos with. It was the dark blue scheme and looked sorta like the one in Pensacola.

Probably someone on this board has the photo and can link it.

Have a great day.

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Greg Schneider
E Fighter Productions
"There is a big difference if you are in actual war or if you are playing war." Hartmann, Jagdgeschwader 52

Thanks

I was just curious when Pappy's name was painted on the museum bird, and whether it was done specifically for the "War Stories" episode. Like I said, it was 3:30 in the morning...

SN

My cousin don had his own a/c............

Capt Don Owen in #3 F4U-1D of VMF-112 after trapping on CV-20.

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Don't touch my junk!!

Awesome Pic! Thanks for sharing.

There are always exceptions... Good thing I said most.

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Greg Schneider
E Fighter Productions
"There is a big difference if you are in actual war or if you are playing war." Hartmann, Jagdgeschwader 52

Later in the war, James Swett said he had his own A/C too.

A rare F4u-1C 20mm armed.

They pushed it off the deck after the Bunker Hill was hit and he was forced to land on another carrier. They had to make room for other airplanes to land.

He was pretty upset when they did it.

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Greg Schneider
E Fighter Productions
"There is a big difference if you are in actual war or if you are playing war." Hartmann, Jagdgeschwader 52

I thought that I read that Boyington's flying career withthe Marines was over the day he got shot down. He says as much in his book, that when he returned from being a POW he was promoted to Colonel and made a lot of publicity tours for the Marine Corps, but that he was "pretty Broke up inside" and certainly could not have passed a flight physical or Marine physical fitmess test. He also mentions "catching up for lost time on his drinking" when he came home.
He did do some flying in the 50's as an air charter pilot in the Cessna 310 and probably other types .

Boyington passed his flight physicial within a week of being released (hanging with the guards and in the kitchen didn't hurt.
His warbond tour was more like a drunken free for all

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Don't touch my junk!!