Mustang Pilot William R. Groseclose

Portrait of Lt William R Groseclose from Pierre, South Dakota. Pilot of a P-51D Mustang of the 8th Air Force in England.  Assigned to 335FS, 4FG, 8AF USAAF. Lt Groseclose was apparently shot down while flying his P-51D Mustang 44-14432 on 11 September 1944 when the 4th Fighter Group was bounced by 30+ Messerschmitt Bf109's. His aircraft crashed 2 miles south of Erkeln, Germany. POW. MACR 8990. Awards: AM (OLC), POW, WWII Victory. Post War: Retired as a Major having served in Korea and Vietnam.

Source :
NARA Ref 342-FH-3A49666-K2431
https://www.americanairmuseum.com/archive/person/william-r-groseclose

Group Photo of Mustang Pilots

Pilots of a North American P-51 group in flying togs and Mae West jackets at a base in England. In the background is an interesting writing on the wall: "Narvik. Hell' Sapoppin Here!". They are, front row, from left to right: Lieutenant Nicholas W.J. Rosenson (Monessen, Pennsylvania); Lieutenant Charles L. Brock (Lockhart, Texas); Captain Robert J. Mabie; and Lieutenant William R. Groseclose (Pierre, South Dakota). Second Row, from left to right: Lieutenant George D. Green (Whittier, California); Lieutenant Robert J. Cooper (Chicago, Illinois); Lieutenant Hugh W. Lindsay (Paoli, Pennsylvania); and Lieutenant Zack S. Sensibaugh (Decatur, Texas). The Captain, Bob Mabie, flew with the 4th Fighter Group from July 13, 1944 to May 4, 1945. In January 1945 he was designated Flight Commander of D Flight. He flew a P-51D, serial number 5-NA 44-14221, coded WD-I. In February of that same year he was designated Assistant Squadron Operations and Gunnery Officer for the 335th. Mabie flew 80 missions and claimed 3 damaged aircraft.

Source :
NARA Ref 342-FH-3A49647-K2426.
https://www.americanairmuseum.com/archive/media/media-21452jpeg

Lieutenant Groseclose Prepares to Depart for a Mission in His Mustang

USAAF Lt. William Groseclose prepares to depart for a mission from an English base in his North American P-51D Mustang of the 335th Fighter Squadron, 4th Fighter Group. He was captured when shot down over Germany on September 11, 1944.

Source :
National Archives and Records Administration, 342-C-K-3914
Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum
https://www.flickr.com/photos/airandspace/albums/72157715574200936

Air Traffic Control Trainees Practice on Model Aircraft

U.S. Air traffic control trainees practice on model aircraft before working with the real thing. Despite prior close air support experiences beginning in World War I, the United States had no forward air control capability when World War II began. Although forward air control techniques were perfected by such US units as the 1st Air Commando Group in the China Burma India Theater, they would be ignored in the war's aftermath. When the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) was founded on 20 June 1941, it included provisions for Air Ground Control Parties to serve with the United States Army at the division, corps, and Army headquarters. The Air Ground Control Parties functions were to regulate bombing and artillery in close conjunction with the ground troops, as well as assess bomb damage. They were thus the first of similar units to try to fulfill the functions of the forward air controller (FAC) without being airborne. However, these units were often plagued by interservice rivalry and cumbersome communications between the respective armies and air forces involved. As a result, it could take hours for an air strike requested by ground troops to actually show up. However, the advent of World War II did not lead to a functional US air control system; the 1942 edition of the American Field Manual 31-35 did not even mention a forward air controller. Forward air control during World War II came into existence as a result of exigency, and was used in several theaters of World War II. Its reincarnation in action was a result of field expedience rather than planned operations.

Source :
National Archives and Records Administration, 342-C-K-1721
Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forward_air_control_operations_during_World_War_II
https://www.flickr.com/photos/airandspace/albums/72157715574200936

“Five Grand” - the 5,000th B-17 off the Production Line

“Five Grand” (Boeing B-17G-70-BO Flying Fortress, Serial number 43-37716) is seen here before deploying to England where it survived 78 combat missions with the 338th Bomb Squadron, 96 Bomb Group.

The B-17G, named, 5 Grand, was constructed at the Boeing Plant 5 in Seattle, WA, in 1944. It was named, 5 Grand, because it was the 5,000th B-17 to come off the Boeing production line in Seattle, since Pearl Harbor. It was the only B-17 that was ever individually signed by all of the Plant 5 workers before leaving the Seattle factory. The largest signature on the airplane, which disappeared in later photos of the plane, was made by Boeing assembler/installer, Frank Novito, on the upper surface of one of it's wings, with large block letters that he made in black paint on the upper wing skin with a large push broom. He, apparently, wanted the German pilots, to think of him and the fine work he did building the plane, as they surely must have done so, while they were trying to shoot, 5 Grand, down !

To boost morale on the home front during the Second World War, aircraft manufacturers began to celebrate production aircraft milestones. Lockheed, for example, painted their 5,000th P-38 Lightning, red, and named it, Yipee. But Boeing wanted to do something different, as it approached delivering the 5,000th B-17 Flying Fortress to be built since the attack on Pearl Harbor, when the U.S. entered the war against the Axis powers. Aircraft number, 40-37716, a B-17G, was that aircraft, and, early on, it was marked with a notice on the fuselage that it was the 5,000th Flying Fortress to be built since the U.S. entered the war. Every worker, who played a part in the construction of this particular aircraft, was invited to sign the part of the aircraft they produced, as it advanced down the production lines in Seattle.

So, these signatures celebrated the efforts of the thousands of workers, who immigrated to Seattle to escape the effects of the Great Depression, in order to work in Boeing's massive production facilities. The enthusiasm that workers applied to their signatures, surprised even the Boeing management, as even parts from the subcontractors' bound for, 40-37716, arrived signed, even though they would be hidden away deep inside the aircraft. Appropriately, the B-17G was named, 5 Grand, and before leaving the Renton plant, it was already being celebrated in newsreels and war bond drives. Instead of towing the B-17G out of Plant 5's front doors, as had always been done for the protocols of the day, upon completion, the workers, themselves, pushed, 5 Grand, out the factory doors to band music, cheers and great fanfare.

In May 1944, 5 Grand, was officially delivered to the U.S. Army Air Forces, at Boeing Field, and a bottle of champagne was ceremonially broken over the aircraft's nose. The USAAF even made sure that the crew assigned to, 5 Grand, were made up of local flyers from the Puget Sound area, with Edward C. Unger of Seattle selected as the aircraft's command pilot. 5 Grand, was, then, flown to Kearney AAF Depot in Nebraska for further modifications to make her combat ready. When she left the United States for the Eighth Air Force's bomber bases in Britain, over 35,000 signatures adorned the bare metal finish of, 5 Grand. Some thought that the plane should be stripped of it's signatures, as they figured, rightfully so, that the Luftwaffe would make special efforts to shoot it down, which they dutifully did just so ! But, it was finally decided the signatures would stay.

On it's trans Atlantic flight to England, the air crew found the B-17G was about 7 mph slower in cruise than a stock B-17G due to the extra weight of the paint used on the signatures and, also, the extra drag of the surface roughness from the thousands of colorful signature applications ! Both of these factors increased fuel consumption, which was also higher than normal, with the lower speeds of the plane, also less than normally forecast for a trip across the Atlantic, resulting in one of, 5 Grand's, engines cutting out upon landing in the U.K. due to low fuel.

Once in the U.K., 5 Grand, was assigned to the 333rd Bomber Squadron of the 96th Bomb Group at Snetterton Heath in Norfolk, U.K. One of it's first local test flights, before any combat missions were flown, also ended in near disaster when, 5 Grand's, electrical system failed, preventing it's main landing gear from extending, causing, 5 Grand, to make a gear up landing after ejecting it's ball turret.

Finally, when ready for combat, 5 Grand, was assigned to the 338th Bomb Squadron, and the 96th Bomb Group, at BX-H, Snetterton, U.K. Once in combat, the plane quickly received a reputation with the American B-17 pilots for being a German fighter plane magnet, because, flying high, above the clouds, on it's many missions over Europe and Germany, the famous B-17, was an unusual looking sight in the air, glowing in the sun, with a sort of bright orange color on it's bare aluminum skin, peppered with yellow, white, red, and black speckled spots, which were the workers' painted signatures, with many of the workers having signed their names on, 5 Grand's, fuselage and wings. Appropriately, the German pilots certainly did take notice of this unique and unusually strange looking and brightly glowing B-17! And, possibly, figuring it for some kind of lead ship, they honored it with unusually fierce attention, by trying very hard, and repeatedly, to shoot it down, damaging it on several occasions with their cannons, so seriously, that it had to be taken out of service and sent back to repair stations for major repairs.

The plane was pulled from combat and delivered to Cheyenne, Wyoming, 15 May 44; Kearney 30/6/44; Dow Field 13 Jul 44; Assigned to the 338th Bomb Squadron, and the 96th Bomb Group, at (BX-H) Snetterton, U.K. 14 Jul 44. During training, the plane's command pilot, Lt. Jack Bimemiller had an electrical failure and was unable to lower the landing gear. He was ordered to Honington, U.K. to land, wheels up. The airplane flew 78 missions after repairs were completed. Then, it was transferred to the 388th Bomb Group. May 1945. It returned to the USA Bradley Repair Depot, 14 Jun 45. After an overhaul, the plane left for Seattle and further refurbishment for a war bond tour in the U.S. from 4168 Base Unit, South Plains, Texas, 29 Jul 45. After completion of the bond tour, 5 Grand, was sent to Lubbock, Texas, for refitting.

After one major repair, 5 Grand, was returned to service (RTS) and reassigned to the 388th Bomber Group kin Britain. It would fly a total of 78 missions over the German Reich adorned with her signatures and her gunners claiming two Luftwaffe fighters destroyed.

On 14 June 1945, 5 Grand, again returned home to the United States, first landing at Bradley Field in Connecticut before continuing on to Boeing Field in Seattle for refurbishment for a war bond tour. While in Seattle, many employees happily found most of their signatures still in place. Local officials wanted to preserve, 5 Grand, as a memorial to the city's home front war effort, but, while the Seattle politicians debated the cost, 5 Grand, was flown to Lubbock AAF Base in Texas for further repairs and refurbishment before being flown to storage at Kingman AAF Base in Arizona to be held in storage while Seattle officials decided how to proceed on the planned memorial, incorporating, 5 Grand. The U.S. Army Air Forces were willing to donate, 5 Grand, to Seattle for the memorial planned by the Seattle Historical Society, but on 3 January 1946, Seattle city officials declined the donation of, 5 Grand, on the grounds that building a memorial with the aircraft, represented too costly an endeavor.

Despite the efforts of Boeing employees who had signed, 5 Grand, and all of those wanting to preserve this piece of history, no one in the local government wished to take responsibility for the aircraft. So, still resplendent, with it's thousands of signatures, the plane was sold off by the Reconstruction Finance Corporation, and sent to Kingman, AZ, to the airplane scrappers, where, 5 Grand, was unceremoniously broken up and scrapped, forever lost to history. 22 Nov 1945

Source :
National Archives and Records Administration, 342-C-K-2442
Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum
https://www.americanairmuseum.com/archive/aircraft/43-37716
https://www.flickr.com/photos/airandspace/albums/72157715574200936
https://www.flickr.com/photos/dougsheley/4127692270

Pilots of North American A-36 Apaches

Pilots of North American A-36 'Apaches' (dive-bomber version of the P-51) return from a gunnery training mission in Louisiana, 1943. This aircraft - listed in some sources as "Apache" or "Invader", but generally called Mustang - was the ground-attack/dive bomber version of the North American P-51 Mustang, from which it could be distinguished by the presence of rectangular, slatted dive brakes above and below the wings. A total of 500 A-36 dive bombers served in the Mediterranean and Southeast Asia theaters during World War II before being withdrawn from operational use in 1944. The A-36 project was a stopgap measure intended to keep North American Aviation (NAA) assembly lines running during the first half of 1942 despite the US having exhausted its funds earmarked for fighter aircraft. When the order came for more P-51s in June 1942, the NAA workforce was thoroughly experienced.

Source :
National Archives and Records Administration, 342-C-K-1039
Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_American_A-36
https://www.flickr.com/photos/airandspace/albums/72157715574200936

Eighth Air Force Losses during World War II

Replacement Boeing B-17G Flying Fortresses lined up on an English airfield to replace squadron losses for the U.S. Eighth Air Force.

The 8th Air Force’s success during World War II came at a high price. Its losses – of both men and machine – were by far the most significant of any branch of the military at that time. The drawback of precision bombing was that it was necessary to bomb by day. Without night vision goggles, or radar technology, sunlight and clear skies were needed to find the targets. Unfortunately, if the bombers could see the targets, then the enemy could see the bombers. Initially the 8th Air Force took staggering losses – up to 86% of fliers were killed, MIA or POW. Although the Flying Fortress had twelve machine guns to defend itself, heavy attacks by German fighters and anti-aircraft ground cannons soon proved that a single squadron was too small of a combat unit. In fact, the Bombardment Group, with the combined force of four squadrons, was also too small. In total, the 8th Air Force lost over 26,000 men. An additional 28,000 men became prisoners of war. Aircraft losses were also grim: 10, 561 planes of varying types were shot down, 4754 of those were B-17 heavy bombers. The 390th Bomb Group lost 176 of its 275 assigned aircrafts.

Source :
National Archives and Records Administration, 342-C-K-2418
Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum
https://390th.org/learn-about-390th/wwii-air-war-over-europe/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/airandspace/albums/72157715574200936

The crew of a Martin PBM-5 Mariner flying boat

The crew of a U.S. Martin PBM-5 Mariner flying boat used for patrol missions and anti-submarine warfare pose on top of their aircraft in April 1945 at Tanapag Harbor in Saipan.

Source :
National Archives and Records Administration, 80-G-K-16192
Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum
https://www.flickr.com/photos/airandspace/albums/72157715574200936

Free French air force formally receives a Curtiss P-40Fs

The newly reconstituted Free French air force formally receives its first frontline combat aircraft, Curtiss P-40Fs, on January 8, 1943, at Casablanca from the U.S. Army Air Forces. This was the first of 1,000 combat aircraft promised by President Roosevelt to General de Gaulle. This is Groupe de Chasse GC II/5, which had just adopted the designation Lafayette Escadrille as a reciprocal tribute to the World War I French squadron of American recruits that had fought the Germans before the U.S. entered WWI in 1917. Less than two months earlier, these P-40s had been catapult launched from a U.S. carrier with U.S. Army Air Forces pilots during Operation Torch, the U.S. invasion of North Africa, while the French pilots of GC II/5 were fighting U.S. Navy Grumman F4F Wildcats under the flag of Vichy France, allied to Germany. The hostilities lasted for only three days, when, on November 11, 1942, the Vichy French forces in North Africa swore allegiance to Free French commander General Charles de Gaulle, resulting in Germany occupying all of Vichy France.

Source :
National Archives and Records Administration, 342-C-K-91
Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum
https://www.flickr.com/photos/airandspace/albums/72157715574200936

Chaplain Michael Ragan blesses the crew of the Boeing B-17G “Fifinella”

Captain Michael Ragan, the Catholic chaplain of the 91st Bomb Group, blesses the crew of the Boeing B-17G “Fifinella” before a mission in mid-1944. The plane was lost on a mission on August 13, 1944. The “Fifinella” was the female gremlin cartoon created by Walt Disney and adopted by the Women Air Service Pilots (WASP) as their mascot.

Source :
National Archives and Records Administration, 342-C-K-2105
Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum
https://www.flickr.com/photos/airandspace/albums/72157715574200936

Hiawatha Mohawk Getting Ready for a Mission in Italy

Lieutenant Hiawatha Mohawk, one of the few Native American fighter pilots of World War II, flew with the 319th Fighter Squadron, 325th Fighter Group. Here, he straps into his Republic P-47 for a mission in Italy supporting ground troops of the Fifth Army. Mohawk had two aerial victories during the war and went on to a long career flying fast jets in the Air Force.

Source :
National Archives and Records Administration, 342-C-K-2128
Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum
https://artsandculture.google.com/asset/lt-hiawatha-mohawk-one-of-the-few-native-american-fighter-pilots-of-world-war-ii-flew-with-the-319th-fighter-squadron-325th-fighter-group/3wFm8uSy_UEDSg?hl=en
https://www.flickr.com/photos/airandspace/albums/72157715574200936

Norden Bombsight

U.S. Bombardier trainers are readied for instruction. The motorized units would simulate the track across the ground that the bombardier used to synchronize the optics in the Norden bombsight.

The Norden Mk. XV, known as the Norden M series in U.S. Army service, is a bombsight that was used by the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) and the United States Navy during World War II, and the United States Air Force in the Korean and the Vietnam Wars. It was an early tachometric design that directly measured the aircraft's ground speed and direction, which older bombsights could only estimate with lengthy manual procedures. The Norden further improved on older designs by using an analog computer that continuously recalculated the bomb's impact point based on changing flight conditions, and an autopilot that reacted quickly and accurately to changes in the wind or other effects.

Together, these features promised unprecedented accuracy for daytime bombing from high altitudes. During prewar testing the Norden demonstrated a circular error probable (CEP)[a] of 75 feet (23 m),[b] an astonishing performance for that period. This precision would enable direct attacks on ships, factories, and other point targets. Both the Navy and the USAAF saw it as a means to conduct successful high-altitude bombing. For example, an invasion fleet could be destroyed long before it could reach U.S. shores.

To protect these advantages, the Norden was granted the utmost secrecy well into the war, and was part of a production effort on a similar scale to the Manhattan Project: the overall cost (both R&D and production) was $1.1 billion, as much as 2/3 of the latter or over a quarter of the production cost of all B-17 bombers.[1] The Norden was not as secret as believed; both the British SABS and German Lotfernrohr 7 worked on similar principles, and details of the Norden had been passed to Germany even before the war started.[citation needed]

Under combat conditions the Norden did not achieve its expected precision, yielding an average CEP in 1943 of 1,200 feet (370 m) (a CEP of 1200 feet means 16% of all bombs dropped land within 1000 feet of the target), similar to other Allied and German results. Both the Navy and Air Forces had to give up using pinpoint attacks. The Navy turned to dive bombing and skip bombing to attack ships, while the Air Forces developed the lead bomber procedure to improve accuracy, and adopted area bombing techniques for ever-larger groups of aircraft. Nevertheless, the Norden's reputation as a pin-point device endured, due in no small part to Norden's own advertising of the device after secrecy was reduced late in the war.

The Norden saw reduced use in the post–World War II period after radar-based targeting was introduced, but the need for accurate daytime attacks kept it in service, especially during the Korean War. The last combat use of the Norden was in the U.S. Navy's VO-67 squadron, which used it to drop sensors onto the Ho Chi Minh Trail in 1967. The Norden remains one of the best-known bombsights.

Source :
National Archives and Records Administration, 342-C-K-885
Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norden_bombsight
https://www.flickr.com/photos/airandspace/albums/72157715574200936

Mechanics at Tuskegee Army Air Field Maintain an Engine of a Vultee BT-13A Valiant

Mechanics at Tuskegee Army Air Field, Alabama, maintain an engine of a Vultee BT-13A Valiant. This aircraft was used for basic flight training for the Tuskegee Airmen. History has often ignored the contributions of Black Americans, leaving heroes like the Tuskegee Airmen, the first Black military pilots, overlooked. They flew nearly 1,500 missions and shot down 112 German aircraft. These men flew above prejudice, racism and hate to serve their country and drive positive change in America. Their impressive performance earned them more than 150 Distinguished Flying crosses and helped lead to the integration into the U.S. Armed Forces.

Source :
National Archives and Records Administration, 342-C-K-409
Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum
https://www.adforum.com/agency/5096/creative-work/34630046
https://www.flickr.com/photos/airandspace/albums/72157715574200936

P-51D Mustangs of the 52nd Fighter Group

P-51D Mustangs of the 4th Fighter Squadron, 52nd Fighter Group, 15th U.S. Air Force. These planes flew escorts for Italian-based bombers attacking targets in southeastern Europe late in the war. The USAAF 52nd Fighter Group enjoyed an outstanding record in World War II, but to date its story has never been told. Activated in January 1941, it moved to England in July 1942 for an assignment with the Eighth Air Force. It flew combat missions in Spitfires to France during the summer of 1942 before being reassigned to the invasion force attacking North Africa in November 1942. After moving to North Africa, it was assigned to the Twelfth Air Force and was again equipped with Spitfires. As part of the Twelfth Air Force, it flew combat missions in the Tunisian campaign, and during the invasion of Sicily. In mid-1944, the 52nd was reassigned to the Fifteenth Air Force and converted to P-51 Mustangs. During the remainder of the war, it flew bomber escort and strafing missions to targets in Italy, France, Germany, Czechoslovakia, Austria, Hungary, Rumania, and Yugoslavia. For its outstanding service the Group was twice awarded the Distinguished Unit Citation. During its long campaign, the Group destroyed more than 425 enemy aircraft in aerial combat and damaged 135 plus many more on the ground. The 52nd Fighter Group produced 21 Aces.

Source :
National Archives and Records Administration, 342-C-K-2741
Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum
https://www.flickr.com/photos/airandspace/albums/72157715574200936
https://www.specialtypress.com/spitfires-and-yellow-tail-mustangs-testing-british-and-us-carrier-aircraft.html

Armorers load AT-6 Texan Aircraft with Ammunition

Armorers load U.S. North American AT-6 Texan advanced trainers with ammunition. Even in its primary role as a trainer, the Texan could be armed. There was provision for a cowl-mounted Browning .30 caliber machine gun for gunnery training, with some versions mounting an additional Browning in the starboard wing. Here armorers load the cowl guns in preparation for a training mission, the photograph providing an excellent view of engine and propeller details.

Source :
National Archives and Records Administration, 342-C-K-143
Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum
https://www.flickr.com/photos/airandspace/albums/72157715574200936
https://inchhighguy.wordpress.com/2022/04/13/

Wind Tunnel Testing of B-17

An Army Air Forces engineer examines a B-17 model undergoing wind tunnel testing. The wind tunnel staff is experienced in all forms of force, pressure, flight control, vibratory, and dynamic testing of powered and unpowered fixed- and rotary-wing aircraft and other test articles in and out of ground effect.

Source :
National Archives and Records Administration 342-C-K-4195
Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum
https://www.boeing.com/company/key-orgs/boeing-testing-services/wind-tunnels-and-propulsion.page
https://www.flickr.com/photos/airandspace/albums/72157715574200936

Capt. Jack Westward instructs combat fliers

Captain Jack Westward of Lewiston, Idaho, instructs combat fliers on the fine points of B-17 formation flying at an Eighth Air Force base in England. The basic element of a typical formation was a squadron “box” of 9 or 12 aircraft; three squadron boxes staggered vertically and horizontally formed a group, and three groups in trail formed a combat wing. In the event, the need to keep such tight defensive formations over Europe compromised the accuracy of the Norden bombsight, since individual bomb runs were not possible without breaking the formation. Whole bomb formations had to drop their loads on the lead bombardier’s command, and the inevitable small differences in timing and heading led to dispersed bomb patterns.

Source :
https://www.britannica.com/technology/B-17
National Archives and Records Administration 342-C-K-2268
Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum
https://www.flickr.com/photos/airandspace/albums/72157715574200936

Idiot's Delight

Master Sergeant Penrose Bingham watches Sergeant Pilla (no first name given) paint another bomb on the side of a Boeing B-17F Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress heavy bomber, nicknamed 'Idiot's Delight' of the U.S. 8th Air Force, England, to commemorate the planes 50th successful mission, 1944. Idiots’ Delight (42-30301 XM * J) belonged to the 94th Bomb Group, 332nd Bomb Squadron and was the first in that group to survive 50 missions. She flew her first mission on July 14, 1943 to Le Bourget and her fiftieth mission on March 22, 1944 to Berlin. Camouflage is standard Olive Drab over Neutral Gray with Neutral Gray (instead of white) stars in the national insignia.

Source :
https://www.facebook.com/groups/2598504867039308
https://www.ipmsstockholm.se/home/in-colour/

Directs a Bomb into Place

 

Corporal Lloyd Shumway directs crane with a 500 lb. bomb into place on the wing of a North American P-51 at a base in England.

Source :
https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=5651403878279712&set=gm.1929517277233686

Ace Pilot Jeremiah O’Keefe

On April 22, 1945, 1st Lt. Jeremiah O’Keefe shot down five Japanese kamikaze aircraft off Okinawa in his F4U Corsair and then brought down another two six days later. When Japan attacked Pearl Harbor, Jerry enlisted, hoping to become a pilot. He received his wings from the U.S. Marines in May, 1943. In 1944, before leaving for his assignment with the Pacific Fleet, he married his childhood sweetheart, Annette Saxon, and started what would be a family of thirteen children. During combat, Jerry earned the status of 'ace' fighter pilot and was later awarded the US Navy Cross, the Distinguished Flying Cross, the Air Medal, Gold Star and, in 2015, the Congressional Gold Medal for American Aces.   Jeremiah J. O’Keefe, shot down seven Japanese pilots in one week in World War II.

Source :
National Archives and Records Administration 127-GW-120703
Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum
https://www.flickr.com/photos/airandspace/albums/72157715574200936