Maj. Don Gentile's War Bond Tour P-51D-30-NA
I thought I would shed some light on this aircraft, as at least at one time, very little was known about it.
Following his service time with No. 133 Eagle Squadron and joining the 4th FG flying P-47 Thunderbolts in 1943, Don Gentile received a P-51B in February 1944, and by early April was the leading ace of the 8th AF. Unfortunately, while performing for the press and movie cameras, who had gathered to document his achievements on April 13, he got too low on one of his passes and ended up digging the aircraft into the ground. As a result of this, Don Blakeslee (the loved, and very respected leader of the 4th FG) grounded him, and he was sent back to the U.S. (but as I recall, his tour had already come to an end anyway, and he was already slated to go back home). In the U.S. he was put to work helping to promote the selling of war bonds and also served as a test pilot. In the summer of 1945, he was 'given' a very late model P-51D-30-NA (the second to the last off the Inglewood production line), to fly to some various events/air shows, as part of a war bond tour. This P-51D (for which I have copied in "Mustang Tales") was painted up sort of in 'Hollywood markings' that resembled, but were not true to, his P-51B that he had flown with the 4th FG.
One of the events that Maj. Gentile flew this aircraft and displayed this aircraft at, was the massive "Army Air Forces Fair", held at Wright Field from 13-21 October 1945. Over one million people, from 26 different countries, were reported to have attended - this after 500,000 people had attended in just the original first two days of the event (resulting in the event being extended for a week). This Fair was held to showcase the aircraft that took part in WWII, featuring many leading Allied aircraft at the time, and numerous captured Axis aircraft. Amongst the highlights you would have seen were formations and air show passes by Maj. Gentile flying a P-51 painted as "Shangri-La", Maj. Dick Bong flying a P-38 painted as "Marge", and Lt. Steve Pisanos flying a Bell P-59 jet.
Here is an except from just one of many news papers that covered the event, courtesy of Martin Kyburz (Swiss Mustangs), which also includes mention of the fatal XP-55 Ascender crash that occurred at the show:
"The event was a day-long open house and War Loan rally. According to newspaper reports, 100,000 or more people attended the Sunday event. They watched a C-46 Commando snag a glider and yank it into tow, and they were the first civilians to get a peek inside the B-29 Superfortress. Heavy bombers flew overhead, including the massive, one-of-a-kind Douglas XB-19. Legendary war aces Maj. Richard "Dick" Bong and Capt. Dominic "Don" Gentile flew fighter demonstrations — Bong in a P-38 Lightning and Gentile in a P-51 Mustang. Lt. Steve Pisanos flew a P-59 Airacomet, the Army's futuristic, jet-powered fighter.
At 4 p.m., several fighter pilots lined up for a flyby. According to an eyewitness account by Capt. John Ducas, squeezed into the back of Bong's P-38, five fighters were to fly over the field in single-file formation, led by Capt. William C. Glasgow, 28, of Niagara Falls, NY. Glasgow was a combat veteran who had been shot down over Germany, taken prisoner and escaped. He held the Silver Star, Distinguished Flying Cross, Purple Heart, and an Air Medal with six oak leaf clusters. He was flying the XP-55
"After completing the pass across the field, we were to make a slow roll and then continue the direction of flight," Ducas wrote in an account published by the papers. Glasgow made his roll, and then the plane "seemed to wobble to the right and left, almost completing a second roll." Bong began his pass, then suddenly turned away. Bong gestured toward the ground; Dugan looked down and saw "a mass of red flames and then a second later the inferno was engulfed by black smoke." According to other witnesses, Glasgow's plane "swooped close to the ground and tore off 150 feet of fence" near Airway Road. The plane "burst into flames and began falling apart."
Here is some video that was shot at the event:
http://www.ovguide.com/video/1945-t...-ohio-1-of-2-922ca39ce10036bafd11cc3fe029b369
One of the things that got me interested in this aircraft, was that early last year, a couple of great color photos came to light of this aircraft, where as beforehand only one or two different, black & white, photos were known to exist. These showed details of the aircraft that couldn't be seen before, such as a red/white/red band around the rear fuselage, very similar to the red/yellow/red band that was applied (in this same location) on Mustangs operating in occupied Germany. Still no photos showing the tail, but Martin Kyburz of "Swiss Mustangs" stated the following at the P-51 Special Interest Group forums, which would support the theory of this aircraft being 44-75025 (as I have depicted it):
"44-75025 was attached to the Flight Test Division at Patterson Field, OH (where Gentile's workplace was after his return from the ETO) from 1945 through 1950. The a/c subsequently was sent to the K.W.Z. during Fall 1950 and served with the 67th TRG 45th TRS (one of the regular F-51D's serving alongside their RF-51D's) until eventually transferred to the ROKAF on 27th September 1952, where it was lost in a flying accident on 18th September 1953."
A couple of P-51D's restored and flying today (one based in the U.S. and another in Mexico) are painted in these markings, though none of them have the red/white/red band around the rear fuselage (being a rather recent detail now known about the original), and on those, they each just carry the serial number of the actual restored aircraft.
The only item that I purposely strayed from the original, is that when the aircraft was displayed it had caps over the guns (like the historic Navy P-51D included), and would have of course not had any ammunition loaded. In order to allow the model to support repaints of many other aircraft, I chose to leave those caps off and keep the ammunition in-place. On the bottom of the wings, though, you can see the doped fabric patches covering the shell-ejector chute openings, to keep dirt and grime from entering the gun bays, and that is just something controlled via the textures and has no 'permanence'.