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A WORD ABOUT OUR LITTLE FRIENDS

The pilots who flew the Republic P-47 “Jug” in WW II think their airplane has had a bad rap. Saddled with the reputation of being all brawn and no brains, Thunderbolts were often portrayed as a big dumb jock that got through the war on the equivalent of a football scholarship. The real American fighter of WW Two as most of the revisionist historians explain, was North American’s P-5 1 Mustang.< /sarcasm>

Lockheed P-38 Lightning

When the P-38 entered service in late summer 1941, it's twin-engined, twin-boom design and tricyle landing gear were considered somewhat radical. The Lightning combined long range performance with heavy armament. Just over 10,000 were built.

Speed: 414 mph
Service Ceiling: 44,000 ft
Range: 450 mi
Armament: 1x20mm cannon and 4x50cal MGs
Plus 3,200 lbs of bombs

Republic P-47 Thunderbolt

Unofficially known as the "Jug," the P-47 entered service in late 1942. Unable to match the agility and climb rate of it's German opposition, it nonetheless excelled in the dive and possesed good high altitude performance and the ability to absorb damage. Over 15,000 of this type were produced.

Speed: 433 mph
Service Ceiling: 42,000 ft
Range: 480 mi
Armament: 8x50cal MGs
Plus 500 lbs of bombs

North American P-51 Mustang

Considered by many to be the best all-around fighter to emerge from WWII, the P-51 was actually built in response to a British requirement. Ultimately equipped with the British Rolls-Royce Merlin engine, the Mustang proved to be the ideal long-range fighter escort. Nearly 15,000 examples were built and the P-51D model went on to see service in Korea.

Speed: 437 mph
Service Ceiling: 40,000 ft
Range: 1,650 mi
Armament: 6x50cal MGs
Plus 2,000 lbs of bombs

Today's Educational Sources and suggestions for further reading:
www.cebudanderson.com

The P-51 "Little Friends" in Action, April 8, 1944
The 4th Fighter Group Sets a Record

On April 8, 1944, the Eighth Air Force dispatched 664 B-17 Flying Fortress and B-24 Liberator heavy bombers to bomb ten targets in Germany. Another 780 P-38 Lightnings, P-47 Thunderbolts, and P-51 Mustangs were assigned escort duties for the bombers that day. Among the escorts were the red-nosed P-51s of the 4th Fighter Group, including several American Eagle pilots who had flown with the RAF. Their assignment was to link up with some 200 B-24s targeting German aircraft manufacturing facilities at Brunswick.

The 4th was led by Colonel Don Blakeslee, who had become a P-51 devotee while serving with the 354th Group. Blakeslee was a legend in his time. An Ohio native, he joined the Royal Canadian Air Force in order to fly. He was sent to England, but was booted from his squadron for refusing to march his men to church. The Eagle (133) Squadron was his next military home, but entertaining women after hours in his quarters got him reassigned to the U.S.A.A.F. By that time, he already was credited with two kills and one probable, and became an ace flying P-47s in May 1943.

Blakeslee used all his influence to ensure that every unit in his command would be equipped with the Mustang fighter. He was successful. In February they replaced their P-47s with the hot new fighters. In the month between February 28 and March 30, the 4th chalked up 120 Luftwaffe kills, firmly demonstrating the prowess of their nimble warbird.

Captain Don Gentile

The 4th Fighter Group rendezvoused with the B-24s near Ruhrberg just as the Luftwaffe appeared. Blakeslee radioed his unit, "Horseback to Horseback aircraft. One-hundred-plus approaching at 11 o’clock." Immediately, the P-51s set up for action, dropping their auxiliary fuel tanks and heading straight for the German swarm.

Among the pilots in the 4th was Captain Don Gentile, who had 27 enemy planes to his credit that morning. Gentile was leading Shirtblue squadron and had been flying on the right side of the bombers. The Germans opted for a head-on attack against the Liberators and six of the mighty bombers fell nearly at once. As the enemy fighters finished their pass and tried to re-form, Gentile and his 336th Fighter Squadron swept down upon them, breaking up the attack.

Gentile reported that some of the Germans began a dogfight and, as he closed in to tangle with one enemy fighter, he was bounced by several Focke-Wulf Fw-190s. He broke away, selected another 190 and scored several hits from up to 300 yards. The German began to smoke and spiraled down from 16,000 feet.

Gentile spotted another 190 attacking a P-51, but before he could help, the Mustang went down. It was one of four that were to be lost that day. Gentile engaged the Focke-Wulf at 22,000 feet and they fought each other down to 8,000 feet. The 190 tried to break for altitude but Gentile was ready for him: he nailed the enemy plane with a deflection shot from his .50 caliber machine guns and forced the German to bail out.

Gentile selected yet another Fw-190. This one turned into his P-51 and made several passes, guns blazing. Their dogfight lasted ten grueling minutes before the American pilot finally got the advantageous position behind the German plane and drew smoke. The plane crashed. Gentile’s three victories that day raised his total to 30 enemy planes destroyed.

Major Louis "Red Dog" Norley

Gentile had a counterpart in the 4th Fighter Group that April 8: "Red Dog" Norley (nick-named for his fondness for the poker game) already had proved himself to be a threat to German aircraft. He was a hot fighter pilot with two kills in his belt. No sooner had Gentile’s Mustang entered the fray than Norley spotted a Fw-190 beneath his own plane. Their battle began at 3,000 feet and the German pilot tried mightily to elude the P-51 on his tail. The German tried to dive even lower, but Norley nailed the plane with two short bursts and the pilot bailed out.

Climbing away, Norley spotted another 190, chased it for a mile, blasted it with a short burst, and witnessed another bail out. Turning away, the P-51 pilot went after a third 190 about a half-mile away. The dogfight was brief, the German downed, and "Red Dog" had a total of five kills for the day and ace status.

Captain Willard W. "Millie" Millikan

Iowan "Millie" Millikan flew with the 4th Fighter Group for a year, and a total of 52 missions, before ever scoring a kill. Then, flying P-47s, Millikan scored three enemy aircraft downed in the next five months before switching to the Mustang. Two more kills in the P-51 and he was an ace, heading for the rendezvous with the Brunswick-bound B-24s the morning of April 8, 1944.

Like Gentile, Milliken joined the battle as the German fighters were re-grouping from their frontal pass that downed six Liberators. He tucked beneath a gaggle of Bf-109s climbing for another attack and shot down the last plane in the formation with a deflection shot. Spotting another Mustang trying to evade a German attacker, Milliken fired a spray of .50 slugs, perforating the enemy’s fuselage from engine to tail. The Messerschmitt flamed and dropped like a rock into the forest below.

A third Bf-109 caught his eye as it skillfully evaded several other Mustangs doing battle with it. The German came at Milliken’s red-nosed P-51, but the American dove and turned away. Milliken came around for a deflection shot as the German spun out of a flaps-down turn. The P-51 scored hits from 150 yards. The German pilot bailed out at 800 feet and the fighter crashed. "Millie" Milliken joined "Red Dog" Norley and Don Gentile in the triple-kill category on what began as a routine escort mission.

Counting the Toll

Four Mustangs were lost from the 4th Fighter Group that day, but the Luftwaffe counted 31 planes missing after the battle. The 190 B-24s that got through to Brunswick laid about 623 tons of high explosive on the aircraft factories.

The 4th Fighter Group set a new record for fighter engagements in the European Theater of Operations. The day’s achievements underscored the growing might of the Eighth Air Force, thanks to the long-range protection afforded by the P-51 Mustang. The war had indeed come home to the German Fatherland.

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On This Day In History

Birthdates which occurred on April 03:
1367 Henry IV Bolingbroke Lincolnshire, King of England (1399-1413)
1569 Giovanni Battista Massarengo composer
1593 George Herbert English poet (5 Mystical Songs)

1715 John Hanson Port Tobacco MD, 1st US President under Articles of Confederation

1783 Washington Irving New York NY, American writer (Legend of Sleepy Hollow, Rip Van Winkle)
1798 Charles D Wilkes Commander (Union Navy), died in 1877
1822 Edward Everett Hale US, clergyman/author (Man without a Country)
1823 William Marcy "Boss" Tweed corrupt NYC political boss
1825 Adolf Rzepko composer
1837 John Burroughs writer/nature enthusiast (Burroughs Medal namesake)
1842 Ulric Dahlgren Colonel (Union volunteers), died in 1864
1858 Matthew Ricketts 1st Black man elected to Nebraska State Legislature
1860 Frederik W van Eeden Dutch utopian writer (Walden)
1885 Harry St John Philby [sheik Abdullah], British explorer
1894 Dooley Wilson Tyler TX, actor (Bill-Beulah, Sam-Casablanca)
1898 George Jessel toastmaster general/entertainer (Diary of Young Comic)
1898 Henry R Luce Tengchow China, publisher (Time, Fortune, Life, 1965 Fisher Award)
1900 Camille Chamoun President of Lebanon
1904 Sally Rand US, actress/fan dancer (1933 Chicago World Fair)
1904 Iron Eyes Cody Tulsa OK, actor (Black Gold, Ernest Goes to Camp)
1907 Isaac Deutscher Polish/English historian (Stalin/Trotsky biography)
1915 Paul Touvier war criminal
1916 Herb Caen Sacramento CA, columnist (San Francisco Chronicle)
1921 Marilyn Maxwell Clarinda IA, actress (Grace-Bus Stop)
1924 Doris Day Cincinnati OH, "girl next door" actress (Pillow Talk)
1924 Marlon Brando Omaha NE, actor (On the Waterfront, A streetcar Named Desire, Godfather)
1926 Virgil Grissom Mitchell IN, Lieutenant Colonel USAF/astronaut (Merc 4, Gemini 3)
1929 Miyoshi Umeki Otaru Hokkaido Japan, actress (Best Supporting Actress Oscar-1957-Sayonara, Mrs Livingston-Courtship of Eddie's Father)
1930 Max Frankel journalist
1930 Helmut Kohl chancellor (Germany, 1982- )
1930 Lawton Chiles (Senator/Governor-Democrat-FL, 1971-89/91- )
1933 Robert K(B-1 Bob) Dornan (Representative-Republican-CA, 1977-83, 85- )
1934 Jane Goodall London England, ethologist (studied African chimps)
1941 Jan Berry Los Angeles CA, rock vocalist (Jan & Dean-Deadman's Curve) died 3/04
1942 Billy Joe Royal Valdosta GA, country singer (Down in the Boondocks)
1942 Marsha Mason St Louis MO, actress (Blume in Love, Cinderella Liberty)
1942 Wayne Newton Roanoke VA, singer (Danke Schön)
1944 Tony Orlando New York NY, singer (& Dawn-Tie a Yellow Ribbon)
1945 Richard Manuel rock pianist/vocalist (The Band-Up on Cripple Creek)
1946 Carlos Salinas de Gortari President (México, 1988-94)
1946 John Virgo British snooker player
1947 Pat[rick] Proft Minneapolis MN, comedy writer (Naked Gun, Airplane)
1949 Lyle Alzado NFLer (Los Angeles Raiders)/actor (Oceans of Fire, Hangfire)
1955 Mick Mars [Bob Allen Dale] Terra Haute IN, guitarist (Mötley Crüe-Girls Girls)
1955 Aleksandr Nikolayevich Yablontsev Russian Lieutenant-Colonel/cosmonaut
1958 Alec Baldwin Amityville NY, actor (Joshua-Knots Landing, Beetlejuice)(STILL living in the USA)
1959 David Hyde Pierce Saratoga Springs NY, actor (Niles Crane-Fraiser)
1961 Eddie Murphy Brooklyn NY, actor (Saturday Night Live, 48 Hours, Beverly Hills Cop, Raw)

Deaths which occurred on April 03:
0033 Christ crucified (according to astronomer Humphreys & Waddington)
0628 Chosroes II emperor of Persia (579..628), murdered by his son
1287 Honorius IV [Giacomo Savelli], Italian Pope (1285-87), dies
1512 Richard Pafraet Dutch printer, dies
1525 Giovanni Rucellai Italian poet (Le Api), dies at 49
1826 Reginald Heber bishop & hymn writer, dies
1838 Francesco Antommarchi Napoleon's physician on St Helena, dies at 57
1862 James Clark Ross Arctic explorer, dies
1882 Jesse James outlaw, shot dead at 34, in St Joseph MO by Robert Ford
1901 Richard D'Oyly Carte promotor (Gilbert & Sullivan operas), dies
1936 Bruno Hauptmann convicted Lindbergh baby killer, executed
1941 André Michelin French tire manufacturer, dies at 88
1943 Conrad Veidt German/US actor (Cabinet of Dr Calgary), dies at 50
1946 Lieutenant General Masaharu Homma (responsible for Bataan Death March), executed
1956 T Kostov Bulgarian vice-premier, executed
1962 Benny "Kid" Paret US welterweight boxer, dies after fight, at 24
1971 Joseph Valachi US gangster, dies at 66
1971 Manfred Bonnington Lee [Ellery Queen], detective writer, dies at 65
1982 Warren Oates actor (East of Eden, Stoney Burke, The Wild Bunch), dies at 53
1986 Richard Manuel rock pianist/vocalist (Band), dies on 41st birthday
1988 Milton A Caniff US cartoonist (Terry & the Pirates), dies at 81
1990 Sarah Vaughan jazz singer, dies of lung cancer at 66
1991 Graham Greene British writer (3rd Man, Our man in Havana), dies at 86
1993 Pinky Lee kiddie host (Pinky Lee Show), dies of heart attack at 85
1994 Betty Furness actress/news consumer reporter (WNBC), dies at 78
1996 Carl Stokes 1st black mayor of a major US city (Cleveland OH), dies
1996 Ronald Harmon Brown Secretary of Commerce, dies in an "accident" at 54
1996 Roosevelt "Booba" Barnes bluesman, dies at 59

Reported: MISSING in ACTION

1965 MORGAN HERSCHEL S.---CANDLER NC.
[02/14/73 RELEASED BY DRV/INJURED,ALIVE IN 98]
1965 SMITH GEORGE C.---ST LOUIS MO.
1965 VOHDEN RAYMOND A.---SPRINGFIELD NJ.
[02/12/73 RELEASED BY DRV/INJURED, ALIVE IN 98]
1966 LAWS RICHARD LEE---SACRAMENTO CA.
1968 HARDY JOHN CHARLES---TROY MO.
[04/12/68 REMAINS RECOVERED]
1968 REXROAD RONALD REUEL---RANKIN IL.
1968 THOMAS JAMES C.---SAFFORD AZ.
1969 ECKLUND ARTHUR G.---PHOENIX AZ.
1969 JEFFERSON PERRY H.---DENVER CO.
1972 CHRISTENSEN ALLEN D.---FRANDREAU SD.
1972 HENDERSON WILLIAM J.---MILWAUKEE WI.
[03/27/73 RELEASED BY PRG, ALIVE IN 98]
1972 MUREN THOMAS RICHARD---LAKEWOOD CA.
1972 O'NEIL DOUGLAS L.---BAYONNE NJ.
1972 WILLIAMS EDWARD W.---CLEARWATER FL.
1972 ZICH LARRY A.---LINCOLN NE.

POW / MIA Data & Bios supplied by
the P.O.W. NETWORK. Skidmore, MO. USA.

On this day...
0309 -BC- Origin of Seleucid Era
0419 [Etalius] ends his reign as Catholic Pope
1043 Edward the Confessor crowned king of England
1645 English parliament accept Self-Denying Ordinance
1657 English Lord Protector Cromwell refuses crown
1721 Robert Walpole becomes England's 1st Lord of the Treasury
1764 Austrian arch duke Jozef crowned himself Roman Catholic king
1776 Washington receives honorary Ll.D. degree from Harvard College
1783 Sweden & US sign a treaty of Amity & Commerce

1790 Revenue Marine Service (US Coast Guard), created

1848 Thomas Douglas becomes 1st San Francisco public teacher
1860 Pony Express began between St Joseph MO & Sacramento CA
1864 Skirmish at Okolona AR
1865 Union forces occupy Confederate capital of Richmond VA & Petersburg VA
1865 Battle at Namozine Church VA (Appomattox Campaign)
1868 An Hawaiian surfs on highest wave ever, he rides a 50' tidal wave
1882 Wood block alarm invented, when alarm rang, it dropped 20 wood blocks
1908 Frank Gotch wins world heavyweight wrestling championship in 2 hours
1910 Highest mountain in North America, Alaska's Mount McKinley climbed
1913 British suffragette Emily Pankhurst sentenced to 3 years in jail
1917 Lenin leaves Switzerland for Petrograd
1918 House of Representatives accepts American Creed written by William Tyler
1919 Austria expels all Habsburgers
1922 Stalin appointed General Secretary of Communist Party
1923 2 "Black Sox" sue White Sox (unsuccessfully) for back salary
1925 Great Britain goes back to gold standard
1926 2nd flight of a liquid-fueled rocket by Robert Goddard
1926 1st performance of Jean Sibelius' 7th Symphony in C
1927 Interstate Commerce Commission transfers Ohio to Eastern time zone
1930 Ras Tafari becomes Emperor Haile Selassie of Abyssinia (Ethiopia)
1933 1st airplane flight over Mount Everest
1933 The longest North American hockey game requires a 1:44:46 overtime as Maple Leaf Ken Doraty scores to beat Canadiens 1-0
1936 Al Carr KOs Lew Massey on 1 punch, :07 of the 1st round (shortest boxing bout with gloves)
1941 Churchill warns Stalin of German invasion
1941 Rasjid al-Gailani forms pro-German regime in Iraq
1944 Supreme Court (Smith vs Allwright) "white primaries" unconstitutional
1944 British dive bombers attack battle cruiser Tirpitz
1945 Nazi's begin evacuation of camp Buchenwald
1946 Netherlands-German postal relations resume
1948 Harry Truman signs Marshall Plan ($5B aid to 16 European countries)
1949 KQW-AM in San Francisco CA changes call letters to KCBS
1949 North Atlantic Treaty, pact signed by US, Britain, France & Canada
1954 Don Perry climbs a 20' rope in under 2.8 seconds (AAU record)
1956 German war criminals Hinrichsen/Rühl/Siebens/Viebahn are freed
1957 Samuel Beckett's "Endgame", premieres in London
1957 USSR performs atmospheric nuclear test
1958 Fidel Castro's rebels attacked Havana
1962 Jockey Eddie Arcaro retires after 31 years (24,092 races)
1964 US & Panamá agree to resume diplomatic relations
1965 1st atomic powered spacecraft (SNAP) launched
1966 Luna 10 orbits Moon
1966 Tom Seaver, signs with the Mets for a reported $50,000 bonus
1967 113 East Europeans attending World Amateur hockey championships in Vienna, ask for political asylum
1968 North Vietnam agrees to meet US representatives to set up preliminary peace talks
1970 Miriam Hargrave of England passes her drivers test on 40th try
1974 148 tornadoes are reported over an area covering a dozen states in the east, south & midwest killed approximately 315
1974 Gold hits record $197 an ounce in Paris France
1975 Bobby Fischer stripped of world chess title for refusing to defend
1977 Egyptian President Anwar Sadat's 1st meeting with President Jimmy Carter
1979 Jane M Byrne (D) elected 1st woman mayor of Chicago IL
1981 Race riots in London's Brixton area
1982 UN Security Council demands Argentina's withdrawal from Falkland Islands
1985 Vic Elliot pocketed 15,780 pool balls in 24 hours in London
1987 Bill Elliott sets NASCAR qualifying record of 212.809 mph at Talladega
1987 Chicago Cubs trade Dennis Eckersley to A's for 3 minor leaguers
1988 Mario Lemieux wins NHL scoring title, stopping Gretzky's 7 year streak
1988 Somalia & Ethiopia sign accord about Ogaden desert
1991 "Penn & Teller - Refrigerator Tour" opens at Eugene O'Neill NYC
1991 Bo Jackson signs 1-year contract with Chicago White Sox
1991 UN Security Council adopts Gulf War truce resolution
1996 St Francis Fighting Saints scores college baseball run record 71-1
1996 Theodore Kaczynski Jr. was arrested by FBI agents and charged with being the "Unabomber".

Holidays
Note: Some Holidays are only applicable on a given "day of the week"

Switzerland : Glarius Festival (1388) (Thursday)
Massachusetts : Student Government Day (Friday)
US : American Circus Day
US : Don't Go to Work Unless It's Fun Day
US : Tweed Day
National Fresh Celery Month

Religious Observances
Anglican : Commemoration of Richard, Bishop of Chichester
Christian : Holy Saturday

Religious History
1189 The Peace of Strasbourg was signed, resolving the differences between Emperor Frederick Barbarossa of Germany and Pope Clement III.
1528 In Cologne, German reformer Adolf Clarenbach, 28, was arrested for teaching Protestant (some say Anabaptist or Waldensian) doctrines. The following year, Clarenbach was burned at the stake for his faith.
1593 Birth of George Herbert, English clergyman and poet. One of his verses endures today as the hymn, "The King of Love My Shepherd Is."
1759 Anglican clergyman and hymnwriter John Newton wrote in a letter: 'I believe that love to God, and to man for God's sake, is the essence of religion and the fulfilling of the law.'
1950 Death of American hymnwriter Ira B. Wilson, 70. Associated with Lorenz Publishing in Dayton, Ohio for over 40 years, Wilson's most enduring sacred composition was "Make Me a Blessing" (aka "Out of the Highways and Byways of Life").

Source: William D. Blake. ALMANAC OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. Minneapolis: Bethany House, 1987.

Thought for the day :
"Be wary of strong drink. It can make you shoot at tax collectors... and miss."

New Words for 2004...
OHNOSECOND: That minuscule fraction of time in which you realize that you've just made a BIG mistake.

New State Slogans...
FLORIDA: If you think we can't vote, wait till you see us drive.

Male Language Patterns...
"I'm getting more exercise lately," REALLY MEANS,
"The batteries in the remote are dead."

Female Language Patterns...
I'm not upset REALLY MEANS,
Of course I'm upset, you moron!

I've been outside doing some brick work. I heard the unmistakable sound made by only one type of plane flying overhead. I was surprised, since I was unaware of any Warbird group at the local aerodrome.