A high school buddy of mine who self-published his memoir and is a big fan of P-47s which were built in our home town (Evansville, Indiana) sent me a copy of an unidentified clipping, apparently from a magazine, that tells about what probably is the last aircraft ever shot down by a P-47.
Care to guess what that aircraft was?
Probably the last type you'd ever guess. Think a minute, then scroll down ...
a P-51 (F-51 at the time)
To summarize several paragraphs, on Jan. 11, 1955, Nicaragua invaded Costa Rica. It was claimed that one of the invading aircraft was a P-47 (by now, called an F-47) without markings.
Costa Rica requested help from the United States. Four F-51s were sent from the Texas Air National Guard and flown by Costa Rican pilots.
On Jan. 17 the four F-51s "were credited with thwarting the invasion." One of the F-51s failed to return. The wreck was found "riddled with heavy calibre bullet holes and the pilot was dead."
The article continues, "Although there were no witnesses to the dogfight, there is reasonable evidence to suggest that it was ... [an] F-47 that shot the F-51 down. If this is so, it was the final recorded air-to-air combat involving a Thunderbolt."
Anybody else ever hear of this account? Anybody know of any later probable last kills by a P-47?
