Dan! Widewing! need a little help!

[Hajo]

A friend of mine at work gave me a full description of a flight bag his Uncle gave him.  He also showed me a color photo of it.

The original owner who gave him the bag (canvas sides with artwork and leather top, bottom and handle) painted very nicely.

Original owner :Sgt Richard A. Schuler
                       AF-15217380

                    43-46 Johnson Field  (appears to be 1943 - 1946)
                    China-Burma-India
                    41st Squadron- 35th Fightergroup

given to: Sgt. James Carroll
               AF-13136727

Painted on the side of the bag is either Mt. Fuji or a Volcano with P51 Mustangs climbing the sides of the Mountain.

Honshu Japan.....and Tokyo
    46- 48

My and his questions are....were they groundcrew?  And did the both serve in the 35th FG, 41st Squadron'

The artwork is spectacular.  He is thinking of donating it to Wright Patterson AFB Museum. With a little added info it would be of help.

Thanks
Hajo

[Guppy35]

35th FG was in Japan post war with 51s.  One of the groups without a history is the 35th sad to say.

The 35th was not in the CBI so it appears it's a postwar bag with Schuler ending up in the occupation forces in Japan with the 35th and I'd assume Sgt. Carroll was there as well

[1pLUs44]

35th FG was in Japan post war with 51s.  One of the groups without a history is the 35th sad to say.

The 35th was not in the CBI so it appears it's a postwar bag with Schuler ending up in the occupation forces in Japan with the 35th and I'd assume Sgt. Carroll was there as well

35th Has the 39th FS and the 40th FS... And from what I do know about the 40th FS, it was one of the only WW2 PTO squads that actually liked their P-39s IIRC. 

I also think that the 36th FS of the 35th FG was also pretty famous.

[Hajo]

What puzzles me are the dates under Schulers name.

43 - 46 Johnson Field....I would assume that meant 1943 to 1946
then directly underneath was Chine-Burma-India 41st FS  35th FG

1943 , 44 and 45 we were at War with Japan <shrugs>

[Rino]

     Did they still have enlisted fighter pilots in 1943?

[texasmom]

What puzzles me are the dates under Schulers name.

43 - 46 Johnson Field....I would assume that meant 1943 to 1946
then directly underneath was Chine-Burma-India 41st FS  35th FG

1943 , 44 and 45 we were at War with Japan <shrugs>

Seymour Johnson Field (NC) was a training field.... deactivated May 1946... they trained jug guys there.  Maybe he served there as a trainer at the training station (seems like a bit long to be in training... but I don't know with any certainty how long that stuff took... plus didn't flight training get broken up into different stages = different fields for each stage?)

*edit*
Also, look on pages 89 & 90 of the book shown at this link. It talks specifically about the 35th's activities during that time period:
http://books.google.com/books?id=ywC7IREmE_IC&pg=PA298&lpg=PA298&dq=%22johnson+field%22+1946&source=web&ots=8t8dq6K-yG&sig=nDGLZRUGdW9TO0k0PaDBbHyiTY4&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=6&ct=result#PPA89,M1

[Dantoo]

From their Squadron Web Site:

In October 1945, the 40th flew their P-51s from Machinato AB to Irumagawa, a small base on Honshu near Tokyo. This became Johnson AB during the post-war years. At Yokota AB in April 1950 the 40th Fighter Squadron converted to jets, the P-80 Shooting Star. When the Korean War broke out on 27 June 1950, the 40th moved to Ashiya AB.

and whilst this is in no way certain or definitive:

RICHARD A. SCHULER, age 81, formerly of Boynton Beach, FL., passed away July 26, 2008. ...... Richard served in the Army Air Force during World War II.