Thanks to Lyric1 for finding the info on the fate of this Mustang and the name of its pilot to go along with a very-high resolution photo of the airplane in question (and other images used in drawing the nose art) that he tracked down, and to Devil505 for his input on the color of the markings on the aircraft.
Lt. Harold H. Marx
P-51D-25-NA "Tiny ‘Gay Baba’" (231)
S/N 44-63955
21st FG, 46th FS
Central Field, Iwo Jima - Summer 1945
This is the P-51D-25-NA "Tiny 'Gay Baba'"* (s/n 44-63955) of the 46th Ftr Sq, 21st FG out of Iwo Jima's Central Field. The aircraft itself was lost in a midair collision on 21 September 1945, 40 miles southeast of Iwo Jima, with LT Harold H. Marx at the controls.
The 21st FG was one of the VLR (Very-Long Range) P-51 Groups stationed on Iwo Jima beginning with its deployment by ship to the island in February 1945.
The 21st began flying patrols that same month with the final group echelon arriving on 25 March. The next morning, elements of the 21st were attacked in their encampment by Japanese commandos. With the assistance of American Marines, 21st personnel counterattacked and in the tent-by-tent fighting killed 250 of the enemy. Fourteen Group personnel were killed and fifty, including 21 FG commander Colonel Kenneth R. Powell, were wounded.
The first escort mission to Japan was flown on April 7th and this mission marked the first time fighters had escorted bombers over Japan. This particular raid on the Nakajima aircraft factory near Tokyo was the longest over-water mission flown up to that point in the war and would earn the group the Distinguished Unit Citation. The 21st flew its last mission on 14 August 1945, about two weeks before the official Japanese capitulation on 2 September.
This skin is the second in my series of VLR Mustangs used in the Pacific Theater.
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* Spelled and punctuated: Tiny “Gay Baba”
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