Special thanks to Lyric on digging up reference material on this plane.
"???" was a P-40F flown Lt. Tom Tilly of the 66th Fighter Squadron, 57th Fighter Group in the late summer and fall of 1942.
The 57th FG was the first American fighter squadron to see action against the Axis in North Africa. They arrived in Palestine on July 19, 1942 after launching all 72 P-40's off the deck of U.S.S. Ranger. They transferred to Egypt and began basic operations while being integrated into RAF squadrons beginning on August 9th. By September 13th, 158 sorties had been flown and the 57th commenced independent operations as part of 211 Group RAF on the 16th as a reserve unit and was fully activated on October 7th. The first official air victory came on October 9th, but earlier victories were had by 57th pilots while on ops with RAF squadrons. They were well seasoned by the time General Montgomery launched the 2nd Battle of El Alamein on October 23rd. They flew 743 sorties between the 19th and 31st of October, claiming 27 Axis planes destroyed.
Lt. Tom Tilly's mount was photographed multiple times both on the Ranger and in Egypt and later Libya. A devil holding a bomb with a lit fuse was painted on both sides of the rudder with the inscription of "Heil Heel!" also painted on the port side of the rudder. The early diamond design adorned the engine cowling aft of the prop spinner. These were painted once arriving in theater, and it is likely that the "???" was also painted on at the same time. The devil was painted on sometime before leaving the Ranger. Lt. Tilly was transferred to the 64th squadron in November and "???" was then flown by William E Taylor and finally Bob Minett, a pilot from the just arrived 79th FG. Lt Minett was flying a mission with the 57th FG when he was forced to crash land "???" after sustaining hits from enemy ground fire while dive bombing their position. Despite coming down behind Axis lines, Minett was able to evade capture and returned to his unit.
"???" features sand colored paint applied over the original OD green camouflage. The data/warning stencils were masked before painting and the OD shows through these gaps in the sand paint. Four position national insignias were painted along with "U.S. Army" under the wings.
