Republic P-47N-2-RE, 44-88211, 507th FG, 464th FS, 20thAF, "Li'l Meaties Meat Chopper", Ie Shima, 1945. This is an adoption of the skin by United77.
Flown by Lt. Oscar F. Perdomo. Nicknamed his airplane "
Li'l Meaties Meat Chopper" with the nose art depicting a diapered baby chomping a cigar in his mouth and derby hat on his head, clutching a rifle. The name referred to his first son, Kenneth, then a year and a half old. Perdomo flew his first combat mission on July 2, while escorting a B-29 to Kyushu.
Perdomo was a veteran of ten combat missions on August 13, 1945, (4 days after the United States dropped the second atomic bomb, on Nagasaki) when he was credited with shooting down four Nakajima "Oscar" fighters and one Yokosuka "Willow" Type 93 biplane trainer. While the 507th Fighter Group mission reports confirm his kills as "Oscars", they were actually Ki-84 "Franks" from the 22nd and 85th Hiko-Sentais. The combat took place near Keijo / Seoul, Korea when 38 Thunderbolts of the 507th Fighter Wing encountered approximately 50 enemy aircraft. It was Perdomo's last combat mission, and the five confirmed victories made him an "Ace in a Day" and thus the distinction of being the last "Ace" of the United States in World War II.
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