Who Really Flew Them?

[Thrawn]

The squardon that the Mosquito belongs to is the RCAF 418 "City of Edmonton" Squadron.

"Nickname: Eskimo

              Motto: PIYAUTAILILI - "Defend even unto death"

Battle Honours

Defence of Britain 1944, Fortress Europe 1942-44, France and Germany 1944-45, Normandy 1944 Rhine

Squadron History
The War Years

From its very inception, it was determined that 418 would be unique. As the RCAF's only Intruder Squadron, it was formed in 1941 when Canada was asked to come to the defence of England following the near defeat that was called the "Battle of Britain". With the night fall, 418 crews manned their Douglas Boston aircraft and prepared for a deadly hunt. They did not fly in the protective swarms as did the other fighter or bomber crews; rather they ventured alone into the night's sky to patrol the perimeters of the enemy's airfields and shoot him down as he began his night raids.

418's fame began to mount in 1943 when they converted to the De-Havilland Mosquito. They were the only Canadian unit given free rein to "intrude" into the enemy's lair from the fjords of Norway, through the Mediterranean, to the steppes of Eastern Europe. They performed a multitude of roles that was unparalleled in the history of aerial warfare. These ranged from dropping money and supplies for clandestine operations, to the lightning quick strikes at grass-top height against railway yards and airfields. They were also in the fore in the defence against the new scourge of the civilian population - the V1 and V2 rockets.

It was during this period that 418 was adopted by the City of Edmonton and became known as the 418 City of Edmonton Squadron. The enemy was promptly notified of this change when bricks wrapped in issues of the Edmonton Journal were dropped during one of the subsequent raids. With the war's end, 418 was the top fighter squadron in the RCAF and its units score was one of the highest in all the Allied Air Forces. The pilots and navigators were referred to as the "finest in the World".




http://www.rcaf.com/squadrons/400_squadrons/418sqn.shtml

[kurupi]

 (Unit/Date/Pilot(rank) -  ie) JG26/August '41/Some Body(Hauptmann)

P-47D-25

 

P-47D-25 ---- 1º GAvCa FAB (Brazilian Air Force) ( 350th FG ) / Nov 44 - May 45 / Rui Moreira Lima (1st Ten Av )

In fact, the GAvCa means "Grupo de Aviação de Caça" (Fighter Aviation Group)

A pic of the monument at Patrick AFB, Dayton, Ohio:

[Guppy35]

Working on a few more

FW190F8-Its the markings worn by the surviving F8 at the National Air & Space Museum.  It served with I/SG2 from March 1944.  No known pilot but Hans Ulrich Rudel commanded this unit during the time the aircraft was with it on the Russian Front

P40E  9th FS, 49th FG, 5th AF 14 Mile Strip, New Guiniea, October 1942.  Can't find a pilot's name, but both George Preddy and John Landers of 8th AF Mustang fame first flew combat with this crew in the Pacific.

P40B  1st FS "Adam & Eves" American Volunteer Group, Kunming, China February 1942  S/L Bob Neale (12 Victories)

Seafire IIc-I believe it's based on the Seafire IIc of S/L J.D. Buchanan of 885 Squadron, HMS Formidable During Operation Torch, November 1942.

Dan/Slack

[Kweassa]

Update I found the data for Me262A-1 White3..

 We still have conflicting claims for A6M2, A6M5. I'm pretty sure the A6M2 seems definately like Sakai's, but I think I'd better search some more.

 I still need a rank and a service date for Juutilainen's G-2.

 Need service date for Kittel's A-5 and Barkhorn's D-9.

 The Bf110C and G, F4U-1C, Yak-9T and 9U, FM2, Me163 are still blank, but I think I can find the 163.

 Spit IA, HurriII, P-47D-30 are still mystery pilots

 
----------------------------------------------------------------------
A6M2: 251 Kokutai/'42/Hiroyoshi Nishizawa(Lt jg)
(A6M2: ? / ? / Saburo Sakai)

A6M5b: 203 Kokutai/'44/Tetsuzo Iwamoto(Lt)
(A6M5b:653 Kokutai, Kagoshima/ ? / ?)

Bf 109E-4: 7/JG26 Caffiers, France/Aug '40/Joachem Muenchberg(Oblt)

Bf 109F-4: Stab III/JG2 Caen, France/Nov '41/Hans "Assi" Hahn(Hptm)

Bf 109G-2 - LeLv34/ ? /Eino Illmari "Illu" Juutilainen( ? )

Bf 109G-6 - 6/JG52 Deutsch Brod, Czecheslovakia/Sept '44/Erich Hartmann(Hptm)

Bf 109G-10 - Stab IV/JG4 Finsterwalde, Germany/Nov '44/Franz Wienhusen(Hptm)

Bf 110C-4b

Bf 110G-2

C.202: 10Gruppo/'42/Franco Lucchini(?)

C.205: 16Gruppo/'43/Adriono Visconti(?)

F4U-1: VF-17, USS Bunkerhill/Aug '43/James Halford(Lt. Jg)

F4U-1C: ? / ? / ?

F4U-1D: VF-84, USS Bunkerhill/Feb '45/Roger Hedrick(Lt Cdr./CO)

F4U-4: USMC VMF 222, Okinawa/Jun '45/Ken Walsh(Cpt)

F4F-4: VMF-121/1942/Joseph Foss(Captain)

F6F-5: "Minsi II", VF-15, USS Essex/'44/David McCampbell(Cdr)

FM2: ? / ? / ?

Fw 190A-5: 2./Jg54, "Grunherz" / ? /Otto Kittel(Lt. , Staffelkapitan)

Fw 190A-8 - Jg26/ '44 / Josef "Pips" Priller(Oblt)

FW190F8 - I/SG2/ Mar '44 / ?

Fw 190D-9:Stab./Jg6 / ? /Gerhard Barkhorn(Maj)

Hurricane MkI: 501 Sqn, Hawkinge /Aug, '40/K.N. T. Lee(F/L)

Hurricane IIC 1 Sqn, RAF, Tangmere/'42/ ?

Hurricane IID: 6 Sqn, Desert Air Force RAF, Shandur/'42/Sidi Heneish

Ki-61-I-KAIc: 244th Sentai/'45/Kobayashi Teruhiko(Capt)

La-5FN: 240.IAP, 302 IAD, 5 VA./ ? /Ivan Kozhedub

La-7: 32GvIAP, 3GvIAD, 1GvIAK, Latvia/Sep '44/Victor Orekhov(Maj)

Mosquito Mk VI: "Black Rufe" 418th Sqn "City of Edmonton", RAF/Jun '44/Robert Allan Kipp(Sq.Ldr), B. P. Haletsky(FO)

Me 163: ? / ? / ?

Me 262: JV 44, Munich-Riem/ '45 /Adolf Galland(Generalleutnant)

N1K2-J: 343rd Kokutai/'45/Shoichi Sugita(Chief Petty Officer)

P-38L - "Pudgy IV"/431st FS, 475th FG, 5th AF/Dec '44/Thomas McGuire(Major)

P40B - "Adam & Eves", 1st FS AVG, Kunming, China / Feb '42 / Bob Neale (S/L)
 
P40E - 9th FS, 49th FG, 5th AF, New Guiniea/ Oct '42 / ?

P-47D-11: 61st FS, 56th FG, 8th AF /Feb '44 /Francis Gabreski(Maj)

P-47D-25: Green Squadron 1* GAvCa/ '44~'45 /Rui Moreira(1st Ten Av)

P-47D-30: 397th FS, 368th FG, 9th AF/'44~'45/ ?

P-51B: "Shangri La"/336th FS, 4th FG, 8th AF Debden, England/Apr '44/Don Gentile(Cpt)

P-51D: "Cripes a Mighty"/328th FS, 352nd FG, 8th AF, Belgium/Dec '44/George Preddy(Maj)

Seafire IIC: 885 Squadron, HMS Formidable/ Nov '42 / J.D. Buchanan(S/L)

Spitfire Mk IA: 603 Sqn., Hornchurch/ September 1940/ ?

Spitfire V: "London Butcher"/609 Sqd.609 RAF "West Riding of Yorkshire", Biggin Hill/ July '41/ Michael Robinson(S/L)

Spitfire Mk IX: 303 Sqn. PAF, Northolt/ June 1943/Jan Falkowski(S/L )

Spitfire MkXIV: RNZAF, OC Flying, Lympne/October 1944/Colin Gray(W/C)

Ta 152H-1: Stab/JG301 /Mar '45/Willi Reschke(Ob.fwbl)

Tempest V: "Le Grand Charles"/3 Squadron, Volkel Holland/Spring '45/Pierre Closterman(L)

Typhoon: 146 Wing/'44/J R Baldwin(Wg Cdr)

Yak-9T

Yak-9U


................

[Kweassa]

All I could get about the Me163B "Yellow11" is service time in 1945, and II./JG400 Anybody got more info?

[Guppy35]

FW190D9 Major Gerhard Barkhorn, Stab/JG6 , Sorau, Germany, February 1945

The JG54 history I have shows Otto Kittel as an Oberfeldwebel at the time he would have been flying an A5, while with I/JG54 in the Spring/Summer of 1943.  The cover painting in fact is Kittel flying an A6 in the Fall of 43.

Got the pilot for the P40E as well.  Turns out it was then Lt. Sidney Woods.  He later commanded the 9th FS of the 49th FG when they converted to P38s, scoring one kill.  He then went to England Where he commanded two different fighter groups, including the 4th Fighter Group.  He was a double ace, including an Ace in a day 5 kill mission with the 4th FG on 3/22/45.  He also served in the 479th FG and 355th FG in England.  he was made a POW on his 180th mission on April 16, 1945

Still hunting for the others

Dan/Slack

[Ack-Ack]

Originally posted by Blooz


P-38?    49FG/1944/Richard Bong(Major)

The P-38L in AH was McGuire's, not Bong's.



ack-ack

[Guppy35]

Got the pilot for the Spitfire Ia.

Flying Officer B.J.G."Brian" Carbury, slightly wounded in R6835 XT-W on August 31, 1940. His Spit was damaged by cannon fire from a 109 during a fight over Southend.  603 was operating from Hornchurch at the time.  The Spit was damaged but repairable.

Carbury was a friend of Richard Hillary in 603 squadron and is mentioned in Hillary's book, "The Last Enemy".

Dan/Slack

[Guppy35]

Finally found the bastard!  

P47D-30-RE  Lt. George McWilliams, D3-V, 397th FS, 368th Fighter Group, 9th Air Force, Frankfurt am Main, Germany, May 1945.

The color photo I finally found of this one is actually a post war, in flight over Germany shot.

Dan/Slack
who blew half the night chasing this stuff.  Thank goodness I don't work tomorrow

[Guppy35]

Kweassa, I'm wondering where you got the info on White 3, the Me262?

The extensive history of JV44 shows White 3 as having possibly been flown by Heinz Bar, after he joined JV44.  It was also flown operationally by Uffz Johann-Karl Muller and Fw. Otto Kammerdiener at Munchen-Riem in April of 1945

werk nummer 111746

Ok now I'm going to sleep

Dan/Slack

[Guppy35]

I lied.  One more possible ID for the Me163.

Leutnant Hartmut Ryll, 1/JG400, Brandis, Germany, August 16, 1944.   Ryall launched in an 11 numbered 163 and attacked a Fortress from the 91st BG known as "Outhouse Mouse".  He claimed to have hit it over the radio, but in fact the Fortress pilot had sharply banked out of the way of the cannon fire.

Two P51 pilots of the 359th Fighter Group, Cyril Jones and John Murphy, dove on the 163 and managed to mortally wound Ryll who crashed and was killed.


I'm not positive on this one as the 163 is listed as white 11 not yellow 11, but it's often the profile artist's speculation as to what color the 11 might have been, unless they have an actual color photo to go from.  I'd be surprised if JG400 had enough Me163s operational to have more then one numbered 11.

The attack on the B17 Outhouse Mouse, shows up in a number of books, which leads me to believe this is a good possibilty.  

Dan/Slack

[Guppy35]

Best guess on the 110C

Bf 110C-4b, Stab/Eprobungs Gruppe 210,  Denain, France, August 1940

This was Walter Rubensdorffer's Test Group 210 that flew a mix of 110s and 109s that 'pioneered' the fighter bomber concept in the Luftwaffe.  No clue on the pilot of this particular 110

Dan/Slack

[Guppy35]

Found the FM2

FM2 Wildcat, VF-26, USS Santee, October 1944, Leyte Gulf, Pacific

No pilot identified.  LCDR H.N. Funk was the Squadron CO. Might be worth using his name as a representative pilot of the squadron.

the USS Santee was torpedoed later that month.

Dan/Slack

[Guppy35]

Found the F4U-1C

F4U-1C  VMF-311 "Hells Belles", Yontan Airfield, Okinawa, from March 1945-August 1945,  

Not sure on the pilot but VMF-311 produced two aces during that time. Majors Perry L. Shuman and Michael R. Yunck became aces with six and five enemy aircraft destroyed respectively.  Major Yunck was the Squadron CO.  They were the second highest scoring squadron in the Okinawa campaign with 71 kills.

I'd list Mike Yunck as the pilot just for the fact he commanded the Squadron at 3 different times. Was one of only three Aces produced by VMF-311, won 2 Silver Stars, was a career Marine aviator, who lost a leg flying Helicoptors in Vietnam and returned to flying status afterwards.  (an amazing man from what I can find today)

Dan/Slack

[Guppy35]

Gotta love days off to play history detective:

A bit more

Macchi C.202  75 Squadron, 23 Gruppo, 3 Stormo, October 1942, Abu Nimeir, Egypt.  No pilot ID'd

Dan/Slack