Aces High Bulletin Board
General Forums => Aircraft and Vehicles => Topic started by: Halo on January 17, 2004, 06:25:36 PM
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A high school buddy of mine who self-published his memoir and is a big fan of P-47s which were built in our home town (Evansville, Indiana) sent me a copy of an unidentified clipping, apparently from a magazine, that tells about what probably is the last aircraft ever shot down by a P-47.
Care to guess what that aircraft was?
Probably the last type you'd ever guess. Think a minute, then scroll down ...
a P-51 (F-51 at the time)
To summarize several paragraphs, on Jan. 11, 1955, Nicaragua invaded Costa Rica. It was claimed that one of the invading aircraft was a P-47 (by now, called an F-47) without markings.
Costa Rica requested help from the United States. Four F-51s were sent from the Texas Air National Guard and flown by Costa Rican pilots.
On Jan. 17 the four F-51s "were credited with thwarting the invasion." One of the F-51s failed to return. The wreck was found "riddled with heavy calibre bullet holes and the pilot was dead."
The article continues, "Although there were no witnesses to the dogfight, there is reasonable evidence to suggest that it was ... [an] F-47 that shot the F-51 down. If this is so, it was the final recorded air-to-air combat involving a Thunderbolt."
Anybody else ever hear of this account? Anybody know of any later probable last kills by a P-47?
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Originally posted by Halo
Costa Rica requested help from the United States. Four F-51s were sent from the Texas Air National Guard and flown by Costa Rican pilots.
It's funny that we didn't give them F-86 Sabres instead of Ponies, assuming this story is even true.
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I know the last known dogfight between piston engine aircraft was the 'Soccer War' in 1969. Do a search engine on it F4j. Its interesting...
Halo, sorry, but I have no knowledeg of that incident.
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Thanks, Delirium, the 1969 Soccer War is interesting and scary, the result of too much illegal immigration of Salvadorans into Honduras.
Apparently the last Mustangs and Corsairs shot down in combat were another result of that war.
Combat Theater did an interesting version of the Soccer War.
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It's funny that we didn't give them F-86 Sabres instead of Ponies, assuming this story is even true.
It's 1955, the cold war is brewing up to full steam quickly, the F-86 Sabre is your most advanced jet fighter, and you're going to hand them over to Costa Rica to fight P-47's? Yeah right. You'd give them older, less expensive, less needed aircraft that require less training to fly, and can be easily kept and maintained without further assistance. There's nothing implausible about the story, even if there is little evidence.
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Last use of P51's in combat was by the Dominican Republic to strafe a Cuban intelligence trawler illegally in Dominican waters (also 1969, give or take). The Cubans responded by sending Mig-21s to strafe the Dominican base. The 51 pilots understandably failed to contest the attack.
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Originally posted by Rasker
The Cubans responded by sending Mig-21s to strafe the Dominican base. The 51 pilots understandably failed to contest the attack.
LOL
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P-51's actually looked very much like the FW-190. There were many more accidents with it.
Once a P-47 mistaked a P-51 with a 190 and shot it pretty good. it did menaged to return back to home tho.