Hi again,
In my haste, I assumed the the photo with Maj. Hively and the plane named The Deacon was stated as having been 44-15347 before it was painted olive drab. My intention was to point out that the plane The Deacon that Maj. Hively is posing in front of in the photo was not 44-15347, but 44-13879. Sorry for my confusion.
44-15347 was the only olive drab P-51D in the group, as far as we know.
Maj. Hively was assigned four Mustangs while with the the 4th. They were:
P-51B-7-NA 43-6898 QP-J The Deacon (Lost 6 June 44 - Maj. Winslow M Sobanski "Mike" KIA)
P-51D-5-NA 44-13306 QP-J (Assigned late June 1944, the a/c Hively flew to Russia on FRANTIC II; this is the plane in which Hively is sitting in the cockpit photo above)
P-51D-5-NA 44-13879 QP-J The Deacon (Assigned late July 1944, named The Deacon this is the plane he is standing next to)
P-51D-15-NA 44-15347 QP-J (his last assigned Mustang; assigned to Louis Norley and recoded QP-O after Hively was transferred out in Feb 1945)
In the photo of 44-13779 below, that's Olin Kiser on the left (to whom the plane was assigned after Col. Blakeslee was sent home) and his buddy Chuck Konsler. The photo dates to Dec 1944, possibly the first two weeks of JAN 45.
Sorry for any mix-up!
Cheers,
Tim McCann