This P-47D skin is a request from Perdue3 who also supplied the photos for it.
Lt George Preddy was first deployed to the 49th FG at Darwin Australia in 1942 to help defend the city against Japanese attacks. However during a training sortie another P-40 flown by Lt Sauber misjudged his attack pass and rammed Preddy's aircraft. This accident resulted in the death of Sauber but Preddy survived, although badly injured.
After a prolonged recovery he was assigned to the 352nd FG who arrived in Britain in July 1943. Preddy was assigned P-47D 42-8500 which he named "Cripes A' Mighty" a phrase he often shouted out when tossing the dice when gambling. He scored his first kill, a Bf109, in this plane on December 1st. On the 22nd he and his wingman attacked a squadron of 16 109s attacking a lone B-24. Preddy shot down one enemy fighter but his wingman was shot down in return. The B-24 escaped however and Preddy was awarded the Silver Star for this mission. His third kill of a FW190 came in late January 1944 over the coast of France, but shortly after this his aircraft was hit by flak and he was forced to bail out over the Channel. After his rescue by an RAF flying boat he rejoined his squadron.
After the 352nd converted to the faster and longer ranged P-51 in April Preddy's score quickly increased. On 5th August his squadron bounced a group of 30 109s attacking a bomber formation and Preddy was able to down six of them, for which he feat was awarded a DFC. Preddy returned to the States on leave before returning to the 352nd as CO of the 328th FS. On Christmas Day during the Battle of the Bulge Preddy shot down two 109s and was chasing a 190 when he was hit by AA fire from a US flak site. He managed to crash land his plane but later died from his wounds. He had scored 27.5 kills, all but three in the P-51, which made him the top scoring ace in that aircraft.
