P-51D-10-NA/F-6D-10-NA, s/n 44-14717
"Aix-Les-Baines" - R7*L
S/N 44-10889
GR II/33 Savoie, French Air Force
Colmar France, March 1945
This is F-6D-10-NA "Aix-Les-Baines" (s/n 44-14717) coded R7*L of the French Air Force's Reconaissance Group II/33 "Savoie" (GR II/33) in the Spring of 1945. It was delivered to the group in February 1945 at which time it had less than 20 hours on it. At least 15 aircraft of GR II/33 were given city names, generally painted in black capital letters under the exhaust stacks.
Following the Allied landing in Algeria and Morocco, in November 1942, French reconnaissance group II/33 Savoie participated in the Tunisia campaign equipped with the obsolete Bloch 174. The group was set to be re-equipped with B-26 Marauders, but this was changed to B-25s, before finally settling on F-5 Lightnings beginning in March 1943. These were augmented with Spitfires (Mks V and IX) sometime later. Thes F-5s were considered adequate if not weary, but the Spitfires had a rougher time with seven lost in only two weeks during November of 1944. In January of 1945 the group was designated as a tactical photographic and visual reconnaissance unit. Due to the inadequacies of the Spitfire for the missions GR II/33 was now being tasked with the decision was made to equip them with twenty F-6 Mustangs, the reconnaissance variant of the P-51.
The first French mustang sortie was flown on 19 February 1945 and the unit suffered its first loss on 20 March (Lieutenant Labadie managed to bail out of his aircraft and became a POW, only to escape from a prisoner convoy in April, after which he returned to his unit). The French Mustangs played a role in the Allied crossing of the Rhine but their low-level missions made them vulnerable to enemy fighters. On 17 April, Lt. Sainflou and Lt. Delègue were jumped by a dozen Bf 109s. Sainflou narrowly escaped by diving away but Lt. Delègue was never seen again.
Between November 13, 1944 and April 15, 1945, the group had logged 1,052 flight hours during 730 sorties. From April 16, 1945, and May 8, 1945, VE-Day, the P-51s of the Savoie group flew 189 sorties representing 324 hours of flight, most being for long-range reconnaissance missions on the retreating Wermacht's communication lines. Since the reception of its Mustangs, the group flew 13 oblique photo-recon missions, shooting 860 pictures, including 660 during the complete photo coverage of the Rhine's right bank, 136 vertical photo-recon missions, with 4400 pictures shot. This helped the photo-interpretors locate 15 radar stations, 41 heavy AAA guns, 685 medium or light AAA guns, 11 heavy artillery guns and 25 medium ones, 15 mortar guns, 314 automatic weapons, 42 strongpoints, 21 bunkers, 47 road barrages, 10 anti-tank trenches, 42 depots, 5 radio stations, nearly 50 trains, and over 400 railroad and road cuts.
On May 9, 1945, nine Mustangs of the GR II/33 took part in the VE-Day flypast over the Champs-Elysées.
Members of the unit were awarded 17 crosses of the Legion of Honour, 39 army recommendations, 7 air reconnaissance recommendations, 8 division recommendations, 26 brigade recommendations, and 28 group recommendations. In addition, 14 American awards were given, including 4 Distinguished Flying Crosses.
On July 2, 1945, a recommendation signed by General de Gaulle awarded the II/33 the Croix de Guerre avec palme, France highest unit award, with leaf: "Under the orders of Commander Martre, the perfect model of a leader, the reconnaissance group Savoie performed during the winter period a most remarkable work of reconnaissance with minimal equipment which translated into more than a thousand hours of combat flight time and 750 tactical reconnaissance missions for the profit of the French Army."
(The line on the anti-glare panel is an artifact of the 3-D model. The only way to hide it is to make that area completely flat on the Spec map.)
