44-11654 has a DEPUS date 441107 - therefore was an aircraft assigned to the 352nd FG long after the loss of '13736 -
'11654 initially was nicknamed "Lil Evey IV" (to Colby) and suffered a take-off accident at Sta. 141 on 450107 with Alton J. Wallace - yet to be confirmed reports have this aicraft later flown by Charles C. "Chuck" Patillo and with altered nickname "Little Rebel" - salvage date is 460613. "Little Rebel"m though, is the nickname used by Alton J. Wallace on his assigned aircraft.
Chuck Patillo's regular a/c was "HMS Hellion", 44-13737, PZ-W(bar) he inherited from Alton J. Wallace on 450202; former nickname (as mentioned above) was "Little Rebel"
Colby flew the following "Lil Evey" ships:
43-6864 PZ-T "Lil Evey", reassigned 440608 to David J. French as PZ-F and lost with French [POW] on 440805 - MACR #7439
44-13736 PZ-T "Lil Evey" [see detals in my earlier post]
44-13603 PZ-T "Lil Evey III", heavily damaged on 440724 by Charles E. Ferris at Sta. 141
44-14043 PZ-T "Lil Evey" - lost 440911 with Howard. R. Comps, Jr. - KIA, MACR #8660
44-11654 PZ-T "Lil Evey IV" [see details above]
44-72xxx PZ-T "Lil Evey" [last "Evey"]
in addition to that, Colby also flew a P-47 named "Li Evey" - 42-8682 PZ-T
In general, it always is important to bring the various aircraft assigned to an individual pilot in to the proper chronological sequence - further to that, aircraft that survived the pilot, either because he ended his Tour of Duty, or because he was lost with another a/c, or because he was assigned a newly delivered aircraft of a later version, usually were re-assigned to other pilots, often in the same flight. It also was common that aircraft were flown by more than one pilot, because pilots not always were assigned to each mission, and sometimes two pilots 'shared' their aircraft -
Colby was a flight leader and it seems he changed aircraft quite often, be it due to the previous ones becoming unserviceable, or because he could 'pick' a newly delivered a/c in favour of his 'old' one, with the latter being transferred 'down the line'.
As to your question for my source: over 20 years of research into P-51's.
I am always happy to learn more details that either confirm or disapprove my records.
attached a photo of '603 after the landing mishap
and one of the last "Lil' Evey" (via Jack Cook)
Cordially
Martin