Oklahoma ANG P-51 Markings

[RyanShort1]

I have a book called Citizen Soldiers about the Oklahoma National Guard units. It has this interesting picture and caption in it, but no further explanation... Anyone know more about it?



Anyone know the colors of the markings?

Ryan

[Jack Cook]

Early Oregon ANG P-51D also had the insignias removed.

[John L. Dienst]

In the late 1940's, (1947 thru 1949) many North American F-51D Mustangs were assigned to the newly formed squadrons of the National Guard Bureau. In those days, the National Guard Bureau was an independent and seperate entity that was not directly affiliated with the federal organization that became the United States Air Force. Since the squadrons of the National Guard Bureau were not required to follow the regulations of an agency of the Federal Government, often many liberties were taken in regards to the markings applied to the Mustangs of the Bureau. Apparently, the commanders of these units took pride in their squadrons and took the liberty to design unique markings for their aircraft. (The Mustangs of the 197th FS Arizona National Guard come to mind.) Others, chose to honor the service of their commanding officers or the historical lineage of their units by creating markings similar to those worn by fighter units associated with World War Two. (The Mustangs of the 167th FS West Virginia National Guard wore blue nosed markings similar to the 352nd Fighter Squadron of the Eighth Air Force.) For the record, it is my considered opinion that more attention must be made to the subject of the Mustangs of the National Guard Bureau. Too many times has this subject been glossed over and lumped together in publications about the Air National Guard. One last thing before I close, please be informed that I maintain an extensive database concerning this subject and I am always in the market for additional information and/or high resolution scans of the F-51 Mustangs of the National Guard Bureau and the Air National Guard. Please do not hesitate to contact me if you are interested in contributing to my project. THANK YOU!

John L. Dienst
E-mail Address: Dienst@hotmail.com

[slinky]

OK Ryan, I asked all the aviation people I knew and came up with this....From General Stanley F.H. Newman....

We had different color schemes before and after our Korean War call-up. (We called that our KOJT.)

Before the war and prior to the USAF becoming a separate service, the birds had solid spinners and a diagonal colored stripe ( forward slash--e.g.. top forward of the bottom) on the fuselage sides, aft of the canopy. (These were colored red, white, blue and green, according to the flight they were assigned.) instead of the USAF star and bar we had an Indianhead (full headdress) on the side and OK ---NG in black fore and aft of the Indianhead.

After the split from the Army, the USAF star and bar replaced the Indianhead and the NG changed to ANG.

Post Korea, Hastie and I decided to mark them like the P-51s which we flew in Korea (45th Tac Recon Sqdn):

Dark Blue background with white polka dots on the spinners, a strip circling the spinner on the nose from the spinner to just in front of the exhaust stacks with the same polka dot color scheme and on the wing tips and on the tips of the horizontal and vertical tail.

This is all from memory, but I believe it's pretty accurate.

Just out of curiosity, what does your friend plan to do with this info?

I'm also trying to find more pics...Hope this helps, Steve.

[RyanShort1]

Hmmm. That's some good information, but not enough for a definitive model markup. Here's a thread on another paint scheme I've been working on: http://www.cardmodels.net/forum/showthread.php?p=62598

Ryan

[slinky]

Hmmmm, I thought he pinned it down pretty good. What else do you need? I'll ask him!