My Uncle John, P-38 armorer
Tue Jan 19, 2010 8:46 pm
My Uncle John Mercer served in WWII as an armorer in a P-38 squadron. He was based in Foggia, Italy. Uncle John passed away a few years ago. I never got to see him as much as I would have liked since we lived far away from each other.
Of course, whenever he did visit I would listen intently to his stories. The two that stand out in my mind involved accidents he witnessed. The first time was when a B-17 was landing at the field. There was a layer of low haze which the pilot mistook for the ground. As a result, he flared too high and the Fort fell to the earth. It was completely destroyed and none of the crew survived. The second accident involved a P-38 that was taking off carrying two 1,000lb bombs. Uncle John recalled that the -38s had a difficult time getting airborne with that much weight on board. One of them didn't make it and went off the end of the runway. Again, the aircraft was destroyed and sadly, the pilot was killed.
Uncle John's P-38 was named "Mergie Gal". The name was painted on the right side of the nose, and if I recall correctly, the Lightning's pilot had another name painted on the left side (was this common practice for air and ground crews to "share" an aircraft by giving it two separate names?).
He had told me the squadron he was part of, but I can't remember (I was just a kid back then, and wanted to hear more about airplanes flying). Looking at the pictures I have, I see that they were either L or J models (I guess "L"s, as they were more common, right??).
Here's some of the pictures I have that Uncle John took. They're scans of scans, so I apologize if the quality isn't that great. I don't know what colours the aircraft carried as squadron markings. They look like red spinners and tail flashes, maybe.
If there's any resident P-38 experts who can add some insight I'd love to hear it. Speculate if you like, too. I'm not researching a book here, I just like talking about old airplanes. Sorry if they're too big or small, I haven't posted pics here before.
Of course, whenever he did visit I would listen intently to his stories. The two that stand out in my mind involved accidents he witnessed. The first time was when a B-17 was landing at the field. There was a layer of low haze which the pilot mistook for the ground. As a result, he flared too high and the Fort fell to the earth. It was completely destroyed and none of the crew survived. The second accident involved a P-38 that was taking off carrying two 1,000lb bombs. Uncle John recalled that the -38s had a difficult time getting airborne with that much weight on board. One of them didn't make it and went off the end of the runway. Again, the aircraft was destroyed and sadly, the pilot was killed.
Uncle John's P-38 was named "Mergie Gal". The name was painted on the right side of the nose, and if I recall correctly, the Lightning's pilot had another name painted on the left side (was this common practice for air and ground crews to "share" an aircraft by giving it two separate names?).
He had told me the squadron he was part of, but I can't remember (I was just a kid back then, and wanted to hear more about airplanes flying). Looking at the pictures I have, I see that they were either L or J models (I guess "L"s, as they were more common, right??).
Here's some of the pictures I have that Uncle John took. They're scans of scans, so I apologize if the quality isn't that great. I don't know what colours the aircraft carried as squadron markings. They look like red spinners and tail flashes, maybe.
If there's any resident P-38 experts who can add some insight I'd love to hear it. Speculate if you like, too. I'm not researching a book here, I just like talking about old airplanes. Sorry if they're too big or small, I haven't posted pics here before.
Last edited by PropsRule on Tue Jan 19, 2010 9:22 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Re: My Uncle John, P-38 armorer
Tue Jan 19, 2010 9:01 pm
Thanks for sharing your uncles story! Those are great pictures! Have any more?
From the pictures looks like he was with the 14th Fighter Group, 49th Fighter Squadron. Spinners were red and tail stripes were blue (edited my mistake) for the 49th FS.
I have a picture of plane #36 in a old photo album in my personal collection.
Mike
From the pictures looks like he was with the 14th Fighter Group, 49th Fighter Squadron. Spinners were red and tail stripes were blue (edited my mistake) for the 49th FS.
I have a picture of plane #36 in a old photo album in my personal collection.
Mike
Last edited by Mike Bates on Wed Jan 20, 2010 5:12 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Re: My Uncle John, P-38 armorer
Tue Jan 19, 2010 9:16 pm
Mike beat me....darn!!
Re: My Uncle John, P-38 armorer
Wed Jan 20, 2010 12:38 am
Spinners would have been red as all the MTO fighters were painted that way. The 14th FG used different color stripes on the tail to differentiate between squadrons along with the numbering. John Lambart did a book on the 14th Fighter Group that came out in 2008 called "The 14th Fighter Group in World War II"
It's a good one and might be worth your tracking down. It's a Schiffer book.
Thanks for sharing the photos
It's a good one and might be worth your tracking down. It's a Schiffer book.
Thanks for sharing the photos
Re: My Uncle John, P-38 armorer
Wed Jan 20, 2010 12:07 pm
THanks for sharing and welcome aboard. Neat pics.
Is that a hardtop on that jeep?
Is that a hardtop on that jeep?
Re: My Uncle John, P-38 armorer
Wed Jan 20, 2010 5:10 pm
Yep, Dan's right. Not sure why I thought the spinners were blue. 
I have that book. It's a good read on a group that doesn't get much attention.
Mike
I have that book. It's a good read on a group that doesn't get much attention.
Mike
Re: My Uncle John, P-38 armorer
Thu Jan 21, 2010 3:25 pm
Thank you everyone for your replies. I'll search for that book. Sounds like a good read. Thanks for bringing it to my attention!
It does look like that Jeep has a hard top. I wonder if it was a field modification. Interesting to see the men using all manner of things to gain access to their aircraft. I guess some things never change!
Here's some more photos. I see from the "Hangman's Noose" scoreboard there were a few aces in the squadron. I noticed some had mostly kills over the Italian air force, while most of the others were all Luftwaffe kills. I wonder if that had something to do with the time they arrived in theater.
I find the B-17 photo interesting. I don't know if it showed up in my re-scan, but it looks like a "G" model with a letter "Y" on the tail. It looks like an air to air shot, possily from the radio compartment of another B-17. I don't recall Uncle John ever telling me about riding in a B-17. Who knows...maybe he did!
It does look like that Jeep has a hard top. I wonder if it was a field modification. Interesting to see the men using all manner of things to gain access to their aircraft. I guess some things never change!
Here's some more photos. I see from the "Hangman's Noose" scoreboard there were a few aces in the squadron. I noticed some had mostly kills over the Italian air force, while most of the others were all Luftwaffe kills. I wonder if that had something to do with the time they arrived in theater.
I find the B-17 photo interesting. I don't know if it showed up in my re-scan, but it looks like a "G" model with a letter "Y" on the tail. It looks like an air to air shot, possily from the radio compartment of another B-17. I don't recall Uncle John ever telling me about riding in a B-17. Who knows...maybe he did!