Warbird Information Exchange

Doing a bit of research for a possible modeling project. Captain Cole was an ace with the 20th FG, 77th FS based at Kingscliffe. I would like to find some pics of any of these Mustangs flown by him, 44-13715, 44-15311, 44-72160, or 44-11324. The first three were all coded KI-K and carried the name "Little Lady". The last was coded LC-U and was used by Capt. Cole for at least one victory over an ME-109. The 77th squadron codes were LC, the 55th was KI. Can anyone tell me if it was normal for pilots within a FG to use aircraft from squadrons other than their own? My info shows that Capt. Cole used 3 different Mustangs coded KI-K, 55th FS codes, despite him being a member of the 77th. Below is the only pic I have found so far. Can anybody confirm which serial this Mustang may be? Capt. Cole became a POW on 02-25-45 after being shot down in 44-72160 with a total of 5 aerial victories and either 5 or 6 ground victories. Captain Cole's son, Mike Cole, was a very close friend of mine though I've lost touch with him now. I had the pleasure of meeting Capt. Charles H. Cole some years back and speaking with him about his combat experiences. I'd really like to model one of his aircraft accurately if I can find the information. TIA for any help at all.

Chad Veich

Cole served in the 77th FS from Sept 29, 1944 until Feb. 21, 1945. On this day he transfered to the 55th FS has the squadron OPS officer. He was shot down 4 days later. He never had a assigned a/c in the 55th FS.
His 77th FS P-51D was LC-U (no name) s/n 44-11324.
The USAF officially credits him with only3 kills. KI-K wasn't his assigned a/c and he certainly didn't have 3 different assigned a/c in the span of 4 days he spent with the 55th FS.

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Don't touch my junk!!

Jack, thanks for the info. Here is where I got the information concerning the various Mustangs assigned to Capt. Cole.

http://www.littlefriends.co.uk/20thfg.p ... tring=cole

Here is another interesting page with a pic of Capt. Cole.
http://www.geocities.com/Pentagon/quart ... /cole.html

As you can see it states that he flew 44-72160 coded KI-K for most of his "27 1/4 hours in combat". Is this just wrong information? I found a copy of one of his combat reports where he claimed a '109 and it shows him using LC-U for that mission. Interesting that he is only officially credited with 3 kills as everything I've come across on the web says 5. Thanks again for the information.

Peter Randall missed the boat with that particular bit of info.
Here's the info on his "official" kills shown on the AF Air University webpage.
NAME RANK UNIT DATE WAR CREDITS
COLE CHARLES H JR Captain 55FTR 02-25-1945 WW2 2.0
COLE CHARLES H JR Captain 77FTR 01-14-1945 WW2 1.0

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Don't touch my junk!!

Aeromaster makes decals for his A/C in 1/48
http://www.eaglestrikeproductions.com/c ... mg=ad48565

I believe Lt Gene Planchak (sp) was the assigned pilot of "Little Lady".

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Don't touch my junk!!

Sadly, the wrong information about Cole comes from an old 20th FG site I created years ago and have since abandoned because of meddling by people with various ulterior motives and agendas.

Jack's information is right.

It's been so long ago I can't remember where I got the plane information from but, in retrospect, it obviously wasn't a good source. According to his entry in the 20th FG History "King's Cliffe" Cole claimed 1 Me-109 (air), 6 FW-190s (ground) and 4 FW-190s (air), as Jack pointed out he was officially credited with only three victories. He also had 227:15 total combat hours, not 27:15.

Yep, Planchak is spelled correctly, Jack.

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Victory By Valor (Motto of the 20th Fighter Group)

I think the best looking 20th P-51D was Ingy Ingebrigtsen's "Miss (U) Louise" MC*A s/n 44-15752.

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Don't touch my junk!!

From Ron MacKay's book "20th Fighter Group"
Bond Baby with two Malcom hoods.



Steve

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"Any excuse is good enough if you're willing to use it!"

Ken Skinner's a/c was pretty nice also.

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Don't touch my junk!!

Thanks for all the input gents. I guess I'll have to track down Mike and see if his Father is still alive. As are most vets, he was a real joy to talk to. As I recall he flew as an exchange pilot with the RAF postwar (Meteors I think) and also was a member of the Acrojets, forerunner of the Thunderbirds.