Warbird Information Exchange

Can someone explain to me the logic used when deciding to use the Air National Guard F-51s over the F-47s for in Air Interdiction missions?

It would have seemed a simple decision to me given the Thunderbolts reputation for being a punishment absorbing ship. My understanding is that the Mustang suffered heavy losses due to cooling system damage induced mainly by anti-aircraft rounds.

Anyone know why the Mustang was chosen?


Shay
____________
Semper Fortis

Just a guess on my part but I would say availability and familiarity. Even though the second world war had not been over very long I think that active Thunderbolts were becoming a rare commodity by the time the Korean conflict broke out.

Maybe, but I'm not to sure about that theory


From 1946 to 1955 the Thunderbolt was operated in these ANG units:

The following ANG units operated Thunderbolts:

101st Fighter Squadron, Massachusetts ANG


104th Fighter Squadron, Maryland ANG


105th Fighter Squadron, Tennessee ANG


118th Fighter Squadron, Connecticut ANG


121st Fighter Squadron, District of Columbia ANG


128th Fighter Squadron, Georgia ANG


131st Fighter Squadron, Massachusetts ANG


132nd Fighter Squadron, Maine ANG, Dow AFB.


133rd Fighter Squadron, New Hampshire ANG


134th Fighter Squadron, Vermont ANG


136th Fighter Squadron, New York ANG


141st Fighter Squadron, New Jersey ANG


142nd Fighter Squadron, Delaware ANG


143rd Fighter Squadron, Rhode Island ANG


146th Fighter Squadron, Pennsylvania ANG


149th Fighter Squadron, Virginia ANG


153rd Fighter Squadron, Mississippi ANG


156th Fighter Squadron, North Carolina ANG


157th Fighter Squadron, South Carolina ANG


158th Fighter Squadron, Georgia ANG


166th Fighter Squadron, Ohio ANG


167th Fighter Squadron, West Virginia ANG


198th Fighter Squadron, Puerto Rico ANG


199th Fighter Squadron, Hawaii ANG



Even so large numbes of Mustangs weren't used. Only ranging in the few hundreds of aircraft, and mainly this was due to replacements need to cover the losses.


Shay
_____________
Semper Fortis

I remember reading somewhere that Carl Spaatz, then chief of staff, said that it would have cost to much to bring the number of P-47s needed to for use in Korea out of mothballs and that it was easier and cheaper to use F-51s which apparently were more plentiful in Guard units.

Here is an excerpt from an article from about 4 years ago on the subject:

http://goliath.ecnext.com/coms2/gi_0199 ... l#abstract

It is interesting that some Air National Guard units flew F-47 Thunderbolts so far into the 1950s.

By coincidence, a related topic (P/F-47 after WWII) is being discussed on Tank-Net. Their guess: F-47s were East Coast-based and F-47s West Coast, presumably due to factory location. Therefore logistics & maintenance in Japan/Korea was geared for Mustangs rather than T-Bolts. There's some confusion as to whether F-47s were requested and turned down.

http://63.99.108.76/forums/index.php?showtopic=23502