Warbird Information Exchange

Howard is here visiting, I'll ask him about his Corsair, but it is my impression he bought it in the states, probably long after the Soccer War.

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Bill Greenwood
Spitfire N308WK

Interesting topic. Some points and history.
A good friend of mine is the grand son of a WWI flyer. He was a West Point graduate, and started flying for the French in the Lafayette Escadrille. After the US entered the war, he was back in US uniform. When the war was over, he was hired to fly for the White Russians. This is not a story, as my friend gave me his Grandfather's uniforms- French, American, and Russian aviator uniforms. After WWII, he was engaged in various "businesses" in Washington DC. In 1940, he was asked by a friend to help set up the financial arrangements for the China Air Transport Company, which was one of the front companies of the AVG. He handled the finances, and was the guy who got the lion cub from the Washington DC zoo, which was supposed to be a mascot for the squadrons. It died, and a tiger was acquired in its place. This is one of the tiger's seen in some of the photos of the AVG.

It is all speculation, but I doubt the guy would have flown for the Germans or Reds in that day, and I'm sure he didn't have any love for the Japanese. His business motivations were also probably part of it. There are plenty of bad stories about mercenaries, but most times, the good ones outnumber the bad ones. The reasons for becoming a Mercenary are many, but just ask the guys working for Dyncorp and Triple Canopy ($100,000 a year and up) whey they aren't still Officers and NCO's in the US Armed Forces ($30,000 to $70,000 a year). I wouldn't be so quick to condemn people who fight for money.

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REMEMBER THE SERGEANT PILOTS!

Does anyone knows the FAS identity of this Mustang? It has a screaming monkey near the cockpit. The machinegun holes have been covered so i guess it was ready to fly back to the US, the photo was taken in 1974.

Photo from FAS files, thanks.

The companion photo appears in the book 'Lation American Air Wars' by Dan Hagedorn, on p.173. It shows another color view of this officer on the wing of this same aircraft, noted as pictured in 1974. He is identified as FAS C.O. Mayor Regalado. The screaming monkey is koted as 'El Mono', the nickname of the usual pilot, Otto Vega Monofelo. By comparing other photos in the book, this aircraft (best guess) might possibly be FAS-411, the very last Mustang shot down in any air war. It was prior to FAS service known as N13410.
If anyone can verify the above, it would be most appreciated.
Hope this helps,
VL

Vlado, thx for the reply. The officer in the photo is, as you mentioned, Coronel Godofredo Regalado who became FAS Commander from 1975-1979.

The only Mustang shotdown during the 100 Hour War was #404.

Here is a closeup of the partial view of the tail number, it is #40x but i dont know if is one of the Cavalier purchased back in 1968 or the ones that arrived during the war.

It's not a Cavalier in the photo, so that rules out 401, 403, or 405. There is a photo of 402#2 (YS-210P) in the Hagedorn/Dienst book when it's at Connie Edwards' place, and if you compare the camouflage pattern on the nose it does not match....so it's not FAS 402.

Other shots in that book of FAS 406 and 409 when they got back to the states in '74 also show a different camo pattern.

There's a shot of FAS 407 that shows a funky tiger-stripe camo pattern...so that doesn't match your photo either.

So, by my math...that only leaves 408 as the possible candidate.

Of course, if any of the airplanes were re-painted in the process, that totally trashes my non-scientific research done this morning.

Randy:

The other 'screaming monkey' photo shows the red civilian stripe on the cowling faded under the camo. The photo also shows a white spinner and black spinner behind the prop. Plus faded yellow wing bands. And of course the canopy is unpainted.

Now in the same book, in another photo, FAS 411 is seen in the dirt without the canopy AND it shows a white spinner with a black spinner behind the prop.

Could the unpainted canopy frame be the replacement for the one lost on 411 ? Where did 411 go?
Hmmmmm.................
VL

Vlado, can you scan that other photo? I'd like to see it for comparison.

Here are the two photos that Vlado mentions, the other shot of the Mustang and #411 on its belly.





But theres another thing, #403 also had the same spinner colors:



If you look closely you can see that #411 and #403 spinners colors (white and green) division is after the propeller but the #40x color division is right were the propeller is.

Comparing photos i've noticed that these two-color spinners were used after the war as you can see the Mustangs with the yellow stripes and colors starting to fade out.

Thank you for posting those extra photos!
(I admit, I am compooter challenged.)
VL

just something to note, in the top pic the black band on the spinner runs through the mid line of the blades, in the other 2 pics it is in front of the blades...

Mr. Jones Santana, Do you have any more pics, or info on FAS 401? It was owned by my friend as N30FF, "North American Maid".

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T-6F, N81857
warbirdridesusa@gmail.com

Taking this back to the conversation from last year...I'm curious to hear more info about this tape.

Outside of it providing any evidence for or against the argument which took place in this thread, I bet it would be a very interesting recording to hear none the less. I'd certainly love to listen to it.

JCP, does the person who has this tape have any interest in sharing it withe the larger warbird community?

deleted double post

valdez25, this is the only photo of #401 that i have...also in the line: #408 and #404(2).

Photo from FAS files.