DAD'S PLANES

Dad's official Army Air Force publicity shot on the occasion of his first Japanese air-to-air kill, dated June 12, 1945. The aircraft is a republic P-47D-23 thunderbolt. The badge under the cockpit is one of many variations of the 333rd Fighter Squadron's "Coral Cobra" emblem.
Why do I like building models of World War Two fighter planes? 'Cause I can't fly the real ones! My interest in military aviation was inspired by my dad, who was a fighter pilot during World War Two. I grew up listening to his war stories and tales of death-defying adventures. When I was a kid, I wanted to be a WWII fighter pilot, but I eventually realized that, barring time travel, that wasn't gonna happen. But I can still capture the romance (what romance there was) in plastic. Here's a brief rundown on the planes Dad flew.


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 1. "Jack The Ripper"
Republic P-47D Thunderbolt, 333rd or 73rd FS, 318th FG

John H. Payne, Jr. ("Jack"), flew Republic P-47 Thunderbolts. His primary combat experience was in the Pacific with the 318th Fighter Group. The 318th began their tour by guarding Hawaii, but they moved into the heart of Pacific combat when they supported the invasion of Saipan in June, 1944. They were the only Army Air Forces unit ever to launch from aircraft carriers. From Saipan, they attacked ground targets on the neighboring islands in the Marianas chain; Guam and Tinian. Dad flew two P-47D Razorbacks during the Marianas campaign; the first was a silver P-47D named "Jack the Ripper," assigned to the 333rd Squadron of the 318th. Ripper was shot up over Tinian, and Dad ditched the plane and swam ashore, sitting on an enemy held island for the few minutes it took to be rescued (Tinian was in naked-eye sight of Saipan). The second plane was "Big Squaw," an olive green and gray P-47D-15 of the 19th Squadron. Big Squaw suffered the same fate as her predecessor, getting shot all to hell over Tinian. Dad bellied her in on the beach back at Saipan.


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 2. "Big Squaw"
Republic P-47D Thunderbolt, 19th FS, 318th FG, 43-25327

After Saipan, the 318th moved to Ie Shima, a tiny island off the northeast edge of Okinawa. They also upgraded their equipment to the long range P-47N Thunderbolt. Their mission was to fly Very Long Range (VLR) strike missions against the southern islands of the Japanese homeland itself. It was on one of these mission that Dad's P-47N, "Icky and Me," was shot up so badly that he had to bail out half way home, and he spent 8 days floating in the Pacific in a one-man liferaft. When he was finally rescued and got back into action, he named his new plane the same as the last.


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 3. "Icky and Me"
Republic P-47N Thunderbolt, 333rd FS, 318th FG

Dad finished the war with 9 Japanese planes shot down. Before going to the Pacific he had volunteered for two European missions - in England, where he shot down a Focke-Wulf 190. And to the Mediterranian, where he shot down a Macchi MC-200 for 11 kills in all. More details in the "Souvenirs" section below.

After the war, in the 1950s, Dad got himself a nifty little 1939 Piper J3 Cub, and, with his friend Paul Nielson, started an aerial photography business. Dad flew, and Paul took pictures hanging out of the open door with a very large aerial camera. For years everybody at Lincoln Park Airport knew the little blue "Photo Cub."


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 4. Piper J3 Cub
Sylvania Air Photo Service

Dad quit flying after he lost the Cub, and settled down. He's retired now and he and Mom are spending summers in their log cabin in the mountains, and winters in their motor home in Florida. I didn't think the motor home quite worthy of describing on this page, though it's almost as big as a P-47!

SOUVENIRS
Before he was assigned to a combat squadron, Dad volunteered to go to England for a month to chase buzz bombs. Flying a P-47D-30 that had been stripped down to four guns, with no armor, for extra speed, he destroyed two V-1 flying bombs, one by gunfire, and one by flying up next to it and tapping its wingtip with his own, sending it into a spin. While on buzz bomb patrol one day a lone Focke-Wulf Fw-190 took a shot at him, turned and ran for home. Dad chased the 190 (don't piss Dad off!), caught up to it and shot it down. The German pilot managed to land his plane normally in France before dying of his wounds. As this was Dad's first victory, he wanted a souvenir, so he landed his screaming 2000 horsepower fighter in a French field next to the Fw, hopped out, and removed the control stick from the German fighter! It's still my most prized trophy of his career.
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On another volunteer mission, Dad was part of a flight of Bell P-39 Airacobras being ferried to Russia. The route went from Richmond, VA, to Goose Bay, Iceland (or Greenland?), then to England, Lion, France, where the planes were armed up, and then to Rome, where Dad and his fellows were to turn over the planes and come home while someone else flew them on to Russia. While over Italy, a single Macchi 200 Italian fighter attacked the formation of Americans. Dad shot him down (kill number 2), and watched where he crashed. Later, Dad got a jeep and went to find the wreckage. From it, he took the top section of the engine cowling. He brought it home with him in the C-54 that flew everyone back. It hung in our leaky garage for 40 years, so it's not in the best shape. Some of the original paint is still on it, but I can't be sure it's retained it's original color. Here you see it with the box from a model of a Macchi 200 sitting on it. Dad hastens to point out that the bullet holes are NOT from the shoot-down, but from a bunch of GIs using the piece for target practice with their Garands afterwards.
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