Flown by Col. David Schilling as CO of the 56th FG, Boxted, Endgland, December 1944.
22.5 air to air victories, 10.5 air to ground victories 33 total.
Basic paint scheme was probably applied over a natural metal ship using RAF colors of "Dark Green" and "Ocean Grey" over "Medium Sea Grey" with a Yellow rudder as per 62nd FS standards, and the classic red cowling of the 56th FG. Some specific (if highly argued) facts are widely known about this ship's paint scheme as it is shown with Schilling's full kill tally in the Winter of 1944. This aircraft was the mount Schilling used to score 5 kills in one mission on 23 December '44.
Steve Hawley reminded me that after July or August '44 there was a field order to remove the wing D-Day stripes, and the ship is shown thusly in Mudgett's profile.
It is believed that this ship had a wing replacement following a bad prang in Belgium during the fall of 1944. It is aslo believed that the top side of the replacement wing was re-camouflaged and the underside left natural aluminum.Some great resources lie in the color photographs in the must-have Thunderbolt reference; Warren M. Bodie's "Thunderbolt: Severski to Victory" (ISBN 0-9629359-1-3). There are a number of full color photos of this ship at this time frame that show the starboard main gear hub painted red, and the port gear hub unpainted. If nothing else this suggests that the port wing was "different" from the starboard in at least these ways. Large (55 inch dia) national insignias are present under both wings as was fairly standard for the 56th in the ETO.
Again no references are published for the top side camouflage patterns, and the starboard side is only slightly more well-documented (1 photo that we found in the Bodie volume). This ship was the mount Schilling used to score 5 kills in one mission on 23 December '44.
List of Exceptions
- Right wing replaced (?), top side camo'ed underside left natural duraluminum
- Starboard main gear hub painted red, port gear hub unpainted
- Vertical stabilizer shows two distinctly different camo patterns (port side) along with a change in the stencil style for the "S" in LM S
- Camo changed during ops, and is noted below where appropriate
Here are the color photos (some link to larger versions) that I have found, and been given, along with my silly analysis...
Yellow Rudder and "S" letter code make this view of a 56th FG D-25 a highly probable candidate to be a picture of "Joe." Clearly without the serial visible one cannot be sure.
This starboard 3/4 front view shows rocket launchers and a good portion of starboard fuselage camo pattern and represents the ONLY view of the starboard side I can remotely confirm. Note unpainted port main wheel hub. In print the invasion stripes on the starboard wing underside are well evident. They can just be made out here which places this photo post June 6th and pre August of '44.
These two of the port side on taxi-bys show a complex camo pattern on the vertical stabilizer and a "stenciled" S in "LM S." As well a more refined "geometric"camo pattern can be seen under and aft of the Hairless Joe" logo on the nose section. No wing invasion stripes put these shots as post August '44.
B&W Port side study with complex fin camo (note large insignia under
port wing).
The only photo I know of showing the Belgium prang (big thanks go to Steve Hawley). This clearly shows a bad touchdown with no doubt heavy damage to the starboard wing (possibly leading to the believed replacement). There seems to be decent combat damage on the rear fuselage over the "S" which would help explain the re-paint of that letter in the later stencil scheme shown below.
The photo dates the crash as "September of 1944."
Post Prang
The following three pictures (clearly snapped in succession by the same camera) show without a shadow of a doubt not only the port wing undersides in natural metal finish, but reveal a completely different camo pattern on the vertical stabilizer at this later date (confirmed by larger kill tally). Note solid "S" this time and red hub on the starboard main gear wheel.
Also note that the nose camo is much more vague below and behind the nose art, and favors the grey coloring.
Speculation Images
Detail of Jerry Crandal's painting of the same ship (note simple tail camo). Depicting action during the 23 December '44 mission.
Restoration of a P-47M as same ship (Nothing to be said for accuracy, but nice looking ship).
Detail of nose art on restoration.
Here's a good replication of the nose art
And finally a die-cast model suggesting some top wing camo among other hideous inaccuracies.
Many images here are used without permission, and as such may need to be removed without notice. Indeed, this entire page could vanish at any moment :)
If you have the copyright for any of these images, and would like them removed or would like to grant permission to me to use them here as they are I would greatly appreciate the feedback.
Huge thanks to Stephen Mudgett and Steve Hawley for their help and analysis.
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