It is my understanding that the 357 was the last or one of the last Mustang operators in the ETO to go with Bare Metal Finishes. Yeager was shot down in “Glamourous Glennis” then the next one we most commonly see is “GG III” which is of course BMF.
Now in October of '44 Yeager got 5 on a mission to Bremen (I think). In the autobiography it is mentioned that Yeager picked up a D model from “Daddy” Rabbit. This was to have been the ship he flew that fateful day…
Questions:
Was it BMF?
If no what are the accurate colors?
Would the famous B6Y of B6 have been on the aircraft?
Would Glennis have gotten her top billing?
If not, what was Daddy Rabbit’s nose art, if any?
I have posted on some Yeager sites and have looked into the 357 site as well…
The aircraft in question was a P-51D-5-NA, serial 44-13897.
Here’s a shot of this ship before application of the nose art…
Image source/credit: 357th Fighter Group by James Roeder
Here’s a couple more shots which show the name ‘Glamorous Glenn II’ on the starboard side of the nose; the name appeared on both sides…
Image source/credit: 357th Fighter Group by James Roeder
Image source/credit: unknown web
This aircraft was lost on 18 October 1944 with Lt. Horace M Roycroft at the controls. Roycroft was KIA.
As you can see, the aircraft was painted and did carry the ‘Y’ code letter. As to the colors, this has been a matter of debate. I’m inclined to go with some sort of RAF green up top and a light gray underneath. I doubt the gray was Neutral Gray.
Given the date the ship was lost and seeing as the 357th painted their P-51Ds for camouflage during summer/fall 1944 and stripped the paint during the winter months to be less visible against the snow covered lansdscape, I’m not sure if this aircraft flew ops unpainted or not. It certainly could have snowed in October and it’s possible that it would have been unpainted. But my hunch is that it was not stripped of paint before its loss. That’s just speculation though…
FYI: Yeager’s first ship was P-51B-5 43-6763, and named ‘Glamourus Glen’. And no, my spelling isn’t wrong, they mispelled the word ‘glamorous’. [:P]
EDIT: Almost forgot, in case you’re interested, here’s Yeager’s report from 12 October 44, the day he got five…
