Swiss P-51 Mustang on display in the Swiss AF Museum
Swiss Mustangs by Mr. Jean-Marc Jeanmaire
At the end of WWII, many USAF P-51s were sold to the Swiss AF. Here is the information known about the fate of several that served with the 357th FG. Thanks to Jean-Marc Jeanmaire.
J-2113, USAAF-serial 44-73349, c/n 122-39808; delivery from NAA plant Inglewood, CA on March 15, 1945 and departed the US on March 31, 1945 for the ETO from Newark, NJ; sent to BAD 2(Base Air Depot) Warton and readied for combat and put into storage awaiting delivery to unit. This a/c was not assigned to any fighting unit but put into storage and later issued to the 9th AAF for use with the occupational forces in Germany. During 1946/1947 it served with the 86th FBG 525th FBS (the last P-47 unit in Germany) in a P-51-flight (2 a/c per Squadron), carrying the code NB2; base was Neubiberg near Munich. This a/c was s.o.c from US-inventory on October 7, 1948. Delivery to Switzerland took place on November 6, 1948, to Dübendorf with TT 263.53 on the airframe and engine (No. V-332311). During January 1949, the a/c was still at Buochs awaiting refurbishment and delivery to the Swiss AF. Next entry I have (apart from small incidents during operations with various Fliegerstaffeln) is conversion to Oerlikon-Rockets on June 26, 1951. S.o.c. date is April 11, 1958. (Details given to me by Martin Kyburz of SwissMustangs)
P51D-5-NA serial 44-13316 – G4-C – “Nooky Booky II” – this aircraft was transferred to Raymond “Ted” Conlin and became “Olivia de H” before being sold to Swiss AF, where it became J-2115. I have attached two photos of this aircraft awaiting its sad end on a small military airfield in 1959-1960 – curiously this plane was transformed to two seats configuration by the Swiss AF, and as you can see on one of the photo the canopy was cut in two part with a special joint for tight sealing in flight, to facilitate entrance of the back seat. I think the Swiss AF had two or three two-seaters. On the same aircraft you will see that the Swiss added a small air scoop on the engine cowling at about 50 centimeters from the windshield slightly on the right side, I don’t know why but I think they haven’t done that on all P51’s.
P51D -20-NA 44-72489 – G4-P – ROLLA-U – engine nr.330604/airframe nr.38948 – pilot was Ed Hyman This aircraft was part of a batch of 130 P51D’s sold to the Swiss AF in 1948 Swiss AF code J-2021 – phased out of service on 11th April 1958 and like all others but J-2113, scrapped.
Other 357th FG P-51s:
P51D-20-NA serial 44-72199 – G4-A of Capt. Charles B.Weaver, with a nude painting on each side but no nickname as far as I know, did it have one ? this plane became J-2019 in the Swiss AF, but I have no photos of this one.
44-63222 – 357th FG/362th FS – G4-A – “Nevada Skat Kat” of Lt. Harry J. Williams – Swiss AF J-2117
44-63681 – 357th FG/364th FS – C5-? – Swiss J-2123
44-63863 – 357thFG/362ndFS – G4-J “Georgia Boy II became Swiss AF J-2071
44-72258 – 357thFG/363rd FS – B6-B – “Little Joe” of Lt. Joseph Cannon – Swiss AF J-2066
44-72451 – 357th FG/364th FS – C5-V – “Campus Queen” – Swiss AF J-2017
44-72821 – 357th FG/364th FS – C5- C – Swiss AF J-2112
CHICAGO GUN MOLL’S LAST MISSION: P51 B-5-NA – serial number 43-6556 – G4-B of the 357th FG – 362th FS – “Chicago Gun Moll” Pilot was Capt. Robert D..Brown This aircraft took off from Leiston on the 27th May 1944 for a bomber escort mission (mission 373) heading towards Ludwigshafen. At around 12h15, near Strasbourg (France) Capt. Brown had a fight with a German ME109 and his P51 was damaged, bullets hits on the tail and sectioned cables – he decided to land in neutral Switzerland as he could not make it back to England, and Germans were not very kind with prisoners. Soon after crossing the French/Swiss border his aircraft coming probably uncontrollable he decided to bail out – he broke a leg on landing near a place called Spielhausen and was rescued and helped by some of the local people and then transferred to hospital. His aircraft crashed further away, in a place called Winzenberg, near the village of Lutisberg, at about 70 meters from the local restaurant – flying pieces of the wreckage caused some damage and set fire to the restaurant but nobody was hurt. That was the end for Chicago Gun Moll which I have seen in your 357th’s profiles
Other comments from Jean-Marc: Next year a friend of mine will publish an extensive history of the Mustang in the Swiss AF with a lot of photos, it should be a best seller amongst the P51 fans.
We will post more information as we receive it from Jean-Marc about Swiss 357th Mustangs and the Swiss AF Mustang book.
Swiss Mustang Web Site by Martin Kyburz
