BREAKING NEWS !!!
I can't believe the plane was discovered 5 weeks ago...
-1st- A fellow 15th AF enthusiast, who holds a website about the USAAF over Slovakia (
=O= Final Destination Slovakia - Western Allies Air Forces Story over Slovakia 1944/45 =O=) has sent me a letter of one of his contact, whose name I ignore. The serial number is discovered, at least we have a very strong hypothesis : please read an extract of the mail they wrote to me.
"The Individual Aircraft Record card lists the loss as MIA but there is no MACR. This would suggest that the aircraft was lost but the pilot rescued or returned to his Unit within 48 hours before a MACR would have been filed. The a/c in question is a
P-51B-10NA and serialed
42-106585. The aircraft just previous to this serial number were also 309th FS aircraft which is good as the MTO deployed Mustangs were often deployed in 3s to individual Squadrons. Not have any further evidence to back up this identification I would put a * by the serial number meaning that in all likelyhood this is correct but we can't be sure at this point in time."
The datas seem to match here, and that 1st new sounds well to me.
-2nd- I allowed myself to write to Mister George Loving himself, thanks to hi s webpage. He answered very kindly, and guess what : the pilot, who is "Don" Taylor (for Donald K Taylor, according to the 31st roster on the web), is alive and in contact with the General Loving. I do not have further informations at the time, but I guess this is enough emotion for us !
Cheers, buddies, I'm going to buy a bottle of champagne !!
PS : about the planes color : I have a close up pic of Lt Col (commander of the group at the time) Mc Corkle's P-51B, . His plane is bare metal, and serialed 42-106
501. So I assume that our plane, from the same factory, must have been unpainted too.
PS 2 : I transmit our thread to the General Loving. I hope he will be glad to discover his own plane in a sky of pixels...
