A little update which won't bring anything to the artistical part, but a lot to the thrill of the event : here's what Mr David Wilhelm, spitfire and P-51 ace of the 31st, wrote to me...
"To the best of my memory I was Don’s flight leader (Don was flying on my wing) when we took off from Corsica. The takeoff, after preflight procedures had been accomplished, was normal. There was no confusion on the field and we took off with everything normal. After lifting off and starting a gradual (not a steep or abrupt) climbing turn to the left, I turned to look for my wingman. There was no sign of him. We had been at the takeoff position together and we had taken off line astern with Don following a few seconds after me. My recollection was that I saw him airborn, but the next time I looked, there was no sight of him. My recollection to this day was that he “went in”. That was the conclusion I feel sure I reported upon debriefing on arrival at my home base."
I'm still waiting for the pilots interview, but you can see that people are always interested in the event, even more than 60 years later.
Due to a new photo that just surfaced this week. I have been able to update WZ-I. Unless a new photo surfaces, this should be WZ-I before she was found underwater 60+ years later
Mr Taylor's interview made its way back, so I have got news to quote... and a nice pic to show. But you'll have to wait a few days, as I'm urged to solve a big clue. Your advice is needed there.
Indeed, Mr Taylor tells in his reply that "the whole plane was olive drab as I recall", even if the plane he poses with on the pic (WZ, 5 victory marking) is bare metal. I have sent an email to Mr Wilhem, flight leader of Taylor that day, to try and confirm it, but no answer for the moment...
So, its very difficult: if we follow the serial number comparison with G Lovings plane, both had to be bare metal... But if we follow the Nr 1 witness ...
Nobody has to be confused :
- First : the bare metal base is suitable for... Mr Loving's plane, for example.
- Second and above all : here is what Mr Loving replied to me just now, as I asked the "color" question
"About your question--olive drab or not?-- I do not remember any of our P-51s painted olive drab, nor do any of the photographs I have depict any of the squadron's Mustangs painted olive drab. During my training in the USA I flew olive drab P-51s, and when I went to North Africa with a group of other pilots to ferry the initial batch of P-51s to Italy, we were surprised to find that all of them were unpainted. That created a lot of discussion. I feel confident the Taylor is mistaken--which is not surprising given that a lot of years have passed."
Now that the profile problem is solved, the press article will soon be released, and of course I want to quote our forum and the great guys I met there, not by name of course but in a few sentences.
So I have a little enquiry to do : I would like every person who have been involved in the project to send to me, by mail or PM, a few personal datas, example : place or country / age / status (professional artist, enthusiast, simmer, historian and so on)... That would allow me to show how I have been helped by people from different horizon and countries...
