Maybe You Can Help Us Solve These Debden Mysteries...
What Is the Identity of This Kite?This prang features an unidentified 4th kite - our initial thought is it belongs to 336. Possibly 335, but not 334. Nothing else is known about this photo or aircraft.
Photo looks to date from around the April/May 1945 timeline, and could be away from the area around base at Debden. There are several civilians around the crash scene. We have currently have no 336 P-51D with the A- code. The serial number on the tail appears to begin with 41. Any ideas? Let us know! |
Photo from the Jack Cook Collection via Peter Randall and the littlefriends.co.uk website
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Mystery Solved!
7 November 2022 - Researchers in the Czech Republic have conclusively identified this kite as 44-14527, lost with 336's Maurice Miller at the controls on 16 April 1945 during the big strafing show to Prague. This kite had formerly been known as VF-S "Sack Queen" and later on as VF-S- "Mary."
7 November 2022 - Researchers in the Czech Republic have conclusively identified this kite as 44-14527, lost with 336's Maurice Miller at the controls on 16 April 1945 during the big strafing show to Prague. This kite had formerly been known as VF-S "Sack Queen" and later on as VF-S- "Mary."
Hack/Clobber College Kite Clobbered
In December 1944, a local teenager was walking along Elder Street when a Mustang came crashing through the perimeter fence and wound up in the field across the road. That teenager is A4FG member and Saffron Walden resident Keith Braybrooke, and he has no doubt about the details. You see, young Mr. Braybrooke kept a diary.
"On 18 December 1944, at around 12 noon, I was approaching the airfield from the Elder Street route (South) when a P-51B/C suddenly broke through the
boundary fence about 25 yards ahead of me. It was coded QP-2 (yes, two) and had the red/white/blue segmented rudder. Its engine was on fire and it slithered to
a halt across a ditch to my right, just to the west of the North/South runway.
My immediate reaction was to get the pilot out, but as I approached, a crash crew arrived on the other side and waved me off, but I stayed to see them extricate the
pilot, who was walking wounded with his arms around the shoulders of two rescuers. Thereafter, ammunition started to explode and I bid a hasty retreat. I returned
in the early afternoon, by which time the aircraft was a burnt-out wreck, with foam covering the surrounding area. Some 50 years later, a farmer friend of mine was
deep ploughing in that area, and he remembered my experience, so when he found some shell cases etc, he gave me one as a keep-sake. However, this incident does not appear in any of the books about the 4th FG and I have always wondered who the pilot was. I can assure you that the details are
accurate, and I can see it now in my mind as if it was yesterday."
The tri-colored rudder and the number in the squadron code make it a war weary kite, either a squadron hack or a Clobber College trainer. Group records mention the crash of QP-4 two weeks later; and there was also mention of a 355FG kite crashing at Debden on 18 December. But there is no mention of QP-2, which was a total loss. The Association's aircraft inventory has no QP-2 listed. There is also no mention of an injured pilot in any of the squadron histories. Who was this man, and what kite was he flying?
Pilot/Plane/Squadron Remain Anonymous
It's simple: we got nuthin.' The photo at left presents us with a true mystery - we do not know the identity of the pilot, his kite or his unit. Even the artwork is unfamiliar, so add the identity of the nose artist to the mystery.
If you have any clue as to the identity of anyone or anything in this photo, please drop us a line!
If you have any clue as to the identity of anyone or anything in this photo, please drop us a line!
Mystery Solved!
26 May 2020 - At long last, this pilot and his kite have been identified. The pilot is 336's Earl Hustwit, a Pittsburgh native that joined 336 in July 1944. The name on his P-51D (VF-Z, 44-13325) is that of his infant son, Robert Lee Hustwit. Hustwit was KIA on 26 March 1945 over Aachen.
26 May 2020 - At long last, this pilot and his kite have been identified. The pilot is 336's Earl Hustwit, a Pittsburgh native that joined 336 in July 1944. The name on his P-51D (VF-Z, 44-13325) is that of his infant son, Robert Lee Hustwit. Hustwit was KIA on 26 March 1945 over Aachen.
Sho-Me...the Serial Number?
There are many famous 4th Fighter Group kites and 4th enthusiasts can reel off the particulars of most of them. But a recent discovery revealed the serial number of Ralph Hofer's P-47C not to be what it was thought to be. As it turns out, the Thunderbolt wearing serial number 41-6484 never even made it to England. It's service life ended
after a forced landing in Pennsville, NJ on 4 May 1943 while on a training mission.
The notation "6484" in the 334 squadron history thought to be the serial number of The Missouri Kid/Sho-Me actually refers to a map grid coordinate in England which pinpoints the location of the crash site of P-47D-1-RE 42-7874. This kite, coded QP-L went down on Moat's Farm outside the village of Kenton with F/O John McNabb at the controls on 2 December 1943.
So what do we know for sure about Hofer's Jug, other than its name and the great artwork by Don Allen? Not much. Pictures indicate it was a P-47C; D models had their cowling flaps extended down to wing level. It was likely
coded QP-L, though we have no photographic proof of that. Hofer was assigned QP-L as his personal kite in the middle of January 1944. There are at least six C model Thunderbolts known to have served at Debden for which we have no corresponding squadron code; it's possible Hofer's kite was one of these.
This mystery likely won't be solved until someone discovers a photo of The Missouri Kid/Sho-Me which reveals both the squadron code and serial number. If you have a photograph like this, you've just become our most popular site visitor. 4th aficionados everywhere are waiting for you to send in a copy!
after a forced landing in Pennsville, NJ on 4 May 1943 while on a training mission.
The notation "6484" in the 334 squadron history thought to be the serial number of The Missouri Kid/Sho-Me actually refers to a map grid coordinate in England which pinpoints the location of the crash site of P-47D-1-RE 42-7874. This kite, coded QP-L went down on Moat's Farm outside the village of Kenton with F/O John McNabb at the controls on 2 December 1943.
So what do we know for sure about Hofer's Jug, other than its name and the great artwork by Don Allen? Not much. Pictures indicate it was a P-47C; D models had their cowling flaps extended down to wing level. It was likely
coded QP-L, though we have no photographic proof of that. Hofer was assigned QP-L as his personal kite in the middle of January 1944. There are at least six C model Thunderbolts known to have served at Debden for which we have no corresponding squadron code; it's possible Hofer's kite was one of these.
This mystery likely won't be solved until someone discovers a photo of The Missouri Kid/Sho-Me which reveals both the squadron code and serial number. If you have a photograph like this, you've just become our most popular site visitor. 4th aficionados everywhere are waiting for you to send in a copy!
Mystery Solved!
25 September 2013 - Thanks to Nigel Julian, with some assistance from Troy White, Ted Damick and Peter Randall, the identity of The Missouri Kid/Sho Me has been uncovered. It is 41-6413, a 4FG veteran which had previously served as the personal kite of Oscar Coen, Chesley Peterson and Jim Clark before becoming Hofer's mount in January 1944. It had been coded QP-V and QP-W before QP-L became its last 334 code.
25 September 2013 - Thanks to Nigel Julian, with some assistance from Troy White, Ted Damick and Peter Randall, the identity of The Missouri Kid/Sho Me has been uncovered. It is 41-6413, a 4FG veteran which had previously served as the personal kite of Oscar Coen, Chesley Peterson and Jim Clark before becoming Hofer's mount in January 1944. It had been coded QP-V and QP-W before QP-L became its last 334 code.
