WARBIRD MEMORIES

and other stuff up in the air
Post Reply
Joe Gopan
Jeep Heaven
Posts: 49841
Joined: Sun Mar 02, 2008 12:37 pm
Location: Proving Ground

WARBIRD MEMORIES

Post by Joe Gopan » Thu Jun 11, 2020 9:22 am

Warbirds have been my hobby in parallel with MV's since the 40's. One of the great pleasures is contacting those who flew in thre armed services during WWII/Korea period at DOW FIELD,
When I was a youngster I couldn't wait for the Armed Forces Day open house at Dow just across the street.
Armed Forces Day 1952 was the last time that the F-51 Mustang was displayed at Dow. The Iowa Nebraska Guard was called to active duty 50-52 and stationed at Dow. The 1952 open house featured Mustangs and one was up on jacks as a demonstration for landing gear operation. I stood under the nose and noticed a highly polished spot about 4' x 3'just under the exhaust and could just make out where nose art had been recently been buffed out.
I could just make out where "IT's SUPERMOUSE with a flying mouse armed with a MG and Bomb on a yellow background. As the years went by I would occasionally remember the F-51 "IT'S SUPERMOUSE".

I have a a good sized library of aviation books and was pawing thru "P-51 NOSE ART Gallery" and to my delight spotted a P-51 "It's Super Mouse" photograph on Page 30. The plane served with the 352nd Fighter Group, 328th FS, (Blue Nose Bastards) during WWII. I called "Punchy" Powell, a pilot in that unit to tell him my discovery. Punchy was excited and commented that it's WWII pilot named Dodd, had just passed away a few weeks earlier and would have loved to have seen the photo.

Punchy passed away a couple years later in 2016.
2011 MVPA PIONEER AWARD - MVPA #1064
HONOR GRAD-WHEELED VEHICLE MECHANIC SCHOOL 1960 - US ARMY ORDNANCE SCHOOL(MACHINIST) ABERDEEN PG 1962 - O-1 BIRD DOG CREWCHIEF - 300,000+TROUBLE FREE M-38A1 MILES
LIFE MEMBER AM LEGION-40/8-DAV
7 MIL SPEC MAINTAINED MV'S
COL. BRUNO BROOKS (ARMY MOTORS) IS MY HERO


Joe Gopan
Jeep Heaven
Posts: 49841
Joined: Sun Mar 02, 2008 12:37 pm
Location: Proving Ground

Re: WARBIRD MEMORIES

Post by Joe Gopan » Sat May 15, 2021 10:53 am

Remembering ARMED FORCES DAY. It is on the 3rd Saturday of May and was declared by President Truman in 1948.
2011 MVPA PIONEER AWARD - MVPA #1064
HONOR GRAD-WHEELED VEHICLE MECHANIC SCHOOL 1960 - US ARMY ORDNANCE SCHOOL(MACHINIST) ABERDEEN PG 1962 - O-1 BIRD DOG CREWCHIEF - 300,000+TROUBLE FREE M-38A1 MILES
LIFE MEMBER AM LEGION-40/8-DAV
7 MIL SPEC MAINTAINED MV'S
COL. BRUNO BROOKS (ARMY MOTORS) IS MY HERO

Post Reply

Return to “Warbirds - Wanted, For Sale (NO AUCTION or EBAY) and Knowledge Base”

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 5 guests