P-51D Mustang 44-63272 "Bad Angel"

[airdave]

I was asked by a fellow modeller about creating this particular Mustang.
(I've honestly forgotten who it was, so my apologies to them)

At first, I didn't have any great interest in it, until I read this interesting story about pilot L.E. Curdes.

Louis Edward Curdes served in both Europe and Pacific theatres and flew this particular Mustang 44-63272 "Bad Angel".
Curdes was one of only three American pilots to shoot down aircraft belonging to the German, the Italian, the Japanese, and the American air forces.
He is the only pilot to have recorded a legitimate air to air "kill" against Allied (American) aircraft.

I am unsure if he flew the same Mustang in both theaters of war, but I am assuming he flew "Bad Angel" during the following incident.
Please note: I take this story from familiar online sources...with no claims to its accuracy.

On February 10, Curdes, now a Lieutenant, formed a squadron of four aircraft that departed from Mangaldan Airfield in the Philippines.
Their objective was to investigate if the Japanese were using a temporary air strip on the southern tip of Taiwan.
No airfield could be found and Curdes returned to the Philippines.

Flying over the island of Batan, the squadron split; Curdes and Lieutenant Schmidtke headed north, while Lieutenants Scalley and La Croix headed south.
Scalley and La Croix located a small Japanese airfield and attacked it and also called for reinforcements; Curdes and Schmidtke headed south to join them.

During the attack on the airfield, La Croix was shot down and made an emergency landing in the sea.
As the squadron circled, Curdes could see that his companion had survived, and remained in the area to guide a rescue plane and protect the downed pilot.
While covering La Croix, Curdes noticed a larger plane was preparing to land at the Japanese occupied Batan airfield.
He went to investigate and found the aircraft to be Douglas C-47 transport with US insignia.
Curdes tried to make contact by radio, but was not successful.
He maneuvered his P-51 in front of the plane several times trying to get the C-47 to alter course, but the C-47 maintained its course.

Curdes lined up his P-51 directly behind the C-47 and fired his .50 caliber machine guns into one of the C-47s two engines, causing it to fail.
The C-47 still maintained its course for the Batan's airfield so Curdes then disabled the remaining engine forcing the pilot to ditch in the sea.
The plane successfully ditched without breaking up, and the crew was able to evacuate into a lifeboat.
La Croix approached and was brought on board the C-47's life raft, where he was informed about the situation.
The plane had apparently been lost in poor weather and its radio had stopped working.
As it was also running out of fuel, the pilot headed directly to the island's airstrip, unaware that it was under Japanese control.

At this point, the dusk and low level of fuel of the P-51 forced Curdes to return to base.
The next morning, he accompanied the rescue PBY to pick up the downed C-47 pilot and 11 crew members, including two nurses, all of whom had survived the incident.
To Curdes's surprise, he discovered that one of the nurses, Svetlana Valeria Shostakovich Brownell, was a woman he dated the night before the incident.
Curdes later married Brownell, whom he widowed in 1975.

Contrary to subsequent reports, Curdes did not receive a Distinguished Flying Cross for that event, although he did receive credit for the "Kill" and displayed it on his aircraft.

[I found this info online, so I lay no claims to its accuracy]
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So, the kit, which I created months back, maybe years (lol), has finally reached the shop.
Its available now at ecardmodels: 1/33 Mustang P-51D Bad Angel Lt Louis E Curdes Paper Model - EcardModels

[Michael Mash]

Hello Dave,
The story was a good read as background to your P51D “Bad Angel”.
Despite your uncertainty as to accuracy, many unusual events seem to occur in the “chaos of war”.

Mike

[Don Boose]

Dave - Thanks for another excellent P-51 model and for the extensive historical background narrative. I have purchased the model. Best, Don