Need help finding some info

[mhuxt]

Those are great pics, thanks.

The internet archive "wayback machine" offers these potential contacts

40th Squadron Reunion

Seems to have been reunions up to a couple of years ago. Maybe they have more records.

 

[vikingBerserker]

That's very cool!

 

[jester63]

I just did some research on-line, and I found Anthony Faikus's Address and phone number. I am hopefully gonna get in contact with him, and see what he can tell me about my grandpa, and see if he has any info on his plane, or anything.

 

[Aaron Brooks Wolters]

Good luck Jester. I hope you are able to get in touch with Mr. Faikus.

 

[vikingBerserker]

Is there a way to grab more than 25 at a time?

Nope........

Ok I dumped all 7,430 accidents listed for the P-47 and could only find one for Charles Jones. It was on April 18, 1944 but occured 1 Mi W Goldsboro, NC. Cause of the accident was Forced Landing due to Engine Failure and he was with the 123ABU. So it's either one of the two already pointed out (they are listed as taxiing accidents) or for whatever reason is not listed. There were a total of 28 pilots with the last name of Jones listed, did he possibly go by another name?

 

[jester63]

He could have possibly went by charlie, or maybe robert or Bob. His middle name was robert. Everyone called him Bob.

Im sure its highly unlikely, but is it possible that they wrote that charles jones info down wrong, or maybe got it mixed up? April 18, 1944, would have been close to the time when he crashed. I know it was not too long after Feb 5, 1944.

I just didn't know if his would have bern listed as a taxiing accident, since he had got into the air. I looked at all the accident abbreviations, and there was a few others that seemed to be more accurate. Then again they didn't get any of the other info, so that could be wrong to.

Thanks so much guys, for searching all those names for me. I greatly appreciate it.

 

[jester63]

So does anyone have any guess as to what letters or numbers may have been on the side of his aircraft, or any in his Squadron for that matter!? Ill just guess on the serial number between the two mentioned above, but any help on the letters or numbers would be very helpful!

 

[44-72028]

Jester62....are you still out there? I am a 40th FIS historian of sorts....my dad was in the 40th....I have done a lot of research on the squadron....I have been to some of the reunions that were at Wright-Pat....I did the inital design work on the Memorial plaque in the Memorial garden at the Air Force Musuem....let me know what you want to know and I may be able to assist you. I have met and talked with Carlos Danacher, the last time was when he came to my Dad's funeral at Arlington in '02.

Anyone else....does anyone have any information on a P-51D-25 with the serial of 44-72028? It was my Dad's AC and I only have a few pics of it. I think it still exists and is owned by a company called Centerline Holdings. I can't find it but there are pictures on MustangsMustangs of it being rebuilt. It went from SWPA to Isreal and flew with them till it became obslete then went to UK....then to USA. My scanner broke two days ago and my kids say they will replace it....I don't know when but when they do I'll be scanning more slides, negs and prints of that era and newer.

 

[44-72028]

This is a couple pics I have of the ac....this is the 'other' pilot, Don Comstock. At that time they had too many pilots vs aircraft so some aircraft had two pilots. Don's wife was on the left side, Grace M and my Mom's name was on the other, Vivian E

 

[44-72028]

The aircraft were numbered in the 35th FG.... 1-9 were HQ a/c....10-39 were 39th....40-69 were 40th....70-99 were 41st. If the squadron had more than 30 a/c the number started at 100....100-109 were HQ....110-139 were 39th....140-169 were 40th. So my Dad's a/c was 159 which meant they had a lot of airplanes in the squadron I think.

 

[A4K]

Great info '44, didn't know that!

 

[44-72028]

Pictures of my Dad with 44-72028 and one of Danacher in 51 at AF Musuem during Reunion....I think '95

 

[vikingBerserker]

That's really cool 44!

 

[Tankworks]

Great pics and family history.

 

[A4K]

Echo the above posts, cheers for posting!

 

[jester63]

I am still around!!! Haven't been on in awhile though. Yes, I could use as much help as you could give me. I am trying to model all of the aircraft that my grandfather flew. I have no idea what the serial number or squadron number his planes carried. I have found his name in the list of accidents, but have been unable to find any numbers for his aircraft! He was good friends with Carlos Dannacher! I have talked to Carlos through email once, but he didn't really have any info for me. I can't rmember exactly when his crash was, but I believe it was in april of 44. His name was Charles Robert Jones, and was a Lt at the time of his accident. He was later promoted to capt while in the hospital recovering. Let me know what info you need, and I will see what I can do. Thanks again, and look forward to hearing from you!

Jester63 (Justin)

 

[44-72028]

Justin,
Do you have access to a 16mm microfilm reader....usually large public libraries have one or more of them. I have some microfilm of the 40th daily stats I got from Maxwell AFB years ago....with images of daily frag boards and other information.....and some pictures of airplanes. It's tedious to go through them but the info you seek may be in them. I would send them to you to research if you like. The boxes are smal, about 4"x4"x1"....you may keep them as long as you need to then send back to me when you are finished....let me know. I'll also see how much I kept when I was actively researching the squadron in the 80's....

I had begun building all the aircraft the 40th flew....from P-36 to A-7D. And now they are flying a lot of different things....but life changes and I ebayed my 6K unbuilt models over the last 10 years and gave most of my built models to the Civil Air Patrol in Richmond, VA.... The last model I built was in the early 90's. I'm in the state of life that my wife and I want to enjoy together so we have been running hot rods the last few years; wherewereyouin62 Let me know if you want me to send these films....If you are concerned about making your email address public you may email me at [email protected] and we can communicate that way if need be.

 

[jester63]

Hello' again '44! that would be wonderful to be able to view those!!! I believe my library has a machine to view them on. My email address is [email protected]. I have been trying to research the 40th on-line' and have found some stuff, but not as much as I would like. So those microfilms would be sooo much help. I am sooo excited to see them! I will handle them with extra care and get them back to you as soon as I can. Thank you so much '44, for this opportunity to look into my grandpas squadron and military history! Please e-mail me with details and let me know what I need to do.

I wished I would of been around when you were selling all those kits! I would have definitely bought some off of you! Not that I need any more! LOL I have a huge stash as it is. Which mostly consists of P-47's. Probably about 12-15 of them!

So have you had any luck in finding more info on your dads aircraft? That would be really neat if you could find the actual aircraft he flew, and be able to actually see it in person! What time period was your dad in the war? It makes me wonder if my grandfather and your dad maybe knew or knew of each other. Guess we will never know. I know it was a big squadron. My Grandfather was in from I believe early '43 to around April-May of 1944. Forgot the actual date of his accident.

Again, thank you so very much, and I will be looking for your email replies. Hope to hear from you soon!

Jester63

 

[mhuxt]

This thread just gets better with age.

As posted above, the 44-72038 aircraft is with "Centreline Holdings" undergoing restoration, due for completion 2013. She's currently registered as N514L. Apparently the registration is for Dover, DE (I assume that's Delaware?)


Track CENTERLINE HOLDINGS Flights

Don't know if that's the physical location or just a company registry for legal purposes, wouldn't surprise me if it were the latter, according to my admittedly sketchy understanding of U.S. corporations law.

 

[44-72028]

mhuxt....it's 44-72028....I think! The 2 is obscured by the blue vertical stripe on the rudder....My Dad said it was 72028 but I don't have photographic proof....yet. Centerline holdings is indeed in DE....I sent a snail mail letter last year to the address and it came back....no one there! I called Dover AFB and talked to their musuem curator about it and he laughed and said a lot of companies have DE as their address because, as you stated, some benifit to Corporation Law. So....I emailed a moderator on the MustangMustang fourm and he said he would do some digging....that was only a few weeks ago so I'm letting it age a little before I re-contact him. Kinda cool stuff....we'll see how it unfolds.