BADGER BEAUTY VI

I know from this photo that this P-47 was given a tail number of 228479 and I first thought it a D-26 RA model and was built in Evansville, IN.

Judging from the terrain and vegetation and photographer's location, I would guess this is New Guinea and it served there in 1942 and 1943.

It was named "Badger Beauty 6th", and the pilot had shot down two Japanese aircraft judging from the kill flags on the fuselage.

It has a light-colored band on the fin with "85" in the band, a four-pointed scallop on engine nacelle, and a broad band around fuselage in front of fuselage insignia.

My interest was that there had to be a story in "Badger Beauty 6th". If the pilot had lost six "Badger Beauty"s while shooting down two Japanese aircraft, he was helping the wrong side.

Close examination of the photo indicates that the pilot was a Capt. Auter. (Name under port side of cockpit.)

I talked with the P-47 Thunderbolt Pilot Association and placed ads in their newsletter, "Jug Letter." And I mounted a big poster in the conference hall at the 1980, P-47 Pilot Reunion in Lake Charles, LA. I was requesting information on this or the sister ship in the photo (tail number 228527) or any crew-member.

While looking for the pilot, I checked with the colleges and universities whose football teams were the Badgers; the Michigan military pilot's assoc.; and a Canadian pilot's assoc.

No luck anywhere, but it is a good photo anyway.

I did learn that there were other Badger Beauties -- a B-17 and a B-24 which came to bad ends. The U. of Wisconsin named particular pretty female students as their Badger Beauties -- beyond this, I knew little.

However, in mid-May, 2000, I bought a Squadron Publication with a bad photo of another P-47, and it was a P-47D-28-RA.

The P-47 in the bad Squadron photo also had nose scallop, said to be in red, and that was for the 40th Fighter Squadron. It had a black band on the fuselage (and wings) which were 5th Air Force ID stripes. The pre-War stripes on the rudder and white tail were the unit markings for the 35th Fighter Group and they were stationed on Luzon in 1945.

So we have the right planes in the right area.

I would prefer to stand by my D-26 identification of the Heckman photo; but tail numbers lead me to believe that it is a D-28, rather than D-26.

Of particular interest was the Squadron publication P-47's tail number -- 228488 with a "51" on fin. Our photo is of ship 85. These were specific aircraft numbers put on by the squadrons but the tail numbers indicate that there were only eight P-47s built at Evansville, IN, between these two P-47s.

Shortly after these 47s were made, the factory started adding a dorsal fin to make up for the lateral area lost when they had stopped producing the "Razorback" model and went to this model with the full-view canopy.

Also, the empennage needed a little extra strength and the dorsal fin provided that.

Ken Cashion