He was “…close to my wing when flak burst between us…” - The last mission of P-47 pilot William Gorman

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“MUMBLIN JOE,” a Republic P-47D-20-RE Thunderbolt, serial number 42-76452, was assigned to the 371st Fighter Group’s 405th Fighter Squadron (squadron code 8N). The aircraft bore the name of pilot Lt. Arthur W. “Bud” Holderness Jr., with the individual aircraft letter of “H” aft of the national insignia on the fuselage. It is pictured here with 41 mission symbols, bombed up and headed out for another combat mission, probably from A-6 airfield in France in the summer of 1944, probably with Lt. Holderness as the pilot. Holderness, a 1943 US Military Academy graduate, flew 142 combat missions with the 371st during the war, received the Distinguished Flying Cross, 19 Air Medals, the French Croix de Guerre, and was one of two pilots in his squadron to earn the Lead Crew Combat Pilot patch. He went on to have a long and successful postwar career in the USAF, retiring in 1971 as a brigadier general. (Via Maj Tom Silkowski, 190th Fighter Squadron, Idaho Air National Guard)

Pictured is a Republic P-47D-20-RE Thunderbolt, aka “Mumblin Joe,” prior to a combat mission in 1944. Assigned to the 371st Fighter Group’s 405th Fighter Squadron, the aircraft bore the name of pilot Lt. Arthur W. Holderness Jr., with the individual aircraft letter of “H” aft of the national insignia on the fuselage. (Idaho Air National Guard photo by Maj. Tom Silkowski)

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Photo by: Courtesy | VIRIN: 190606-Z-F3895-1002.JPG

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