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AIR TASK FORCE: |
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5. A 23rd Fighter Group ground crewman proudly points to the five Japanese flags that are painted on the forward fuselage of this Curtiss P-40E Kittyhawk. The five flags indicates that the aircraft's pilot has destroyed five Japanese aircraft in aerial combat. | ||||||||
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6.
The future commander of the USAF’s Strategic Air Command, General
Bruce K. Holloway is photographed with a fellow 23rd Fighter Group pilot
following an awards ceremony at which both pilots were awarded the
Distinguished Flying Cross. At this time, Holloway was the commanding
officer of the 23rd Fighter Group’s 76th Fighter Squadron.
The pilot pictured with Holloway is Captain John “Mo”
Lombard, who would rise to the rank of Major and command the Group’s
74th Fighter Squadron before being killed in a flying accident near
Kunming, China in June 1943. The
two airmen are standing in front of a former AVG P-40 Tomahawk fighter.
This particular Tomahawk is one of the 48 former AVG P-40
Tomahawks and Kittyhawks that made up the initial strength of the 23rd
Fighter |
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7. CATF fighter ace and first commander of the 23rd Fighter Group, Colonel Robert L. Scott is seen assisting his ground crew in the reloading his P-40E Kittyhawk’s wing mounted .50 caliber machine guns. |
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8. Surrounded by an appreciative group of CATF ground crewmen, motion picture and radio comedian, Joe E. Brown “mugs” for the camera during a USO entertainment tour of American airfields in China. The much-admired comedian was one of Hollywood’s most active war-time USO entertainers. Always funny and upbeat when with the young airmen and soldiers he was entertaining, however at the time this photograph was taken, Mr. Brown, was secretly grieving over the loss of a son, who as an Army pilot had recently been killed in North Africa | ||||||||
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9. Pilots of the 23rd Fighter Group, CATF, are photographed on and around one of the Group’s P-40K Warhawk fighters at Kunming, China, in late 1942. |
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10. In one of the most widely published photographs to come out of China during the Second World, a Chinese Army soldier is seen while guarding a group of 23rd Fighter Group P-40K’s that are parked along the flight line at Kunming. |
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