3

Out , The Range of the p-47 would not
reach far enough into Germany to reach
the points belived to be necessary,
in view of this, we switched to P-51.
23 Training for P-51
We were happy to get the long range P-51,
It was Maneuverable, had enough fire
power, but was not as tough as the P-47. I
and some of the other ground personnel had
been trained on the old P-40, so it was not
all new to us. The main drawback of the
P-51 Temper mental. The conger we
worked with this plane the betterwe liked
it. with wing tanks, The range was
About anywhere in Europe our pilots
wanted to go. we could find the
enemy then.
33 Duty Raydon P-51
We did about the same duties at
Raydon as the other bases. Did our own
guad duty, C.O, duties
34 Mission Raydon P-51
Missions were mostly well into Germany,
Austria, Etc at times when the enemy was
withdrawing, The targets were good such as
Airplanes on the ground. one when "Wag
found good shooting, he got three or four on
the ground. He told us soe thing hit
"miss Illini" on inspection we found
an unexploded 20mm warned in the
radiator embedded to the point that

13
out, the range of the P-47 would not
reach far enough into Germany to reach
the points believed to be necessary.
In view of this, we switched to P-51.
32 Training for P-51
We were happy to get the long range P-51.
It was maneuverable, had enough fire
power, but was not as tough as the P-47. I
and some of the other ground personnel had
been trained on the old P-40, so it was not
all new to us. The main drawback of the
P-51 was its cooling system. It seemed
very tempermental. The longer we
worked with this plane the better we liked
it. With wing tanks, the range was
about anywhere in Europe our pilots
wanted to go. We could find the
enemy then.
33 Duty at Raydon P-51
We did about the same duties at
Raydon as the othe [other] bases. Did our own
guard duty, C. O. duties
34 Missions Raydon P-51
Missions were mostly well into Germany,
Austria, etc. At times when the enemy was
withdrawing, the targets were good such as
airplanes on the ground. Once when "Wag"
found good shooting, he got three or four on
the ground. He told us something hit
"Miss Illini". On inspection we found
an unexploded 20MM warhead in the
radiator embedded to the point that