457th Bomb Group Message Board

Why a P-51 Mustang with a Triangle U on its vertical stabilizer?

Posted by Alan Morton on 7/11/2007, 10:21 pm
65.1.22.132

Posted by Alan Morton on 7/11/2007, 9:06 pm
75.83.113.51
Eric Zemper, a young WWII aviation historian/enthusiast sent me a beautiful photo of a North American Aviation P-51 Mustang with a black triangle U painted on its vertical stabilizer Since this icon is the specific markings of the 457th Bomb Group (H) B-17 Aircraft, the question is ... why, when and where was this fighter aircraft included in the Glatton Air Base inventory, if ever? Does anyone ever remember seeing this aircraft? If so, what was its assigned function?

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Re: Why a P-51 Mustang with a Triangle U on its vertical stabilizer?

Posted by Alan Morton on 7/13/2007, 9:42 pm, in reply to "Why a P-51 Mustang with a Triangle U on its vertical stabilizer?"
75.83.113.51

Well, true to form ... the 8th Air Force Fighter Aircraft have their own icons of identification. And, since the Bomber Groups use the same geometric forms and alphabet as the Fighter Groups it's only natural that there would be a few similarities and duplication of the symbols used for quick identification.
The P-51 Fighter Aircraft in question is the only one of a series of Fighter Aircraft that use black triangle on the vertical stabilizer. This particular P-51 happens to use the white letter U in its black triangle center.
To see the myriad of identification call-letter icons on 8th Air Force Fighter Aircraft: http://www.littlefriends.co.uk
Cheers

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Re: Why a P-51 Mustang with a Triangle U on its vertical stabilizer?

Posted by Jerry Sale on 7/16/2007, 8:59 am, in reply to "Re: Why a P-51 Mustang with a Triangle U on its vertical stabilizer?"
134.244.179.228

I follwed the link in your mail message and could find no other P-51's with a letter marking on its tail. I found only numbers and various color and painted paterns. Did I miss something?

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Re: Why a P-51 Mustang with a Triangle U on its vertical stabilizer?

Posted by Peter Randall on 7/19/2007, 6:43 am, in reply to "Re: Why a P-51 Mustang with a Triangle U on its vertical stabilizer?"
89.225.122.182

8th AF fighter units used the geometric signs of square, triangle and circle to differentiate the three squadrons within the individual fighter group; unlike the bomber units who used the symbols to indicate the Bomb Division. Not all fighter units used this system and in fact its use died out after a while, but if you check the 20th, 55th and 364th FG pages on my Littlefriends web site, you will see illustrations of what I am talking about. The "U" in a triangle therefore only indicated the particular a/c within the squadron and not the unit as a whole. Hope this helps clear things up for you.

Link: Little Friends web site

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Re: Why a P-51 Mustang with a Triangle U on its vertical stabilizer?

Posted by Jerry Sale on 7/23/2007, 8:44 am, in reply to "Re: Why a P-51 Mustang with a Triangle U on its vertical stabilizer?"
134.244.179.249

So as an example the 20th Flight Group, 55th Squad had a trinagle for a symbol and they put it on the tail of the A/C. Then the particular plane may have been designated using a U in the triangle. Is this correct? Did all planes in a flight group that used a symbol put the symbol on the tail?

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