Lost another one...

Yesterday we lost another fella whom we all could never have thanked enough for what he did almost 60 years ago...

My good friend Mike, known here on the forum as Butz, informed me that a fella by the name of Walter Grabowski passed away yesterday. I don't know any of the details; his age or what his ailment was. I do know he had been ill for a while. I'm sure Mike will fill in any blanks and make any corrections, he was able to meet Walter on at least a couple occasions as well as talk to him by phone on several others. (Walter was born here in Buffalo and moved to Mike's hometown of Niagara Falls after the war.)

Anyhoo, he was a P-47 pilot in the 511th FS of the 405th FG, 9th AF. Some of you may have seen these photographs of Walter's Jugs; one of them has appeared in almost every book written about the P-47...

P-47D-22-RE 42-26261

This aircraft was finished in OD over gray and carried the squadron color, yellow, on the cowling, alternating cowl flaps, exhaust flap and canopy framing. The rudder trim tab was outlined in yellow as well.

Points of interest:

Note the masking line & overspray near the edge of the yellow cowl band. Also, there appears to be a replacement panel on the cowling.

Note the heavily weathered area on the inner leading edge of the wing. (Most likely scuffed and chipped paint.)

Of great interest is the fact that this aircraft does not carry national insignia under both wings, a common practice with Jugs by the time these photos were taken in 1944/45.

And last, the circle (probably white) behind the code letter 'S'. This was a squadron marking.

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Added by Blackwolf 8/22/03:

HOW COULD I FORGET!!! This aircraft carried a malcom hood mod...

Here's a color profile of the aircraft:

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P-47D-30-RE 44-20392



This aircraft carries an impressive display of mission markings. It also has the canopy frames in yellow, and most likely has a yellow cowling band and cowl flaps, black-outlined yellow rudder trim tab and black circle behind the aircraft code letter.

Goodbye, Walter, and thanks a million.


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