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Status:
Solved by:
Photo Info:
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Closed
Rich Bonneau, Steve Schwartz
unknown date/place
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Readers' Responses:
Rich Bonneau:Don't know where the photo was taken, but
it is either John Schauffhausen (sp?) or Gene Stocker's Crips A' Mighty 3rd (now
owned by Kermit Weeks). Schauffhausen got the aircraft from Australia in the 1970s
and restored it. Gene Stocker bought it and raced it at the Homstead Air Race in
1979.
Steve Schwartz:In the mid to late 70's, I saw my first Mustang in person at a
local airshow ( New Philadelphia, Ohio ). This could possibly be that Mustang, since
it was painted as Cripes A' Mighty 3rd. As I remember it was in aluminum paint back then. Gene Stocker was probably the owner before Kermit Weeks accquired it. Comparing the photos from the web and the current photos from GML. The features such as the 6 rocket stubs and drop tanks look the same. The paint scheme looks like an earlyer D-Day version with less kills than the current example. Also the invasion stripes go all the way around the wing and rear fuselage as well as having the black stripe behind the P on the rudder. This aircraft would be # 45-11507 N921 of the Weeks air museum Fl. Kermit has done a fantastic job restoring N921 in the polished Aluminum / Blue nose scheme of Major George E. Preddy, 352nd fighter group, Bodeny,England. Preddy, being the leading ace of the ETO unfortionatly did not survive the war.
Keith:
That is John Schaufhausen then of Hayden Lake, Idaho at Sand Point Naval Air Station.
Most likley 1974, I was supposed to be there.
Later Addition:
Sam Sox: This Mustang was owned by John Schauffhausen and is the one that
Kermit Weeks purchase and restored correctly with my research as Preddy's Cripes 3rd.
I no longer remember the year when an article appeared in Air Classics, but it
featured Johns' restoration of the Mustang and someone made the statement in one
of the captions regarding the correct number of kills that would have been displayed
on the Mustang. Having just completed a very long research period along with
Preddy's cousin Joe Noah in preparation of a biography we co-authored, I wrote
Air Classics back with a response and copied the letter to John Schauffhausen.
He replied informing me that he had just completed selling it to Kermit. I contacted
Kermit and told him that if wished to redo it in the correct marking, I could help
him with it. The rest is history.
Case Closed!
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