US Army Air Force

"Checkertail Clan"

Asisbiz

A North American P-51D Mustang of 319th Fighter Squadron, 325th Fighter Group "Checkertail Clan" parked on Italian airfield, perhaps at Rimini-Miramare or Mondolfo, in front of the Adriatic coast, Northern Italy, 1944 or most probably 1945. Note the PSP (Pierced Steel Planking) covering the ramp area. The 325th was one of four Fighter Groups attached to 306th Fighter Wing in turn part of 15th Air Force’s XV Fighter Command for strategic bomber’s escort. Already equipped with P-40 and P-47 the Squadron received the Mustangs on May 1944. On March 1945 the Squadron escorted the 15th Air Force’s heavy bombers raiding the Daimler Benz Tank Works in Berlin, the longest Mustang flight ever flown over Europe. On 18 April 1945, the 319th Squadron’s Commanding Officer, Major Johnson, shot down a Me-262, first victory over a jet aircraft of “"Checkertail Clan". Victor Sierra