WIX Archives

Don Gentiles Logbook - Shangri-La -Long!

Posted by Tony on Sat Nov 17, 2001 02:08:45 PM

The following is copyright Wade Meyers, via the IPMS site

Tony :0)

Wade Meyers
Don Gentile's 1944 logbook, Part One
Sat Jan 13 18:06:47 2001


Don Gentile's 1944 Logbook:
An Explication

by Wade Meyers
? Copyright 2001


To all 4th Fighter Group (WWII) buffs, I hope the following information on Don Gentile will prove useful and interesting. In the mid-1980s, while working at the 8th Air Force Museum at Barksdale AFB, Louisiana (Barksdale has been the Headquarters of 8AF since 1975 and the 2nd Bomb Wing since 1963 - the 2nd is the oldest Wing in the Air Force - and the museum there headed by Buck Rigg is a gold mine of 8AF, Barksdale, and 2nd BW history and memorabilia), I had the privilege of corresponding with Don's son, then-Major Joseph Gentile, USAF (an F-16 Instructor Pilot!), and Don's widow, Isabella. Both were very nice, helpful, and most cordial. Kind of gave me an insight into what a class guy Don must have been. They both said they didn't have much left of Don's items since most of his uniforms, etc. had been donated to the USAF Museum and the Ohio Aviation Historical Society. As an aside, I once had the opportunity to view the contents of Don's storage locker at the USAF Museum - a rare privilege indeed. This box contained Don's effects that were not on exhibit. It was filled with a ton of stuff, including A-14 oxygen masks and (P-51!) flight instruments. As I held the instruments in my hands, I had a sneaking suspicion that some of these were from Shangri-La . . . they had to be - why else would he have saved them? But I digress . . .

One of Joe's possessions was his dad's WWII logbook - what a treasure! Joe was kind enough to photocopy most of it for me. He skipped some months in 1942 and 1943, but the entries for 1944 are complete. I will reproduce these entries for you here, along with my own comments and observations. I think you will find some "new" information presented, which, if nothing else, goes to show how much we still have to learn - and it's evidently only going to be primary historical data such as this that sorts things out. Thanks in part to writer, modeler, and fellow serious 4FG buff Thomas M. Cleaver. Tom's extensive research while writing his screenplay, "Little Friends," revealed among other things that Don was very meticulous about having kill marks painted on his airplane shortly after they occurred - usually just after the debriefing where witness confirmation would occur. This fact helps us more accurately date photos of Gentile's P-51B-5-NA 43-6913 "Shangri-La" - what few we've seen. In the text below, I have numbered each kill as he wrote it in his logbook, which matches the order in which they were painted on his airplanes. "Official" confirmation usually occurred several days afterward, according to the Hall book, "1000 Destroyed."

Don's victory tally has been the subject of a little controversy for many years now. There's the official score, and then there's the unofficial score. Gentile claimed, and was officially awarded at the time, 30 kills: 23 air and 7 ground. As we all know, this matches the final tally of 30 crosses painted on Shangri-La on April 13, 1944, the day he flew his last combat mission. However, his scores were revised downward after the war to (sources differ) around 21.80 air and 6.0 ground. Why did this happen? Well, the answer is simple: Don shared several of his victories with others. This is a matter of record. However, what's very important to note is that in his logbook, and on his airplanes, the shared victories were counted/painted as "full" kills. That's how we get to the unofficial 30 kill total. I'm not going to try and guess why this was condoned by Don, his commander Col. Don Blakeslee, VIII Fighter Command's Victory Confirmation Board, and the international press. Oh, and I'm not saying this practice was necessarily *wrong*. For the correct perspective, we have to place ourselves in their minds back then. Maybe VIII Fighter Command and the publicity troops saw shared kills as full kills to help the publicity engine. Lord knows they needed it back then. They also harped on the teamwork exhibited between Gentile and Godfrey, which was crucial to their individual successes, as a means of encouraging other pilots to do the same. Maybe not a bad thing all around.

The downward revision takes into account the shared kills, and rightfully so in my opinion. As you know, Don was not the only ace to have his totals adjusted after careful review of the evidence. The exact fraction can be debated by the experts, but that's not my concern here. My goal with this little article is to go back in time and present Don's 1944 logbook day by day as Don wrote it, noting victories as he goes along, which, as far as I can tell, match the sequence of victories painted on his airplanes.

OK, here we go - with my editorials in [ ] brackets after the date commented on. I have not differentiated much between Air and Ground kills. As you may know, back then 8AF gave equal credit to both, which was what they should have done if they wanted pilots to "waste" ammunition on ground targets. Accordingly, both types were painted on most 8AF aircraft as "kills". This was the case with Gentile.


DATE.....A/C-CODE.....NOTES.....FLIGHT TIME.....MISC.

Jan 2 P-47/T Low flying 1:10
Jan 4 P-47/T Escort to Munster 2:55
Jan 5 P-47/U Tours airdrome, France 3:05 1 FW190

[kill #4]

Jan 7 P-47/T Mons-Hirson-LeTougret 2:50
Jan 9 P-47/T Air Test 0:35
Jan 10 P-47/T Practice dive-bombing 1:00
Jan 11 P-47/T Diepholz 1:55
Jan 14 P-47/T Free Lance - Calais area 2:10 2 FW190

[Kills #5 and #6. Don became an ace on this mission. Later, on Jan 17, Don was awarded an OLC to his DFC.]

Jan 20 P-47/U P-38 Affiliation 1:20
Jan 21 P-47/U Free Lance - Calais Area 3:05
Jan 21 P-47/U Gravesend to Debden 0:15
Jan 23 P-47/T P-38 Affiliation 1:15
Jan 24 P-47/T Ramrod - Malmedy Area 3:00
Jan 27 P-47/T Local Formation 0:50
Jan 30 P-47/T Sweep - Brunswick 2:50
Jan 31 P-47/T Dive Bombing-Gilze-Rijen 2:05

[Summary of time as of the end of Jan 1944: Total Operational Time - 228:05; Total Operational Sorties - 153; Total P-47 Time - 247:30. Note: Don had been 336 FS "B" Flight Commander as of late 1943.]

Feb 2 P-47/T Free Lance - Lille 2:25
Feb 3 P-47/T Ramrod - Emden 1:05 Returned - Radio U/S
Feb 4 P-47/T Ramrod - Frankfort [sic] 2:45
Feb 5 P-47/T Free Lance - Lille, Paris 2:50
Feb 6 P-47/T Ramrod - Beauvais 2:50
Feb 8 P-47/T Ramrod - St. Vith Area 2:50
Feb 9 P-51/G-4G Experimental Testing 0:35

[Don's first P-51 flight.]

Feb 10 P-51/G-4G Experimental Testing 1:05
Feb 11 P-51/G-4G Experimental Testing 0:45
Feb 12 P-51/G-4G Experimental Testing 1:40
Feb 13 P-51/G-4G Experimental Testing 0:40

[Don's logbook doesn't have a "Takeoff - Landing Location" column like we have today. The Speer book says that Feb 13th was the day Blakeslee landed with the first P-51s *assigned* to the 4FG, and the Fry book says the 14th was the day. Without doing further research, I think that Don and possibly some of the other flight commanders went somewhere else *beforehand* (on or about Feb 9) to check out "thoroughly" in the P-51B - which would make sense as the flight commanders would be expected to "shepherd" the pilots in their Flights. Maybe it was Leiston - This would explain his complete absence from operations at Debden during the period Feb 9 to Feb 13. Likewise, I would assume that if the P-51 "G-4G" (he probably meant "G4-G", which was a 357FG squadron code) was, for a short while, the ONLY P-51 at Debden, then Don would have flown some of the regular combat missions from Feb 9 to Feb 13 - so Don initially checking out at Debden doesn't make sense to me. I conclude, therefore, that Don and likely some other flight leaders went to another location to get good check-outs prior to the mass of 4FG pilots being exposed to the new fighter. We all know the story of how the pilots all learned to fly the fighters in about 30 minutes, then "on the way to the targets," which may be true in some cases, but I now believe, based on Don's logbook entries, that some or all of the Flight Commanders were checked out beforehand. Don Blakeslee was a smart commander, and this would have been the prudent thing to do.]

Feb 15 P-47/T Dive Bombing - Chievres 2:20
Feb 19 P-47/T Squadron Balboa 0:15

["Balboa", or "Balbo" was a big squadron formation - why? Practice, I suppose.]

Feb 20 P-47/T Ramrod - Leipzeig 3:30
Feb 21 P-47/T Air Test 0:15
Feb 21 P-47/T Ramrod - Brunswick 3:20
Feb 22 P-47/T Ramrod - SW Germany 3:00
Feb 23 P-47/L Local 0:20
Feb 24 P-47/T Ramrod - Schweinfurt 2:50 1 FW190 (Probable)
Feb 25 P-47/T Ramrod - Stutgart [sic] 3:05 1 FW190

[Kill no. 7 . . . last P-47 flight for Don, at least in the UK.]

Feb 28 P-51/P Local Formation 0:15

["P" subsequently assigned to Godfrey]

Feb 28 P-51/P Local Formation 0:45

[same day, same plane]

Feb 28 P-51/F Free Lance - Compiegne 0:40 Returned, wing tank u/s
Feb 29 P-51/R Ramrod - Brunswick 4:20

[Summary for Feb 1944: Total operational time - 264:10; Total operational sorties - 165; Total P-47 time - 281:10; Total P-51 time - 11:00. Don also signed his own logbook this time as the "Officer in Charge of the Squadron" verifying the times given for February 1944. Don is not listed as ever being 336 commander, but, as Fry points out, actual circumstances of command often varied from the official listing. This is confirmed by Tom Cleaver's research. During this period, Jim Goodson was 336 CO, but was sometimes away in Italy to educate 15AF Mustang groups while they broke in their P-51s. Goodson was vying for a command slot, maybe with the 4th after "Col. Don" left, and getting leadership time with other groups was a good education. As it was, Goodson was shot down in mid-1944 and never got the chance to lead the group. "Claib" Kinnard and others finally succeeded Blakeslee in the fall. If Don's logbook is an example, all 4FG pilots' logs were signed each month by the pilot's flight commander and "O. C. Sqdn".]



Mar 1 P-51/W Local 0:55
Mar 1 P-51/Q Local 1:30
Mar 2 P-51/T Target Support - Frankfort 4:15

[First flight in P-51 VF-T, which became "Shangri-La". When exactly the artwork was applied has been lost to time - anybody out there?]

Mar 3 P-51/W Target Support - Hamburg 7:00 2 FW190

[Kills #8 and #9. 1 DO217 damaged also on this mission. Longest mission listed. On return, Don landed at Hurn airdrome on the English coast as he was almost out of gas and couldn't make Debden.]

Mar 3 P-51/W Hurn to Debden 0:40

[Same day return flight to Debden after refueling]

Mar 5 P-51/T Target Support - Bordeaux 1:35 Returned - engine rough

[When you examine these entries, it seems VF-T, like a lot of the other ETO P-51s at this time, had a relatively troublesome engine - look how often he flew other "kites".]

Mar 6 P-51/OS-M Steeple Morden to Debden 0:15
Mar 6 P-51/OS-M Target Support - Berlin 1:10 Returned - engine cut out

[Don was driven or flown (AT-6 or UC-64) to Steeple-Morden early today or late last night to pick up P-51B OS-M due to VF-T's engine troubles - and lack of spare aircraft . . . he then flew OS-M back to Debden for this Mar 6 mission, but, as we see, he wasn't having much luck since he had to abort. Whether he landed back at S-M to return the kite, or returned to Debden is not clear. This confirms what the books say about the new P-51s being "temperamental thoroughbreds". The 4 FG had the same teething problems when the P-47s were new. The Mustang engine ills were somewhat cured by replacing the American spark plugs with British ones. Sources say that the plugs (24 of them per engine!) were also pulled, cleaned, and re-gapped after every long mission due to the high Lead (anti-detonation) compound added to raise the octane rating of the inferior British fuel used.]

Mar 7 P-51/T Air Test 1:30

[This would be "slow timing" VF-T's engine after maintenance.]

Mar 8 P-51/T Target Support - Berlin 5:20 4 ME109

[Kills #10, #11, #12, and #13. A big day! This day is seen as the start of the very public "ace race" between Gentile and Beeson to see who will be first to break Eddie Rickenbacker's WW1 score of 26. Beeson, the serious and studious ace if there ever was one, was subsequently shot down and made a POW on April 5.]

Mar 9 P-51/T Target Support - Berlin 1:55 Returned - engine rough

[The period 13-15 March saw all ETO P-51s grounded. They had been troublesome beasts with rough engines, oil leaks, and wing tank feed problems. All wing bolts were replaced at this time due to several Mustangs having "shed a wing" in the recent past. If I remember correctly, that was later traced to faulty main gear uplocks, which allowed one gear to shift downwards slightly into the slipstream when G's were pulled, causing an asymmetric problem leading to wing failure. Also, on March 15 the group's Mustangs received their famous red noses per VIII Fighter Command order.]

Mar16 P-51/T Target Support - Munich 1:50 Returned - engine rough
Mar17 P-51/T Weather Test 0:30
Mar17 P-51/T Formation Flying 1:35
Mar18 P-51/T Target Support - Munich 5:20 1 FW190

[Kill #14. Also last flight in "T" for a little while.]

Mar20 P-51/N Target Support - Frankfort 3:00 Early return w/ Goodson.

[Escort "service" for Jim Goodson back to Debden]

Mar22 P-51/N Target Support - Berlin 5:15
Mar23 P-51/N Target Support - Brunswick 3:30 2 ME109s

[Kills #15 and #16]

Mar24 P-51/N Target Support - Schw'furt 5:00
Mar27 P-51/N Bomber Escort -Bordeaux 5:25 2 ME110s

[Kills #17 and #18]

Mar28 P-51/N Target Support - Chateaudun 3:20
Mar29 P-51/N Target Support - Brunswick 4:25 2 FW190 & 1 ME109

[kills #19, #20, and #21]

Mar30 P-51/T Slow Time 1:15

[Flying Shangri-La again!]

Mar31 P-51/T Slow Time 0:25

[Summary for March: Total operational time - 314:25; Total operational sorties - 176; Total P-47 time - 281:10; Total P-51 time - 76:20.]


Apr 1 P-51/N Ludwigshaven - Mannheim 5:25 1 ME109

[Kill #22. The famous series of photos of Don and sometimes with Johnny Godfrey in and around Shangri-La (note: always with a 21-victory scroll) must have been taken during the period March 30, when he got VF-T "back from the shop" to April 1, when he scored Kill #22. Some photos in this series show a half red and white spinner, and some show a full red spinner. The half red/white spinner was painted that way for easier aerial recognition in the air between Don and Johnny. I believe the victory crosses and half red/white spinner was painted based on the following time line - most is my own conjecture based on available data:

*************************
Mar 15: 4 FG receives red noses, but VF-T's spinner left white on forward half at Don's request. The 8AF group color nose markings were a new thing at this time, and Don probably thought he could get away with his "unique" nose color arrangement.
Mar 16-18: VF-T flown with red/wht nose, and 13 crosses on the scroll.
Mar 18: Kill #14 scored, applied to VF-T, but airplane "downed" for maintenance.
Mar 20-29: VF-N flown by Gentile in place of VF-T; his score goes up to 21 during this time.
Mar 30: Don "slow times" VF-T after maintenance. 21 kills now painted on scoreboard. Last kills put on either in the hangar or by Don's crew chief after she got back to her dispersal on the 29th or early on the 30th. Series of photos of Don and Johnny together near nose of Shangri-La probably taken today after the slow time flight. Half red/white nose and spinner prominent in these photos - as is the 21-kill scoreboard. About this time, Blakeslee orders full red spinner painted on Shangri-La before next mission she will participate in - to match rest of group noses. Full red nose painted on tonight.
Mar 31: Another day of slow time for the engine. Photos of Don alone in/near Shangri-La taken after this flight - some shots of Don on wing with armorers also taken today.
Apr 1: Kill #22 scored. However, Don was flying VF-N today when he got this kill . . . he flew "N" a lot, didn't he? Why he was flying it today I don't know; maybe something to do with the plugs being cleaned/gapped in VF-T - a time consuming chore. "N" was another B Flight kite parked close to VF-T in photos, so that makes sense. . The 22nd kill was painted on Shangri


Apr 1: Kill #22 scored. However, Don was flying VF-N today when he got this kill . . . he flew "N" a lot, didn't he? Why he was flying it today I don't know; maybe something to do with the plugs being cleaned/gapped in VF-T - a time consuming chore. "N" was another B Flight kite parked close to VF-T in photos, so that makes sense. . The 22nd kill was painted on Shangri-La (with her shiny new full red nose!) soon afterwards. Still with me? You must love this stuff!

Apr 4-13: Kills 23-30 scored. Except for the April 13 crash photos, I've seen no photos of Shangri-La from this period. We do know that the victory banner was extended to accommodate the additional kills. Also, at some time VF-T's full red spinner peeled badly probably due to weather (the red they used was from local British stocks and has been reported as a low-pigment cheap type paint) and repainted full red again. Apr 13 crash shows full red nose with no peeling. A photo in the Wolfert book shows Don and Johnny walking away from VF-T with a badly peeled post full red spinner.]

*************************

Apr 4 P-51/T Air Test 0:30
Apr 5 P-51/N Fighter Sweep - Strafing 4:45 *

[* 3 JU88, ? JU88, and another ? JU88 on this mission. These are the only "split" kills Don acknowledges in his logbook. Nevertheless, these were counted as 5 "full" aircraft destroyed - bringing him up to 27 kills. I would think that on this date the victory scroll on the left side of the cockpit was enlarged to a full two rows. Notice how Don swaps out VF-T and VF-N for these last missions . . . could this be from the time involved in pulling, cleaning, and re-gapping 24 plugs per engine? ]

Apr 8 P-51/T Free Lance - Brunswick 4:05 3 FW190

[Last 3 kills (all aerial by the way) . . . total of 30 crosses now applied to Shangri-La.]

Apr10 P-51/N Air Test 0:30

[Gentile and Blakeslee awarded the DSC by Gen. Eisenhower in a ceremony at Debden on April 11.]

Apr13 P-51/T Target Support - Schweinfurt 4:55


Final Summary for April 1944, and Don's *combat* career: Total operational time - 333:35; Total operational sorties - 184; Total P-47 time - 281:10; Total P-51 time - 96:30.

Don had a grand total of 3036:10 hours of flight time as of April 13, 1944. This is a heck of a lot more than your average WWII pilot plucked off the streets and run through the USAAF training mill. As most of you know, Don did a lot (and I do mean a LOT) of civilian flying in Piqua, Ohio before he went overseas with the RAF and the Eagles - ah, the days when civilian flying was fun, "relatively" cheap(er), and we didn't have all those darn regs!]

References:

1. Don Gentile's wartime logbook.
2. Escort To Berlin, by Garry Fry and Jeff Ethell.
3. The Debden Warbirds, by 4FG pilot Frank Speer.
4. Thomas M. Cleaver's interviews with many 4FG alumni.
5. 1000 Destroyed, by Grover C. Hall, Jr.
6. One Man Air Force (1944), by Ira Wolfert.

Miscellaneous Notes:

1. Some photos of Gentile and Godfrey in front of Shangri-La in today's reference books imply that Debden didn't have PSP parking spots - not true - PSP was very prominent at Debden as numerous photos clearly show.
2. The Shangri-La crash was filmed, according to witness Grover C. Hall, Jr., Group PRO and historian. Where is this film?! The only motion picture film I've seen of Don Gentile was in a Discovery Channel piece long ago. Shows Don and Johnny talking on Shangri-La. Only lasts about 25 seconds or so. I'll bet there's enough film of those two to make a two-hour documentary! Come on, independent producers and directors - quit using the same old stock footage we're all seen 100 times! Yeah, I know you'll have to dig for it - so start digging!
3. Don makes no mention of the April 13 crash in his logbook. He only wrote, "Left England for the good old U. S. A." directly under the April 13 entry.
4. It's interesting to note that Don only scored 4 victories while flying Shangri-La, and he only flew this airplane a total of 14 times!




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