Judkins’s “Babe”
North American, P-51D-15-NA (Mustang), Serial number 44-15015
369th Fighter Squadron, 359th Fighter Group, 8th Air Force, East Wretham, Norfolk, 1944-1945
Flown by Lt. Vernon T. “Babe” Judkins
The image above is mostly hypothetical. It is based on THIS PHOTO and a presumption that the airplane in the photo is 44-15015.
The Mustang with a serial number 44-15015 was assigned to Lt.Judkins in late 1944 and was flown by him for almost a year, until September 1945. Judkins flew many missions over Northern Europe, often as a bomber escort, but sometimes the missions included engaging ground targets. For example, on the 11th of February 1945 the 359th FG conducted a sweep around the German town of Paderborn during which Judkins inflicted damage on a locomotive, a truck and a marshalling yard. His fighter group claimed 24 locomotives destroyed and 10 damaged that day, as well as 111 pieces of rolling stock damaged. Unfortunately, it is not known whether Judkins flew his P-51 “Babe” on that day or a different airplane. Judkins is not known to have destroyed any enemy aircraft in the air or on the ground in this (or any other) fighter. [1]
It is rumoured that Judkin’s proudest memory from the WW2 period was when he flew his Mustang through the arch of the Eiffel tower during the liberation of Paris[2], however if this is true then the timeframes would suggest that this wasn’t performed in Judkins’s P-51D-15 because the liberation of Paris happened in August 1944 and Judkins would not have been flying P-51D-15 yet at that time.
44-15015, as it looked in 1945. Note several embellishments in the livery, such as the red outline around the letter codes, the red outline around the green nose, the red painted canopy frame and possibly even a repainted antenna mast. The profile art above is based on this photo.
Noteworthy Visual Characteristics
1) The name “Babe” adorning the nose of Judkins’s P-51 might have been V. Judkin’s nickname.
2) Note that at some stage there was a photo of a woman (presumably Judkins’s girlfriend or wife?) applied to the side of the nose in the area indicated by the arrow. As can be seen in this photograph.
3) The top of the nose was painted with non-glare Olive Drab or Black colour.
4) Note that there was something written on the drop tank in this photo. Though it’s difficult to see in the photo, the last two letters appear to be “ck”.
5) The plane was equipped with 108US Gallon, compressed paper drop tanks.
6) “IV” was the identification code of the 369’s Fighter Squadron.
7) The antenna mast looks ‘dark’ in the b/w photo. It was probably painted in the same Olive Drab colour as the top of the nose or with red paint as some of the other “decorative” features on this airplane. In many profile artworks of this airplane the colour of the antenna is interpreted as red, so having no concrete proof as to what colour it was I chose to use ‘red” also.
8) “W” was the identification code of Judkins’s plane.
9) 415015 indicates the serial number of the airplane (44-15015).
10) Note the antenna array for the AN/APS-13 radar equipment. This detail might have been retrofitted on to Judkin’s P-51D-15 from the newer P-51D-20 Mustang model.
11) The red rudder was an identification marking of the 369th Fighter Squadron.
12) On Patreon
13) On Patreon
14) Note that the antena wires seem to be absent.
15) Note the mirror. This might have been a mirror from the British Spitfire.
FOOTNOTES
[1] Based on the information from the book ‘359th Fighter Group’, by Jack H. Smith, published by Osprey Publishing in 2002, pages 101 and 125, PDF e-book ISBN:978 1 78200 571 1
[2] Info is based on WarThunder skin’s post by PROx https://live.warthunder.com/post/429112/en/?comment=1738146
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