Us Official Photographs

P51 Mustangs Northwest Of Berlin

Smashing the strafing record for the ETO 8th A.F. North American P-51 Mustang, pilots of the Fighter Group commanded by Col. John B. Henry Jr., of San Antonio, Texas, destroyed 105 Nazi planes northwest of Berlin. Of this figure, 63 were destroyed by the squadron led by Lt. Col. Joseph L. Thury, 618 Edmund Ave., St. Paul, Minn., shown here just before the takeoff. "We hit a dispersal area about a mile from the Neuruppin airfield," "Col. Thury said, "while bombs from our Flying Forts were plastering the main field." In addition to leaving in flames more than 100 planes, the group damaged an additional 77. Col. Thury boosted his total of planes destroyed by strafing to 19 when he eliminated four Nazi aircraft today. The record score sent the Group over the 500-destroyed mark in slightly more than eleven months' operations in the European Theatre. Part of the scoring was done at an airfield near Wittstock, about 55 miles northwest of downtown Berlin.