Seven hours, covering 1300NM over open ocean, limited fuel, one engine, enemy fighters; there were few missions more relentlessly hazardous, nor with so many different hazards to face.
Col. James Beckwith’s 15th FG P-51D-25 Mustang “Squirt” at Iwo Jima, March-May 1944
Early on the morning of 7 April the 15th and 21st Groups were poised ready for the signal to start engines. The briefings of the day before and that morning had everyone eager to get the operation underway...