The Story of “Bad Angel”: Pima Air and Space Museum

Southern Arizona Guide ^ | 2013 | Pima Air and Space Museum

[6ppc]

On the Saturday following Thanksgiving 2013, Ms. Karen, my 94-year-old father, Bill Gressinger, and I were visiting Pima Air and Space Museum.

We were in Hanger #4 to view the beautifully restored B-29, when I happened to take notice of a P-51 Mustang near the big bomber. It’s name … “Bad Angel”. P-51 Mustang "Bad Angel" in Hanger #4 at the Pima Air and Space Museum.

P-51 Mustang "Bad Angel" in Hanger #4 at the Pima Air and Space Museum.

I was admiring its aerodynamic lines and recalled enough history to know that until the Mustangs came into service, the skies over the Pacific Ocean were dominated by Japanese Zeros.

Then something very strange caught my eye. Proudly displayed on the fuselage of “Bad Angel” were the markings of the pilot’s kills: seven Nazis; one Italian; one Japanese … AND ONE AMERICAN. Huh? “Bad Angel” shot down an American airplane?

[6ppc]

Really cool story sent to my by one of my buddies. Check it out! Couldn't figure out the author's actual name from the article...apparently his wife is named Karen.

[6ppc]

Thought you might like this.

[Robert DeLong]

Very interesting story. Thanks for sharing. 8>)

[DiogenesLamp]

So why was the C-47 trying to reach Batan?

[freedumb2003]

Now THAT is a great story.

I wish they would have told of the C-47’s deal instead of just teasing it.

Did your buddy learn anything about that?

[fidelis]

The writer of the article is the operator of the website from which the article came, Jim Gressinger.

[rigelkentaurus]

Comment about the P-51 in the Pacific. In the Pacific, the P-38 owned the Japanese, not the P-51.

[rlmorel]

That is ONE great museum...I went there with my wife a few years back, and to my surprise, saw one of the actual planes from my squadron I used to work on:

[Charles Martel]

The transport pilot got off-course in bad weather and his radio stopped working at about the same time - his fuel tanks were reading “empty” when he spotted the landing strip on Bataan.

[6ppc]

My buddy is quite a few years older than me (old shooting buddy) and he sends out several emails each day to a long list of folks, jokes, history and general craziness. He doesn’t really research anything...just forwards stuff he receives from other folks.

[DiogenesLamp]

The transport pilot got off-course in bad weather and his radio stopped working at about the same time - his fuel tanks were reading “empty” when he spotted the landing strip on Bataan.

I bet he couldn't believe that an American plane was trying to shoot him down. I guess he later found out how lucky he was that he was shot down.

[Charles Martel]

Yeah, I guess the C-47 pilot figured that being taken prisoner was preferable to ditching and probably dying of exposure, dehydration or drowning. He was obviously off-course and it was unlikely that a search would locate them. Very fortunate indeed, how that played out.

[freedumb2003]

Thanks.

If I understood correctly this pilot did them a favor by putting them in the drink as gently as possible before being captured by the Japanese.

[WhoisAlanGreenspan?]

It's a good story. Here's some more.

Click

[az_gila]

A few decades ago I had dinner at a friends and one of the guests was an ex-Black Sheep squadron member. He jokingly claimed he was an ace since he had wrecked five fighter planes during WWII. :^)

[OldMissileer]

Comment about the P-51 in the Pacific. In the Pacific, the P-38 owned the Japanese, not the P-51.

My Uncle flew B-25s in the Pacific Theater and his favorite plane was the P-38. He said they saved his butt more times than he could count.

[Hulka]

You are right/-excellent and fascinating stories out there. Sad that many of those stories went down with the crews but nonetheless, great men, great aviators live on in our hearts.

[rlmorel]

I had an interesting event a couple of years ago. I have a friend whose wife was the cousin (maybe 2nd) of a Marine pilot in WWII, and she asked if I could use my Photoshop skills to repair a damaged photo of the guy in his flight helmet in the Pacific. I love doing that stuff, so spent several nights working on it and made it look really good (to my eyes, at least. It was a black and white 8x10 that had water damage, spots, and was cracked in a few places. I love working on military images, it is a connection with the past.

Some time later, I had driven down to Virginia and stopped at the Marine Corps Museum in Quantico. Fantastic. One of the finest military museums I have ever seen, and I have seen a few.

You walk in and there is a huge Rotunda, they have planes and helicopters hanging from the overhead, and dioramas on the ground with incredibly lifelike (rubberized, modeled from the faces of actual active duty Marines who volunteered) mannequins )

I was very impressed. As I was taking all of this in, I noticed they had huge rectangular portraits (15-2t ft high) of various Marines who were well known. My eyes rested on one, and I'm looking at it thinking "...hey...that face...where have I seen that face before..." and realized it was that guy, the exact same picture I had spent several nights cleaning up in Photoshop:

He was 1stLt Robert Hanson, a 23 year old pilot in VMF-215 with the nickname "Butcher Bob" brought down 20 planes in six consecutive days, and was awarded the medal of honor for taking on four Zeros all by himself and shooting them all down. He was shot down after 8 months in the Pacific theatre and killed in the crash. He was damaged by flak returning from a cancelled Rabaul sweep, and caught a wing in a wave trying to ditch. He cartwheeled and never got out.

Pretty wild, that I had worked on that for a relative of his then just saw his portrait unexpectedly at the USMC museum. I hadn't realized who the guy was.

[rlmorel]

The other cool thing there at the museum was an H-34 that had been restored by a group of guys, one of whom I got to know through my work. The thing had been restored to "Working Helicopter" condition, and it was easy to imagine it was what some of them looked like in Vietnam. But they couldn't afford to keep it going, and knew that if they didn't find a home, it would rot at some airfield somewhere, so the Marine Corps Museum got it, and boy, did they fix it up nicely, and had it in a diorama in the main rotunda with a bunch of Marines around it!

You can see one of those big portraits peeking over the top of the helicopter...

[Batman11]

PFL