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Description
| Manufacturer: | North American | |
| Base model: | F-6 | |
| Designation: | F-6 | |
| Version: | K | |
| Nickname: | Mustang | |
| Designation System: | U.S. Air Force | |
| Designation Period: | 1930-1947 | |
| Basic role: | Photographic | |
Specifications
| Not Yet Available |
Recent comments by our visitors
| Robert Bourlier Bradenton, FL | In the picture of the armaments crew arming the guns of the F-6K "Snooper", if you look closely at the lower left corner of the ammo trays, you will see a black + painted on the wing. Three similar + were etched in the left side of the canopy, one above the other (pilots had different seating heights).
To photograph an object the pilot would line up a + on the canopy with the + on the wing and then with the target. By pressing a button on the stick the pilot would trip the camera shutter. The oblique camera was mounted in the lower left portion of the fuselage just behind the radiator. As can be seen by this picture, the F-6K was a fully armed Mustang, modified to carry the cameras. In China, MajGen Claire Chennault used the 118th Tactical Reconnaissance Squadron (Conn. Nat. Guard), assigned to the famous 23rd Fighter Group, primarily as fighters and attack aircraft. The squadron never had more then a few of the reconnaissance Mustangs. Those were armed for the missions and after would take post strike pictures to provide BDA (bomb damage assessment). "Snooper" was an F-6K-10-NT, AAF 44-12223 and carried squadron tail number 199 and 165. Nose art was added to the airplanes only sporadically from Sept 1944 until Feb 1945 due to the high tempo of combat operations against the Japanese in Eastern China and also due to the rate of combat losses of airplanes. After the 118th TRS evacuated Suichuan for Chengkung, China in January 1945, 1stLt Phil Dickey, the squadron armaments officer and resident artist, had time to paint nose art like "Snooper" and to paint the famous "Black Lightning" markings on all the squadron airplanes. 09/27/2004 @ 16:29 [ref: 8354] |
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