New drawing! Top Mustang Ace 12 x 18 in., Pencil on toned paper Collection of Mike Hanxleden 25-year-old Major George E. Preddy, Jr., operations officer of the 487th Fighter Squadron in the 8th Air Force’s 352nd Fighter Group “Bluenosed Bastards,” flashes six fingers to commemorate his record-breaking downing of six Bf 109s over Germany on August 6, 1944. Preddy, a native of Greensboro, North Carolina, first flew in the South Pacific area of operations before returning to the US and eventual assignment to the England-bound 352nd. Preddy thrived with the “Bluenosers while flying the P-47 and P-51. While slight of build, his experience, example, and leadership commanded respect from his fellow pilots, including his legendary squadron commander, Lt. Col. John C. Meyer, who later rose to four-star rank as commander of the Strategic Air Command. Meyer, himself a 26-victory WWII ace, said of his friend, “George Preddy was the greatest fighter pilot who ever squinted through a gunsight; he was the complete fighter pilot.” Soon after the August 6th victories, George returned to the US for home leave until October. Returning to the Bluenosers, Preddy was hand-picked to assume command of the 328th Fighter Squadron, which had a bit of a morale problem since they were the lowest-scoring squadron in the 352nd and couldn’t seem to find a groove. Preddy didn’t say too much to his new squadron other than a short talk to clarify why there were there: “To shoot down the Hun.” Following his lead, the 328th went on to a record-setting run of victories. Maj. Preddy was killed in action on Christmas Day, 1944. After shooting down two Bf 109s, Preddy was leading two other Mustangs when they were vectored near Liège, where enemy aircraft had been sighted. While chasing a lone Fw 190D at treetop level at high speed over the Hurtgen Forest, the Mustangs suddenly popped over a clearing and were fired upon by a nervous American gun emplacement with short and very accurate bursts of their quad .50s mounted on a halftrack. The Mustangs were told by the radar controller that all local units had been notified to stand down so their dangerous low-level chase of the German fighter could continue. Unfortunately, due to communications difficulties the word was indeed not spread to all the anti-aircraft crews, and all three P-51s were hit to varying degrees. Preddy’s plane was severely damaged and he immediately chandelled sharply up to his left, popped the canopy, and bailed out at about 1,000 feet. Due to the low altitude, injury, or a combination of the two, his chute did not open in time. With a final official score of 26.833 aerial victories (23 1/3 in the Mustang, plus 3 Probables and 4 Damaged, with 5 destroyed on the ground), Preddy remains the most successful P-51 pilot of all time. His decorations include the Distinguished Service Cross (now Air Force Cross), Distinguished Flying Cross with 8 Oak Leaf Clusters (OLC), Silver Star with OLC, Air Medal with 7 OLCs, Purple Heart, and Belgian Criox de Guerre. For further reading, the artist recommends ‘George Preddy - Top Mustang Ace,’ by Joe Noah and Samuel L. Sox, Jr., and ‘The P-51 Mustangs of Major George Preddy,’ by Mark Proulx and Sam Sox, Jr. Artist’s note: I used a well-known wartime photo as reference for this drawing. I had been wanting to draw this portrait for a long time, but I never liked the crop of the original photograph, which had been cut off just forward of Preddy’s right arm resting on the windscreen. Using my artistic license, I ‘built’ the gunsight and associated details from scratch, effecting a much more pleasing composition …
Posted on: Sun, 13 Jul 2014 04:15:57 +0000
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