The Bottisham Four

North American Aviation P-51 Mustangs, “The Bottisham Four,” 26 July 1944. This iconic World War II photograph is one of a series depicting a flight of four North American P-51 Mustang fighters—three P-51Ds and one P-51B—of the 375th Fighter Squadron, 361st Fighter Group, 8th Air Force, based at Air Force Station F-374 (RAF Bottisham), Cambridgeshire, England, as they flew formation with a B-17 Flying Fortress camera ship from the 91st Bombardment Group (Heavy). None of these aircraft would survive the war.

 

North American Aviation P-51 Mustangs, “The Bottisham Four,” 26 July 1944.

North American Aviation P-51 Mustangs, “The Bottisham Four,” 26 July 1944.

North American Aviation P-51 Mustangs, “The Bottisham Four,” 26 July 1944.

North American Aviation P-51 Mustangs, “The Bottisham Four,” 26 July 1944.

North American Aviation P-51 Mustangs, “The Bottisham Four,” 26 July 1944.

North American Aviation P-51 Mustangs, “The Bottisham Four,” 26 July 1944.

North American Aviation P-51 Mustangs, “The Bottisham Four,” 26 July 1944.

North American Aviation P-51 Mustangs, “The Bottisham Four,” 26 July 1944.

P-51D-5-NA 44-13410, E2-C, flown by group commander Colonel Thomas J.J. Christian, Jr., and named Lou IV after his wife, Marjorie Lou Ashcroft Christian. Jack Christian was a 1939 graduate of the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York. He served as a B-17 pilot with the 19th Bombardment Group at Clark Field, Philippine Islands. After the B-17s were destroyed in the attacks of 8 December 1941, Christian was at Bataan before being evacuated to Australia.

P-51D-5-NA 44-13410, E2-C, flown by group commander Colonel Thomas J.J. Christian, Jr., and named Lou IV after his wife, Marjorie Lou Ashcroft Christian. After reaching Australia, he was ferrying a Curtiss P-40 Warhawk when he was shot down over Timor and listed as Missing in Action. He eventually made his way to Allied territory. A few months later, Christian, while flying a Bell P-400 Airacobra with the 67th Pursuit Squadron, was the first U.S. Army Air Corps pilot to land at Henderson Field, on the island of Guadalcanal, 12 August 1942.

P-51D-5-NA 44-13410, E2-C, flown by group commander Colonel Thomas J.J. Christian, Jr., and named Lou IV after his wife, Marjorie Lou Ashcroft Christian. On 10 February 1943, Major Christian was given command of the 361st Fighter Group at Richmond, Virginia. The group deployed to England in November 1943. On 12 August 1944, at 1505 hours, 361st Fighter Group commanding officer Colonel Thomas J.J. Christian, Jr., flying the lead plane, Lou IV, was killed and his Mustang destroyed in a dive-bombing attack against the Arras railroad marshaling yards in Boisleux-au-Mont, France.

Col. Christian photographed standing in front of Lou IV.

Colonel Thomas Jonathan Jackson (“Jack”) Christian, Jr., U.S. Army Air Corps. For his service in World War II, Colonel Christian was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross with oak leaf cluster (two awards), Air Medal with three oak leaf clusters (four awards) and the Purple Heart. There is a Special Memorial in honor of Colonel Thomas J.J. Christian, Jr., United States Army Air Corps, at the Faubourg-d’Amiens Cemetery, Arras, Pas-de-Calais, France.

Colonel Thomas Jonathan Jackson (“Jack”) Christian, Jr., U.S. Army Air Corps.

Memorial to Col. Thomas J. J. Christian, 361st Fighter Group Commander, Boisleux au Mont, France. It was around this area Christian's P-51 Mustang crashed 12th August 1944.

P-51D-5-NA Mustang 44-13926, E2-S, assigned to another pilot but flown on this day by Lieutenant Urban L. (“Ben”) Drew. (Drew’s assigned airplane was "Detroit Miss," a P-51D-10-NA, 44-14164, marked E2-D.) Fourteen days after "The Bottisham Four" photo was taken, 9 August 1944, the number two plane, 44-13926 (E2-S), crashed during a training flight near Stalham, Norfolk, killing the pilot, 2nd Lieutenant Donald D. Dellinger. Urban L. Drew joined the U.S. Army Air Corp in 1942 and trained as a P-51 fighter pilot. He joined the 361st Fighter Group in England in October 1943. He flew 75 combat missions with the 361st and shot down six enemy aircraft in aerial combat, two of which were Messerschmitt Me 262 jet fighters, destroyed 7 October 1944. Nominated for the Distinguished Service Cross, the medal was denied because his gun camera failed and the shoot-downs were not recorded. His wingman was shot down during the air battle and captured, so Drew’s claims could not be verified. However, the kills were later confirmed with German records, and in 1983, Major Drew was awarded the Air Force Cross. In addition to scoring the first kill of an enemy Me 262 by an Allied pilot, Drew also destroyed the Blohm & Voss Bv 238-V1, a prototype six-engine flying boat, the world’s largest airplane at the time. In 1945, Ben Drew was transferred to the 413th Fighter Squadron, 414th Fighter Group, 10th Air Force, in the western Pacific, flying Republic P-47 Thunderbolts from the island of Iwo Jima. He was also awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross, twice, and fifteen Air Medals.

Captain Urban Leonard (“Ben”) Drew, United States Army Air Corps. Following World War II, Ben Drew joined the Michigan Air National Guard in which he served until 1950. Major Drew died in 2013 at the age of 89 years.

Ben Drew gets helped aboard his Mustang by his crew chief.

Ben Drew with his assigned North American P-51D Mustang "Detroit Miss".

P-51 Mustang coded E2-D serial number 44-14164 nicknamed "Detroit Miss" of the 361st Fighter Group at Little Walden.

Lieutenants Ben Drew, Bill Kemp and Leonard Wood in a publicity shot after the dogfight over the Luftwaffe aerodrome at Chartres.

Official Air Force photo of Ben taken just after the October 7, 1944 mission when he became the first USAAF pilot to shoot down two Me 262 jet fighters.

Lieutenant Urban Drew (seated on the left) and three fellow pilots of the 375th Fighter Squadron, 361st Fighter Group sit inside the back of a crew bus at Bottisham, 1944.

P-51D-5-NA Mustang 44-13926, E2-S, assigned to another pilot but flown on this day by Lieutenant Urban L. (“Ben”) Drew.

Number Three: P-51-D-5-NA Mustang 44-13568, E2-A, "Sky Bouncer", flown by Captain Bruce W. (“Red”) Rowlett, U.S. Army Air Corps, Operations Officer, 375th Fighter Squadron. Colonel Bruce W. Rowlett, United States Air Force, enlisted as a private soldier in the 36th Infantry Division (then part of the Texas National Guard) in 1940, lying about his age. (He was seventeen). He applied for flight training as an aviation cadet in 1942. After earning his wings as an Air Corps fighter pilot, Lieutenant Rowlett was assigned to the 375th Fighter Squadron, initially flying Republic P-47 Thunderbolts. After completing a 50 mission combat tour, Rowlett volunteered for a second tour, just as the squadron was transitioning to the P-51 Mustang. Nearing the end of the second tour, and after flying 109 combat missions, Captain Rowlett was sent back to the United States.

Lieutenant Bruce W. (“Red”) Rowlett, U.S. Army Air Corps, Operations Officer, 375th Fighter Squadron. Red Rowlett remained in the Air Force following World War II. He later flew in the Berlin Airlift. From 1964 to 1967, Colonel Rowlett was Chief of Air Defense Operations, North American Air Defense Command (NORAD), then was assigned to the Pentagon, as Director of Studies and Analysis, Headquarters, U.S. Air Force, 1968–1971. Colonel Bruce W. Rowlett, United States Air Force, died at Wichita, Kansas, 28 January 1998, at the age of 74 years.

P-51-D-5-NA Mustang 44-13568, E2-A, "Sky Bouncer", flown by Captain Bruce W. (“Red”) Rowlett, U.S. Army Air Corps, Operations Officer, 375th Fighter Squadron.

P-51D "Sky Bouncer", flown by Jared M. Lundin, crash-landed after an engine failure on takeoff at Cambron-Casteau, Belgium, 3 April 1945. The airplane was destroyed.

Number Four: P-51B-15-NA Mustang 42-106811, E2-H, flown by Captain Francis T. Glankler and named "Suzy G" after his wife. The underlined letter H indicates that this airplane is the second in the squadron identified with that letter. Lieutenant Glankler was flight leader of D Flight, 375th fighter Squadron. Lieutenant Glankler and "Suzy G" crashed-landed in a farm field at Thorpe Park, near Clacton, Essex, in following a mission on 11 September 1944. The Mustang was damaged beyond repair. (Some sources indicate that another pilot was flying "Suzy G", and that the crash occurred following a dog fight with a P-47 Thunderbolt.).

Lieutenant Francis T. Glankler, U.S. Army Air Corps.

Wreck of North American Aviation P-51B-15-NA 42-106881, "Suzy G", in a farm field, Essex England.