| Aircraft nickname | Type | USAAF serial number | Lockheed constructor number | Ground Crew |
| Shark Mouth/Shark Face | F-5E-2-LO | 43-28307 | 3322 | Crew Chief: T/Sgt. Edwin L. Smith |
Illustration ©2003 Thomas A. Tullis. Used with permission.
| 33rd PRS Online: Flight Ops | |
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Photo Lightning #307 |
| Aircraft nickname | Type | USAAF serial number | Lockheed constructor number | Ground Crew |
| Shark Mouth/Shark Face | F-5E-2-LO | 43-28307 | 3322 | Crew Chief: T/Sgt. Edwin L. Smith |
F-5E-2 #307 was produced from the airframe of a P-38J-15. Accepted by the Air Corps in February, 1944, she received her camera configuration the same month at Lockheed's modification center in Dallas, Texas. She was then shipped to England, received by the 8th Air Force in April 1944, and subsequently transferred to the 9th Air Force in May. She became part of the 33rd PRS inventory in June 1944 while the squadron was operating out of Station 465, Chalgrove Field, England. On June 11, Fred Evans took #307 on her first combat sortie (33/644), a successful high-altitude mapping mission. Her next four sorties were equally successful. The illustration above depicts Photo Lightning #307 painted in a scheme used for many of the 33rd's F-5Es in the summer of 1944: PRU blue overall with black and white invasion stripes on the underside of her wings and booms, and yellow numerals for the USAAF serial number on the vertical stabilizer. The last three digits of the serial number ("307") are painted in yellow on the engine cowling.
Photo courtesy of Patricia Pitcher Upshaw
The photo above shows F-5E #307 on the flight line at Chalgrove (an unidentified F-5B appears in the background). She was one of two 33rd PRS F-5s to be equipped in the summer of 1944 with 40" focal length cameras "to give a better scale for interpretation when flying at high altitudes." (The other aircraft was F-5E-2 #43-28588.) On the back of the original print, Herb Pitcher referred to her as Fred Evans' "Masterpiece." Evans flew her on her first three combat sorties, and on a third of the sorties she flew when the squadron was part of the 10th Photo Group.
Photo courtesy of William J. Evans
F-5E #307 posted three-sortie days in both June and July. On June 12, her second day of front-line service, she flew three combat sorties in an eleven-hour period, totaling just over four hours flight time. On July 6, she flew three combat sorties within a nine-hour period for a total of almost six hours of flight time. In fact, she racked up all 14 of her July combat sorties in only nine days. The photo above shows Photo Lightning #307 at Chalgrove Field, England with Tech Sergeants Donald Hickenbottom (left) and Francis Gauthier (right). While at Chalgrove, many members of 33rd PRS Engineering, like Tech Sergeant Gauthier, used bicycles for quick transportation around the airfield.
Variously known as "Shark Mouth" or "Shark Face," F-5E #307 is sometimes confused with another 33rd PRS aircraft, F-5E-4 #44-24245 (Queenie) which had shark mouth designs painted on the cowlings of its engines. Among the Engineering section, #307 was also known as the "Grinnin' Gremlin."
Photo courtesy of Harry W. Trimble via Kent A. Ramsey
The rare color photo above shows Shark Mouth parked near the Luftwaffe's war-ravaged hangars at Landing Ground Y-99, Gutersloh/Marienfeld, Germany in April 1945.
Photo courtesy of Don Petersen
On July 1, 1945, two months after the German surrender, Lieutenant Richard H. Shreve of the 109th Tac Recon Squadron crash landed F-5 #307 at Landing Ground R-11, Eschwege, Germany. Shreve had just taken off for an afternoon training flight when he heard the port engine "pop and blow" and noticed the fuel pressure begin to fluctuate. He feathered the port engine and made a wheels-down approach which required him first to clear the Werra River. He overshot the runway, restarted the port engine, and came in a second time. Unfortunately, Shreve mistakenly pulled the maneuver flaps instead of full flaps and overshot the runway again. He pulled up the wheels and made a belly landing at the end of the field. The port engine went up in flames, but Shreve escaped without injury.
Photo Lightning #307 remained in the USAAF inventory until November 1946 when it was dropped for salvage.
To read about a scale model of F-5E #307, click here.
Combat History of F-5E 43-28307
10th Photographic Group/XIX Tactical Air Command
F-5E #307 was part of the squadron inventory from June 1944 through the end of the war. The Army Air Force archived her flight records under the three groups in which the 33rd PRS served during that time period:
- 10th Photographic Group/XIX Tactical Air Command
- 67th Tactical Reconnaissance Group/IX Tactical Air Command
- 363rd Tactical Reconnaissance Group/XXIX Tactical Air Command
While flying with this group (May to August 1944), 33rd PRS planes had squadron code "SW" painted their booms. No individual plane-in-squadron letter was used. All aircraft operations were conducted from Chalgrove Field (Station 465), England.
During this time, Photo Lightning #307 flew 29 combat sorties: fourteen for bomb damage assessment, three for mapping, one for intelligence, and eleven as escort for other aircraft. Nine of the sorties were unsuccessful: six due to weather, two because of pilot error, and one when the pilot became ill in flight. She logged almost 51 and a half hours of combat flight time.
The following chart shows the combat history of this aircraft while the 33rd PRS was part of the 10th PG. All flight departures and arrivals are in military time, which is based on a 24-hour clock. For example, while "0800" is 8:00 am, "2000" is 8:00 pm.
Chart Legend: ATA = Actual Time of Arrival; ATD = Actual Time of Departure; BDA = Bomb Damage Assessment; lv = left vertical camera; rv = right vertical camera; spv = split vertical camera; v = vertical camera
Sources
Operation Reports, 10th Photographic Group, United States Air Force Archives, Maxwell AFB, Montgomery, AL
Photo Ledger, 33rd Photo Recon Squadron, February 1944 to August 1945, 33rd PRS Association
List of Operational Missions of 33rd Photo Recon Squadron, 363rd Tactical Reconnaissance Group, December 9, 1944 (Official History 33rd Photo Reconnaissance Squadron, United States Air Force Archives, Maxwell AFB, Montgomery, AL, microfilm A0888)
Flight status board (photograph), Operations Department, 33rd PRS, Chalgrove Field, England, June 1944, courtesy of Patricia Pitcher Upshaw
Individual Aircraft Record Card for F-5E-2 #43-28307, US Army Air Forces, United States Air Force Archives, Maxwell AFB, Montgomery, AL
Report of Aircraft Accident for F-5E-2 #43-28307 (46-07-1-512), US Army Air Forces, Air Force Historical Research Agency, Maxwell Air Force Base, Alabama
"Comprehensive Table of Lockheed P38 Production," The Lockheed P-38 Lightning, Warren M. Bodie, Widewing Publications, Hayesville, NC, 2001, pages 246-251
"Serial Designations P-38 Type Aircraft," P-38 "Lightning", Edward T. Maloney, Aero Series Volume 19, Aero Publishers, Inc., 1968
USAAS-USAAC-USAAF-USAF Aircraft Serial Numbers--1908 to Present, http://home.att.net/~jbaugher/usafserials.html
Official History 33rd Photo Reconnaissance Squadron, United States Air Force Archives, Maxwell AFB, Montgomery, AL, microfilm A0888, frame 0162
"Recon Plane Markings -- ETO," The 9th Air Force in World War II, Kenn C. Rust, Aero Publishers, Inc., Fallbrook, CA, 1970, pages 220-221
Illustration of F-5E Shark Mouth by Thomas A. Tullis (©2003 Thomas A. Tullis) is used by permission of the artist. It appears on page 102 of Patton's Eyes in the Sky: USAAF Combat Reconnaissance Missions, North-West Europe, 1944-1954, Tom Ivie, Classic Publications, 2003
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