Second Kill

摘要

During the desperate days of the first half of 1942, the virtually unchallenged Japanese Army and Naval forces had almost completed their domination of the Western Pacific. The Philippines were abandoned; Indochina, Java, the Solomons and Burma had been overrun. China was half occupied and losing ground, and even India was being threatened. There was little hope for the Allies, except for the stopgap efforts of the Flying Tigers in China.Efforts to reinforce the theater began in January 1942 with the movement of several P-40 groups to the Southwest Pacific. Although it was intended initially for duty in Java, the 51st FG was diverted to India after most of its aircraft had been lost when the USS Langley was sunk. Ten of their P-40s made it to Karachi, India, by March, and except for their 16th FS (which was detached to reinforce the 23rd FG that replaced the AVG), the remaining pilots languished while waiting for new aircraft.By September, the 51st FG had moved east to Assam and provided the 10th Air Force with support for the accelerating Hump operations and ground support over Burma and Indochina. A year later, they were relocated to China to become part of Chennault's 14th Air Force buildup. In this staged scene in Kunming, Sgt. Elmer Pence and his furry assistant appear to be adding a kill marking to Maj. Ed Nollmeyer's P-40K-5 (42-9768). Nollmeyer, then CO of the 26th FS, had actually made his second kill while still in India and would shortly become the first ace in the P6th with three kills recorded in December. A shark's mouth was later applied to Nollmeyer's "White 255," and the unit kept its P-40s until late 1944, when P-51B and C models became available in that theater.