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"...it wasn't long before I had qualified as a sharpshooter." |
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"I know that when I came here I wasn't able to hit the broad side of a barn door in gunnery. But it wasn't long before I had qualified as a sharpshooter." Lt. Wm. Starr "My plane being harmonized, K-14, June '54" Webmaster note: dad's notes below and elsewhere indicate this is F-86F number 52-4553, which was later lost after it caught fire while returning from Tsuiki air base in Japan, within months of this photo being taken. The pilot ejected, likely safely. The jet was lost at sea. Dad was then assigned F-86F number 52-4637. Curiously enough, today there is an F-86F model number "637" on display in Busan, Korea, at the war memorial. But I'm unsure if it is the same bird. Sources tell me the Koreans have been known to paint random tail numbers onto jets.) Below are dad's notes. The roman numeral system seems to be a succession of jets assigned to him over his career, and also likely indicate the "Red Bug" naming progression.
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