The 65th Fighter Squadron



65th FS Aircraft 2
Photos by P-47 Pilot Dwight V. Orman

Quotes from Dwight Orman appear in blue lettering





"Hendricks always looked like the stereotypical fighter pilot to me - casual and just a tad unkempt and the ever present cigar in his hand."






"The first five pictures on this page are all of "Bud" Hendricks P47 "Belle." The other side had "Carol" on it. It was common practice to have a lot of names all over the aircraft. Crew members wanted names important to them displayed also. The rocket tubes were all the same size - ten feet long and described as "paper wound tubes equipped with an electrical exciter on one end" - Bill Hahn our armament chief calls them 4.5 rockets (I'm assuming that's inches in circumference) - There was no noticeable recoil when fired - they sort of left the tube with a soft "whoosh" - they were an excellent weapon for buildings and other large targets - at first they were a little difficult to aim but with some practice you could become pretty accurate with them - ya they were hung on in the field so it was another case of armament figuring out how to attach them - I don't think anyone in armament had seen one until they arrived on site - as I recall they could squeezed off individually or salvo - activated by electrical switches in the cockpit."


"Four 65th pilots, left to right: Jim "Eau di Vie" Eubanks, Sylvester "Bud" Hendricks, "Al" Welbes, Alvar "Ox" Wallin."


"#58 Olive Drab razorback - "Shirley" flown by Capt. Homer "Blue Flame" Wilson."






Dwight Orman also took the above pictures of the original P-47D #40 "Hun Hunter XIV" - one of the better known 57th FG aircraft.




In fact, the above two color photos taken by 65th FS pilot Jim Long at the Tennessee Air Museum show a Brazilian P-47 made up to like "Hun Hunter." "Neal Melton who started the Tennessee Air Museum has a passion for the P-47. He bought a non-flying P-47 in Brazil I think, and had it trucked to the U.S. in pieces. He had it completely rebuilt in Rialto, CA....including fabricating new wing spars from modern aircraft aluminum. Somehow he was introduced to the 57th FG history and decided to reproduce it as "Hun Hunter".... that's where I became involved..... I forwarded my pics including the "Uncle Bud" nose art which has been faithfully replicated on Neal's #40. Neal is an accomplished pilot and flies #40 around the country in exhibitions. He is the founder, builder and owner of the Tennessee Air Museum in Knoxville where he has a large assortment of static and flying WWII aircraft."


Alexandre Cadel made this beautiful model of "Hun Hunter XIV" for a diorama in a Corsican museum. Except for the number, it looks just like the model hanging in the diorama at the Tennessee Air Museum (two pictures up).

More 65th Fighter Squadron aircraft courtesy of Dwight Orman.

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