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After his War Bond tour, Don Gentile was assigned to Wright Field in Dayton as a test pilot. He tried, but was never able
to get reassigned to combat duty before the war ended. After surviving all the Germans could muster, Don Gentile was
killed in the crash of a T-33 jet trainer on January 28, 1951 at the age of 30.
Served The Entire War
In addition to Don Gentile and Duane Beeson, many other pilots were becoming aces in their new P-51Bs in early 1944.
The USAAF asked North American to expand production as fast as possible. North American's huge Inglewood, California
factory was greatly expanded and dedicated solely to Mustang production. A new plant was also built in Dallas to produce
more P-51s, as well as the company's AT-6 trainers. Inglewood-built Mustangs were designated P-51B, while Dallas-built
Mustangs were designated P-51C. These aircraft were almost identical, and can generally be distinguished only by serial
number. In total, Inglewood built 1,988 P-51Bs and Dallas built 1,750 P-51Cs. Many veteran pilots regarded the P-51B/C
as the best Mustang of the entire series. They felt it was lighter, faster, and had crisper handling than the later bubble-
topped P-51D. P-51B/C fighters remained predominant until the middle of 1944, when large numbers of P-51Ds began to
arrive. Even as late as the last month of the war, 1000 out of the 2500 Mustangs serving in the ETO were of the P-51B/C
variety. The last P-51B passed out of service in 1949.
Great publicity shot of Don Gentile relaxing on the wing of his legendary P-51B
“Shangri-La” at their home base in Debden, England in March 1944.
Duane Beeson gives his crew chief a thumbs up from the cockpit of his P-51B
Mustang named “BEE”. His logo was an angry bee brandishing two six guns.
The ground crew watches intently as Gentile warms up “Shangri-La” for another
mission. The 21 kill marks gave Gentile the lead over Beeson in the “Ace Race”.
April 4, 1944 Don Gentile makes a low pass over Debden Airfield for the benefit
of the press corps. A similar low pass 9 days later would destroy “Shangri-La”.
On April 13, 1944 the press gathered at Debden to welcome Gentile home from
his last mission. He gave them an extra low level buzz job that wiped out
“Shangri-La”. He was sent home to sell war bonds, never returning to combat.
A dejected crew member surveys the damage. Both Gentile and his wingman
John Godfrey had red and white checkerboard painted on the noses of their
airplanes so they could find each other quickly in a dog fight.