Captain Robert Gee's P40 Warhawk sported a more saucy little cartoon than other nose arts painted by Phil Dickey with the title "Miss. Green Brier". Bob Gee completed an impressive 23 combat missions during July 1944 flying out of Kweilin. These were mostly bombing and strafing against Japanese troop columns and boats.

On 6th August, flying his second mission of the day, his luck finally ran out when he was returning from bombing and strafing around Hengyang with the weather and darkness closing in. As the seven plane formation descended through dense cloud layers and the increasing gloom it is thought that three P40s, including Gee's, became disoriented and entered a tightening spiral to the left at around 4000ft. Flying just behind them, Ray Darby later reported "I saw the field directly south of me...I noticed a fire directly below me. A short time, one minute or so later, another fire started about a mile west of the first one. These were about 10 miles north of the field and 7-10 miles west of the town (Kweilin). The fires were bright yellow and were both out in 3 or 4 minutes." Bob Gee was lost flying 43-23806 but it is not known for certain that this was "Miss. Green Brier".

 

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© Ray Bowden 1 December 2023