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A pilot, Domenic "Don" Gentile, of the 336th Fighter Squadron, 4th Fighter Group - Debden with his P-51 Mustang, nicknamed "Shangri-La"
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Video of Captain Don Gentile after returning from a mission where he shot down three MEs bring his total score to 30. This video includes appearances of Louis Norely, Johnny Godfrey, Reuben Simon, and Willard Millikan. The sergeant painting the kill marks is John Ferra, Gentile's crew chief. Controversy as to whether James Goodson appears in here or not.
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Video featuring Captain Don Gentile after returning from a mission and Don Gentile and Don Blakeslee being awarded their DFCs by General Eisenhower at Debden. The sergeant guiding Shangri-La while taxing is John Ferra, Gentile's Crew Chief. The pilot sitting on the wing talking to Gentile is Captain Johnny Godfrey. The man standing beside Eisenhower is General Jesse Auton.
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Captain Don Gentile of the 336th Fighter Squadron, 4th Fighter Group in front of his P-47. The nose art on the cowling was applied first to 42-7884 but when he switched to 42-8659, he had the painted cowling swapped to his new plane. The two kills marked on the cowling were scored in Spitfires with 133 Eagle Squadron.
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Capt. Don Gentile looking through the gunsight of his P-51.
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Debden Airfield. General Dwight Eisenhower pinning the DFC on Captain Don Gentile's tunic. Colonel Don Blakeslee (right) is soon to be awarded with the same. This is when the general famously called Gentile a "one-man air force".
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(then) Lieutenant Don Gentile of the 4th Fighter Group in his P-47.
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Captains Don Gentile (336th FS) and Duane Beeson (334th FS) both admiring something that Beeson is holding in his hand. Both were locked in one of the most famous 'scoring duels' until Beeson was shot down and became a POW. Both remain top aces of the 4th Fighter Group.
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Major Bob Johnson (56th Fighter Group) and Captain Don Gentile (4th Fighter Group). At this time they were the two highest ranking aces of the 8th Air Force. Note the almost condescending smiles.
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Assistant Crew Chief Dick Mansfield (left) and Captain Don Gentile with their P-47 'Donnie Boy'.
Don Gentile was born on December 6, 1920, to Italian parents in Piqua, Ohio. As a boy, he had always been fascinated with flying and built, as his mother remembered, hundreds of model airplanes. Don used to say to his mother, “I hope someday I'll be up there flying too.” As a teenager, he played football, baseball, and basketball and loved to swim. He was rather musically inclined and played the saxophone, drums, guitar, and clarinet. He had a sister, Edith, who was two years younger than himself.
When Gentile was old enough his father would give him ‘date money’ to take out a girl but he would bring most of it to the bank and save it. Gentile knew that if he could only get enough money to buy an airplane he would be an ace of the air. When he was 17 Gentile first flew in an airplane. “At that time,” he said, “I felt I had come to the place where I belonged in the world. The air to me was what being on the ground was to other people. When I felt nervous it pulled me together. Where things got too much for me on the ground, they never got that way in the air.” Gentile continually pestered his parents about learning to fly his father began paying for half-an-hour flying time every Sunday. After he had soloed Gentile began pressing his parents to buy him an airplane and eventually he found a homemade airplane for $300 which he bought with his own money. After finding out that the airplane was a death trap and continuing to pester his parents again, Gentile finally got a brand new airplane. From then on he began harassing the town inhabitants of Piqua by buzzing the town. “On Saturday afternoons,” he said, “I would beat up the town in my airplane, and the cops chased me . . . I could see their cars running after me, trying to get my number. I'd raise the hair on everybody's head with my propeller. I’d blow in the curtains on Betty Levering's house and make the geraniums in Marge Dill's front yard give up their petals.”
On September 1, 1939, when Hitler invaded Poland, Gentile knew he was destined to play a part in the war. Since the USAAF required two years in college he told his parents that if he could join the RAF, which didn’t require college, he could make his mark in the war. After much arguing and a whole year, Don Gentile finally got his wish and was driven to Cleveland to join up with the RAF. In September of 1940, he was flown to Canada to start his training. His instructor back home had given him a ‘better than average pilot’ rating and with that, he started RAF training. After he finished training Gentile joined the famed 133 ‘Eagle Squadron’ and claimed two kills while in the RAF during Operation Jubilee.
In August 1942 the three Eagle Squadrons were transferred to the USAAF and formed the 4th Fighter Group. Captain Don Gentile’s best scoring months were from December 1943 to April 1944 and for many of his missions, he flew with his famed wingman, Capt. Johnny Godfrey. Being a ‘publicity kid’ Gentile gained a wide amount of fame. On April 11, 1944, three days after his last three kills, Gentile was awarded the DFC and called ‘one-man air force’ by General Eisenhower.
On the last mission of his first tour the press gathered to film Gentile landing only to watch him come in too long on a buzz job and have to crash land his plane, ‘Shangri-La’. Thankfully Gentile only suffered minor shock. His commander, Don Blakeslee (who had already established the rule that anyone who ‘pranged his kite’ would be grounded and sent home), grounded him. Gentile went home on a war bonds tour to an adoring public and very happy sister Edith and parents.
Don Gentile claimed 30 air and ground kills and accumulated 350 hours of flying time. He is labeled as the ‘Ace of Aces’, ‘One-Man Air Force’, and Godfrey and he were called the ‘Damon and Pythias’ team by Winston Churchill.
Don Gentile authored his autobiography ‘One-Man Airforce’ that was published in 1944.
In Memoriam
'I remember Don Gentile, Piqua, Ohio Central high school class of 1941, who was a daredevil private pilot early on, and went to war, first the RCAF, then USAAF, in England, where he became a leading ace with more than 20 victories, transferred to USAF, met tragic end in T-33 crash in Washington'
Remembered by John Korovilos, Trenton, MI
Service
People
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Military | Staff Sergeant | Crew Chief | 4th Fighter Group
Assigned to 336FS, 4FG, 8AF USAAF. John Ferra was the one time crew chief of Captain Don Gentile for which he is most famous for. After Gentile was sent home, Ferra took care of 4 other kites until he was sent home in September 1945.
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Military | Staff Sergeant (3rd Grade) | Assistant Crew chief
Dick Mansfield was the one-time assistant crew chief to Don Gentile for which he is most known for. Dick's hometown was Longmeadow, Massachusetts. After Gentile was sent home Mansfield took care of 3 other aircraft before being sent home in September...
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Military | Staff Sergeant | AP Mechanic-Propeller Specialist
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Civilian
Ira Wolfert grew up in New York City and at age 20 married poet Helen Herschdorfer in 1928. Two years later he he graduated from the Columbia University School of Journalism. From there he worked for North American Newspaper Alliance and in 1942,...
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Units served with
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Group
Some of the pilots of the 4th Fighter Group had seen many hours of combat by the time they joined the 4th Fighter Group as they had volunteered with the Royal Canadian Air Force and the Royal Air Force. The three 'Eagle Squadrons' of RAF Fighter...
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Squadron
The 336th Fighter Squadron was constituted by the War Department on 22 august 1942, and was activated at Bushey Hall, England, on 12 September. It had been designated as No. 133 (Eagle) Squadron, and was made up of American volunteers to the Royal Air...
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Squadron
'On 1 August 1941, No. 133 reformed at Coltishall as the third 'Eagle' Squadron manned by American personnel. Equipped with Hurricanes it became operational at the end of September. The next month the Squadron moved to Northern Ireland, returning to...
Aircraft
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P-51 Mustang
Assigned to 336FS, 4FG, 8AF USAAF. Personal aircraft of Lt Thomas K McDill, re-assigned to Capt Joseph H Bennett 24-May-44. Failed to Return (FTR) during an engagement with a gaggle of German fighters, aircraft was rammed by an Bf109 piloted by Ltn...
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P-51 Mustang
Assigned to 336FS, 4FG, 8AF USAAF. Personal aircraft of Dominic 'Don' Gentile. He claimed 7.5 of his 21 victories in this aircraft. Don Gentile crashed this A/C whilst displaying to reporters after his final mission at his home base Debden on 13-Apr-44.
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P-47 Thunderbolt
Assigned to 336FS, 4FG, 8AF USAAF. One time personal aircraft of Capt Dominic Gentile. Transferred to 367FS, 358FG, 9AF USAAF.
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P-47 Thunderbolt
P-47D Thunderbolt 42-7884, was 2nd Lt John Godfrey's first 'REGGIE'S REPLY', which he inherited from his future flight leader 1st Lt. Don Gentile.
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P-47 Thunderbolt
Assigned to 336FS, 4FG, 8AF USAAF. One-time personal aircraft of Lt Willard W Millikan.
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Spitfire
Supermarine Spitfire BL255 Mk Vb, Built at Castle Bromwich Aircraft Factory.
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Spitfire
1st Lt Don Gentile's Spitfire wore two kill markings above the boxing eagle, denoting the Ju 88 and Fw 190 he claimed north of Dieppe during the ill-fated 19 August 1942 raid.
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Spitfire
Supermarine Spitfire BS445 Mk IX, Const #3373, Built at Eastleigh.
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Spitfire
Supermarine Spitfire BL673 Mk Vb, Built at Castle Bromwich Aircraft Factory.
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Spitfire
Supermarine Spitfire BM530 Mk Vb, Built at Castle Bromwich Aircraft Factory.
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Missions
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19 August 1942
31st Fighter Group despatches 123 Spitfires in support of the landings at Dieppe, France. 8 are lost. These are the first operations of VIII Fighter Command units under VIII Fighter Command control.
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26 September 1942
14 aircraft and pilots took off from Great Sampford for Bolthead, Devonshire, landing there at 1230 hours. At 1350 hours and after a very sketchy briefing, 12 aircraft of the Squadron took off together with 401 with orders to make rendezvous with a...
Associated Place
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Military site : airfield
An RAF Station with US lodger units. USAAF Spitfires and P-38s were attached to RAF No 11 Group stations in mid-1942 for training; also used for special operations by British and US forces.
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Military site : airfield
RAF Debden, construction of which began in 1935, is perhaps most famous as a Battle of Britain fighter airfield, partly responsible for the defence of London in 1940. In 1942 it was also home to three RAF 'Eagle Squadrons’ of volunteer American pilots...
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Military site : airfield
RAF Duxford, now a museum and still a working airfield, was operated by the USAAF from 1943 to 1945. The base was briefly the home of the 350th Fighter Group in late 1942, but it was not until April 1943 that it became a fully American station when the...
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Events
Event |
Location |
Date |
Born |
Piqua, OH, USA |
6 December 1920 |
Son of Pasquela and Josephine M Gentile.
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Enlisted |
Cleveland, OH, USA |
1940 |
Joined the Royal Canadian Air Force
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Joined No. 133 (Eagle) Squadron RAF |
RAF Coltishall, Norwich, Norfolk NR10, UK |
1941 |
Joined No. 133 (Eagle) Squadron RAF.
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Operation Jubilee |
Dieppe, France |
19 August 1942 |
Claimed first two kills.
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Based |
Debden |
September 1942 – 28 April 1944 |
Transferred to US Army Air Force, 4th Fighter Group, based at Debden.
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Crashed - Morlaix tragedy |
Bolt Head, Salcombe, Devon TQ8, UK |
26 September 1942 |
BS445 slated for Morlaix mission, flown down to departure field, Bolthead. P/O Dominic S Gentile, Blown tire on takeoff, crashed into ditch. Scratched from mission.
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Died |
Forestville, MD, USA |
28 January 1951 |
Killed whilst on a traing flightin a T-33 jet, near Andrews AFB, Maryland.
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Buried |
Saint Joseph Cemetery
Lockbourne, Franklin County, OH |
February 1951 |
Saint Joseph Cemetery
Section 18 (St. Agatha), Lot 434
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