P-39Q-5 "Gooseneck"
363rd FS, 357th FG, Oroville, California, 1943

P-39Q-5 42-19896 / Flown by Lt. William W. Gambill, 363rd FS, 357th FG, 8th AF / Oroville CA, USA / Autumn 1943.
363rd FS was formed in December 1942 at Hamilton Field airbase in California. The aircraft used for the unit’s pilot training were factory-fresh th P-39Q Airacobras. In the fall of 1943 357 Fighter Group, which 363rd Fighter Squadron was part of, was deployed to the Great Britain where it th was, as a first Fighter Group, re-equipped with the outstanding P-51B and C Mustangs. Within 8 AF it flew bomber escort sorties over th occupied Europe. On March 8 , 1944, Gambill’s Mustang was shot down by Messerschmitts Bf 109 near Mehringen. Lt. Gambill was killed rd during the British night bomber raid on Frankfurt during the night of March 22nd-23 , 1944, when Dulag Luft (Durchgangslager der Luftwaffe, rd Transit Camp of the Air force) was hit as well. The standard Airacobra camouflage of Olive Drab/Neutral Gray was during the training at 363 FS complemented by the red coat of the tail surfaces and red stripe on the nose. The cockpit doors sported the unit’s emblem.