Welcome,
This is a true story of a day in the life of Capt. Gordon H. McDaniel. His friends called him Mac, that's how I will refer to him for the rest of the story .
Mac flew a P-51 "Mustang" fighter plane during WWII and was a member of the * 325th Fighter Group, the "Checkertail Clan". His Squadron was the 318th Fighter Squadron, his plane, the "Mary Mac", had red wing tips and a checkertail. The Mary part of the planes name was a tribute to his wife Mary and of course the Mac part was his nickname.
Mac was in the following campaigns: Rome, Arno, Air Combat in the Balkans, France, Rhine and Central Europe. He flew 51 combat missions. He also flew one of the famous "shuttle" missions to Russia
Decorations and Citations that Mac received are as follows: EAME Theater Ribbon with eight battle stars, Distinguished Flying Cross Air Medal with ten oak leaf clusters, American Theater ribbon and World War II Victory Medal .
March 14, 1945, The 318th P-51 pilots outnumbered better than two to one destroyed eighteen (18), probably destroyed one (1), and damaged two (2) FW-190s. First Lieutenant Gordon H. McDaniel destroyed five (5) during this encounter. This was the day that Mac gained his status of "Ace in a Day". On this day, Mac shot down five German FW 190's in this single mission. He was one of the few American pilots to ever do this.
On the pages that follow in this story are a lot of photos. The photos are all real, made by Mac and his friends during WWII in Europe.
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