Jack Cook: F-51D s/n 44-84833 assigned to the 67th FBS 18th FBW in Korea. It was originally assigned to the 45th Tac Recon. Damaged in combat, after repair it was assigned to the 67th. The 67th was commanded at this time by Lt Col Julian Crow USAF.


Martin Kyburz: This is 44-84633 with 18th FBG 67th FBS during the Korean War Campaign. It was nicknamed 'Barbara Jean IV' / 'Dennis A II' (L) and 'Miss Doris' (R). This ship later was delivered to the ROKAF (Korean AF), where it either was lost in combat or scrapped around 1957.

I went over this case #118 again since today I received a larger scan from Don.

This picture definitely shows 44-84633 as mentioned earlier. What was making things a bit confusing was the seatbelt dangling in front of the buzz-number. When reversing colours and enhancing the picture, the number '6' clearly comes out. What also speaks against John Cook's solution is the fact that no vertical camera-port in front of the tail-wheel is visible. I simply doubt that a genuine recon-ship (an RF-51D-25-NT in John's case, i.e. 44-84833) would have been converted to F-51 standard during repairs and assigned to a 'mud-mover-unit' when the 45th TRS had some losses to cover, too. It is a fact that some F-51's served with the 45th TRS - but I've never heard of a case the other way round, i.e. recon-ships serving with a Fighter Bomber outfit during the Korean War.