339th Fighter Group badge

339th Fighter Group Gallery

Source: Littlefriends.co.uk 339th Fighter Group gallery item, archived by the Internet Archive Wayback Machine on October 17, 2011. Image source: archived Littlefriends.co.uk file gallery/357g/357p39.jpg, captured October 18, 2011.

P-39Q 42-20720 as it appeared at Rice Field
P-39Q 42-20720 as it appeared at Rice Field

Profile by Nick King.

Having been equipped with A-24 and A-25 aircraft and trained in the dive-bomber role, the 339th were re-equipped with P-39s in July 1943. The Group moved to Rice Field, CA in September 1943 and stayed there until shipping overseas on 22 March 1944. P-39Q 42-20720 is shown here as it appeared at Rice Field. The artwork that this a/c bears is one of the more popular pin-ups from Esquire Magazine, being Alberto Vargas' "There'll always be a Christmas" from the December 1943 edition.