Scale Aviator International Magazine Issue 3 | Page 34

Col. Dave Schilling’s Hairless Joe slides into a
landing at Boxted after taking severe flak hits,
catching the wing and wheel well on fire. He
landed uninjured and the aircraft was repaired
and flew again. On December 23, 1944 he
shot down five German fighters on a mission
over Germany, his final kills of the war totalling
22 ½, as well as a number of ground kills.
The Photo below is of the actual Hairless Joe
at the Boxted airbase.

On a soggy August afternoon, I am standing next to the memorial at Boxted Air Field,
which is located on the approach end of the
main duty runway 04-22. The memorial honors three units that occupied this field during
the war: the 386th Bomb Group (B-26s), the
354th Fighter Group (P-51s) and eventually it
became home to the 56th Fighter Group (P47s) from April 1944 until the end of the war
in May 1945.”

the Warbirds Over The Rockies show and other events,
too.
One last thrill for us was that they took my wife and
me up in separate Piper Cub style planes for a close
formation flight over Boxted and some other WWII
airfields nearby. That was a lot of fun, and a great way
memorable. One thrill for me was the famous WWII
author Roger Freeman coming out and signing his new to end this trip.
After packing the airplane and engine off for shipment
book on the Wolfpack of the 56th FG. Unfortunately,
back to the USA, we left and had an uneventful flight
Roger was ailing from cancer and passed away later
back home with Hairless Joe in the belly of our
on, but I really enjoyed talking with him about his
th
airliner.
books and memories about the 8 USAAF in WWII.
Roger had been a schoolboy living close by during the After we returned to the USA, Bob Frey and I
war, and became one of the world’s greatest authorities competed in the Scale Masters contest in Kansas City
on the 8th AF in England during that time. Incidentally, and some other shows before I decided to retire it
if you look behind Roger and me in the picture, you’ll and send it to a museum for permanent display. It can
now be seen at Kalamazoo Air Zoo in Kalamazoo,
see the early work of Phil Clark’s magnificent B-26
Michigan. http://www.airzoo.org
that he later completed and sold to Bryan O’Meara of
I chose that museum beca use first, it is a great
Denver. Brian has flown that airplane many times at

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