JDK Posted January 9, 2013 Share #1 Posted January 9, 2013 Lt. L. Pletz Post #2Following up on a post by manayunkman, he asked me to share the grouping of Lt. Pletz who flew P-51's with the 353rd Fighter Group 352nd Fighter Squadron 8th AAF. To aviation enthusiasts he flew a well known plane. ( Donna-mite ) Named after his wifeI bought the group from Peter over 2 years ago before he was posting much here on the forum. I would like to share the group that he has posted some prior info on and expand it with more details and more photos. Enough of the back story now onto the group.Lee flew with the 353rd from mid 1944 until the end of the war. According to paperwork in the group he finished operations with 4 confirmed ground victories, 3 probable ground victories, and 1 damaged in the air.The Whole set: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JDK Posted January 9, 2013 Author Share #2 Posted January 9, 2013 The UniformsHe was married in the tan one Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JDK Posted January 9, 2013 Author Share #3 Posted January 9, 2013 Photos and yearbooks: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JDK Posted January 9, 2013 Author Share #4 Posted January 9, 2013 His Dog Tags and Pilot RingOriginal Gun Camera Film. I had this developed and there is about 4 minutes of running time. There are clips of him strafing a German Airfield scoring hits on planes. There is another sequence of him strafing a German Barge on what appears to be the Rhine. Last there is clips of him strafing gound positions. The last is tough to really make out but it appears to be colums of German vehicles on a dirt road. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JDK Posted January 9, 2013 Author Share #5 Posted January 9, 2013 His logbook. I just picked out a couple pages to share Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JDK Posted January 9, 2013 Author Share #6 Posted January 9, 2013 More Logbook: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JDK Posted January 9, 2013 Author Share #7 Posted January 9, 2013 There's lots of paperwork that includes citations, newsclippings, orders, promotion documents, and tons of other stuff Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JDK Posted January 9, 2013 Author Share #8 Posted January 9, 2013 Some of the paperwork that I found interesting, Victory claims, Medal citiations, and other items..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JDK Posted January 9, 2013 Author Share #9 Posted January 9, 2013 More Paperwork... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JDK Posted January 9, 2013 Author Share #10 Posted January 9, 2013 Last but definitely not least there are 3 photo albums and scrapbooks. 1 is wartime, another is from his wartime wedding, the last is prewar. I am just going to get into the wartime photo album since that is what most will want to see. There was also about 100 watime negatives that I will share a few of. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JDK Posted January 9, 2013 Author Share #11 Posted January 9, 2013 Pletz in his A-2 that he was so proud of: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JDK Posted January 9, 2013 Author Share #12 Posted January 9, 2013 More Photos: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JDK Posted January 9, 2013 Author Share #13 Posted January 9, 2013 more photos: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JDK Posted January 9, 2013 Author Share #14 Posted January 9, 2013 More photos: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JDK Posted January 9, 2013 Author Share #15 Posted January 9, 2013 Last, there are some really great Aerial photos of destruction, and other things. I took a photo of this one as a example. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
River Patrol Posted January 9, 2013 Share #16 Posted January 9, 2013 Excellent Group!! Thanks for sharing it! Steve Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
firefighter Posted January 9, 2013 Share #17 Posted January 9, 2013 Excellent grouping and great action shots.Thank you for sharing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jpstout Posted January 9, 2013 Share #18 Posted January 9, 2013 Very Nice!! Some great photos as well in that grouping. Thanks, pat Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
manayunkman Posted January 9, 2013 Share #19 Posted January 9, 2013 JD, Thanks for posting your collection. Brings back memories. Do you have a current photo of the A-2 that the present owner sent you ? In one of the scrap books aren't there clippings from letters he sent home describing his missions ? And lastly is there mention in the pilot log ( or somewhere else ) of strafing Me-262's ? I think Pletz married up because Donna is an attractive girl and Leroy is... well.... he was my friend. Many thanks for taking the time out to do this. I love it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JDK Posted January 9, 2013 Author Share #20 Posted January 9, 2013 JD, Thanks for posting your collection. Brings back memories. Do you have a current photo of the A-2 that the present owner sent you ? In one of the scrap books aren't there clippings from letters he sent home describing his missions ? And lastly is there mention in the pilot log ( or somewhere else ) of strafing Me-262's ? I think Pletz married up because Donna is an attractive girl and Leroy is... well.... he was my friend. Many thanks for taking the time out to do this. I love it. No problem M. Unfortunately I don't have a photo of the A-2 in its current state. I thought I did, but can't find them. It was in pretty rough shape, but the patch and the artwork on the back were still good. I can look thru the Logbook regarding the 262's. I didn't remember seeing that, but there may very well be and I could have missed it. There are tons of letters home and postcards, I just didn't get into photographing it all. It's such a huge grouping. I also skipped out on the cool wedding photos of him and his best man in their dress tans. JD Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flyingtigerfan Posted January 10, 2013 Share #21 Posted January 10, 2013 Thanks for taking the time to post the photos, some great images there! -Rob Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JDK Posted January 10, 2013 Author Share #22 Posted January 10, 2013 Thanks for the comments. Thanks Rob. There is some really great photos in this group. There's tons more. If I get some more time this weekend, I will try to add some more. JD Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
38Driver Posted January 10, 2013 Share #23 Posted January 10, 2013 Some great photos of Lucky Leaky II, a P51C that was still flying ops well into 45. Talk about a time capsule grouping! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
usaaf93 Posted January 10, 2013 Share #24 Posted January 10, 2013 Really nice grouping. Wish I had the same luck !! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
doyler Posted January 10, 2013 Share #25 Posted January 10, 2013 I agree this is a nice group.The pictures really add to it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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