Mystery F-80C

[Willy]

One of the F-80s I've been painting for FSX is proving to be a bit elusive to find out any info on.

F-80C-10-LO, c/n 2336, USAF serial no 49-588, FT-588 "Ila's Pride" supposedly with the 25th FIS/51 FIW in Korea.

The only picture I'm finding of it in a 25th FIS paint scheme is a drawing/painting of it on a Monogram Model kit from 1977. And images of the decal set from that model which is enough for me to duplicate it for the FSX native version of it, but I do like to provide historical data on these.



There is a quick close up shot on You Tube of one a drop tank with the shark mouth, but nothing else, so I'm not sure it's even the same aircraft as there are other Korean War F-80s that shared that kind of art.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LdhMQrEOwX8

My usual online sources and the reference books I have either have no mention of 49-588 or list it as "info needed", which makes me think it survived Korea with nothing major happening that would have it listed in the records as either heavily damaged or lost. Or sold to another country in the late 50s. So, I kind of think at this point, that it probably ended up in a Reserve or National Guard unit and was eventually scrapped. But with no records online or in my F-80 books, who knows? But Monogram came up with it somehow to do the model and they're not known for just inventing a paint scheme when there are so many real ones out there for F-80s, so this one must have had some significance somehow.



And to muddy the waters even more, there was a 1952 movie "Invasion U.S.A." about the invasion of the United States by an unnamed Communist enemy meant to be taken as the Soviet Union. I found a screenshot from the movie with a F-80 with the buzz no of FT-588, but in a totally different paint scheme. I'm not sure if it's the same aircraft, but the 25th did transition to F-86s by then. But, when dealing with Hollywood, take nothing at face value.



I'm going to finish the paint and any help on the history of this aircraft would be greatly appreciated and credit given.

Willy

[Limekiller]

This is all I could find in my library-



Photo is from Squadron/Signal P-80 in action. Aircraft # 40.
Caption indicates they were 51st FIW F-80Cs at K-13 Air Base.

[Willy]

Thanks! I'm still looking myself, but I'm starting to think this one will just have to remain a mystery.