Remains Of P-38 "Little Butch II"

Remains of American P-38 aircraft “Butch II”--this was piloted by famous football star Tom Harmon. He had christened his P-38 “Butch II” after his girlfriend, actress Elyse “Butch” Knox, and had commissioned a painting designed by Walt Disney himself, whom Harmon had befriended in Hollywood: a rendition of the cartoon character Peg-­leg Pete, wearing Harmon’s football jersey, crushing a swastika in one clawed hand. Harmon was assigned to the 449th Fighter Squadron and shipped to China in the summer of 1943.

In October of 1943, while escorting bombers on a low-level mission over Kiukiang (Jiujiang), Harmon's P-38 was shot down over the Yangtze River by a Japanese Zero during a dogfight. According to some accounts, Harmon shot down two Zeros in a dogfight over the Kiukiang docks and warehouses. Harmon was forced to bail out into Japanese-occupied China. He was later rescued by anti-Japanese Chinese guerrillas. Harmon was awarded the Purple Heart and the Silver Star for his actions with the 449th Fighter Squadron.

Harmon returned from China in January 1944.

It is a real mystery how a picture of the wreckage came into existence given that the plane crashed in or near Japanese occupied territory!

(Info courtesy of sources including "The University of Michigan in China" https://quod.lib.umich.edu/m/maize/mpub9885197/1:10/--university-of-mic…, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Harmon) 

P-38G-10-LO, #42-13221, 449 FS/51 FG, 304, China, 1943, 'Little Butch II'