{"id":1606903,"date":"2026-09-18T17:20:37","date_gmt":"2026-09-18T15:20:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/armahobbynews.pl\/?p=1606903"},"modified":"2026-09-18T17:36:32","modified_gmt":"2026-09-18T15:36:32","slug":"uncle-dog-to-the-rescue-70073","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/armahobbynews.pl\/en\/blog\/2026\/09\/18\/uncle-dog-to-the-rescue-70073\/","title":{"rendered":"Uncle Dog to the Rescue"},"content":{"rendered":"

The pilots who flew P-51D Mustangs with the USAAF 7th Fighter Command out of Iwo Jima in the closing months of World War II faced some of the toughest challenges faced by any fighter pilots of the war.
\nYes, they were flying world-class fighters in what was by then clearly a winning cause. But their missions required them to fly from a postage-stamp island in the middle of a huge ocean some 650 miles over water to reach their heavily defended targets on the Japanese mainland.<\/p>\n

VLR pilots had to manage their fuel supply to be able to engage in combat and then turn around and fly all the way home \u2013 sometimes with a monsoon weather front blocking their way.
\nIt wasn\u2019t unusual for crew chiefs to have to lift their pilots out of the cockpits of their Mustangs because the aviators were stiff from having spent eight hours or so sitting on their lumpy parachute packs while they flew their missions.
\nThis wasn\u2019t an occasional situation; it happened after every Very Long Range mission.<\/p>\n

Navigation was another problem faced by the VLR pilots, especially on their return flights.
\nThough it was easy enough for them to dead-reckon their way due south from Tokyo toward Iwo Jima, the island measured just six miles long by two miles wide, so it was easy for a pilot to miss Iwo in the otherwise empty sea if he encountered crosswinds, was flying a battle-damaged aircraft or perhaps was wounded.
\nA picket line of submarines patrolled the route, ready to pick up pilots who went down on their homeward flights, but this was small comfort to the flyers.<\/p>\n

The 7th Fighter Command had only been operational for a short time in the spring of 1945 when technicians began installing an innovative radio device in the VLR Mustangs to help the pilots find their way home.
\nThe SCR-522 VHF communication set, including an AN\/ARA-8 homing adapter and MD-34 modulator keying unit, allowed the fighters to be vectored to a beacon, either on an Air Sea Rescue B-29 \u201cSuper Dumbo\u201d aircraft or on Iwo Jima itself.<\/p>\n

The beacon system aboard the fighter picked up the homing signal and converted it into two audio channels consisting of the International Morse letters \u201cU\u201d or \u201cD\u201d with a steady tone separating them.
\nFollowing the wartime phonetic alphabet, this homing procedure was referred to as \u201cUncle Dog.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"P-51D<\/a>
The twin wooden antenna masts of the Uncle Dog homing system are clearly visible on this 47th FS\/15th FG P-51D on Iwo Jima.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Mustangs equipped with the Uncle Dog system mounted twin wooden masts on the top of the fuselage behind the cockpit.
\nTo make room for these masts, the radio antenna mast was relocated to the bottom of the fuselage, just forward of the inboard landing gear doors.<\/p>\n

\"P-51D<\/a>
On a standard Uncle Dog installation, the original radio antenna mast was moved from the rear fuselage to the underside of the aircraft, as seen on this 46th FS\/21st FG P-51D.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Aircraft of the 15th and 21st Fighter Groups received the Uncle Dog modification incrementally as sets became available starting in late April 1945, and most were converted by the end of the war.
\nThe 506th Fighter Group P-51s already carried Uncle Dog equipment when the unit arrived on Iwo Jima in May 1945.<\/p>\n

Military aviation historian Barrett Tillman said pilots of the 7th Fighter Command regarded Uncle Dog as the greatest invention to come out of the war.
\nIt is impossible to say how many pilots\u2019 lives Uncle Dog saved, but every VLR pilot who flew with the system appreciated the confidence it gave him that he could find his way home to Iwo Jima.<\/p>\n

Material from two of the author\u2019s books, Very Long Range P-51 Mustang Units of the Pacific War<\/strong> and
\nVLR P-51 Mustangs vs Japanese Fighters: Japan 1945<\/strong>, was included in this article.
\n<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/div>\n
\n
\"P-51D<\/a>
P-51D \u201cSnortin\u2019 Phyllie\u201d of the 531st FS\/21st FG. One of the four photographs available to us when the kit was prepared. Photo from the Carl Molesworth collection.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Snortin\u2019 Phyllie \u2013 When Photographs Don\u2019t Tell the Whole Story<\/h2>\n

A short research story from Zbyszek Malicki<\/strong><\/p>\n

Snortin\u2019 Phyllie<\/em> was Carl Molesworth\u2019s choice for our kit. I had asked Carl to help us find an interesting VLR Mustang that had not already appeared as a marking option in another model kit. He came back with Snortin\u2019 Phyllie<\/em> \u2013 and that was where this story began.<\/p>\n

When we prepared the kit, we were working from four photographs of Snortin\u2019 Phyllie<\/em>. They were snapshots taken from different angles and, quite possibly, at different moments in the aircraft\u2019s service. None showed the complete antenna arrangement clearly, so we had to put the pieces together.<\/p>\n

Some views suggested the characteristic twin Uncle Dog antenna masts behind the cockpit. In another view we could see a small wire-like antenna underneath the fuselage. What we could not identify was the blade-type radio antenna normally relocated underneath an Uncle Dog-equipped Mustang.<\/p>\n

The simplest explanation seemed to be that the small wire was a substitute for the relocated blade antenna. That was how we interpreted the four photographs when preparing the kit.<\/p>\n

\"Unclear<\/a>
One of the original four snapshots. The view appears to suggest the Uncle Dog installation, but the antenna arrangement underneath the forward fuselage cannot be established clearly from this photograph.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"P-51D<\/a>
Another of the four photographs used for the original reconstruction. What appear to be the two Uncle Dog antenna masts can be seen behind the cockpit. Photo from the Carl Molesworth collection.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Then a fifth photograph appeared<\/h3>\n

After the kit had been prepared, another photograph gave us a new piece of the puzzle.<\/p>\n

\"P-51D<\/a>
The fifth photograph. It appears to show \u201cSnortin\u2019 Phyllie\u201d with a single standard radio mast still on top of the rear fuselage, while the mysterious short wire is visible underneath the aircraft. The photograph is not sharp enough to make every detail completely certain, but it changes our interpretation of the wire.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

This photograph seems to show Snortin\u2019 Phyllie<\/em> with a single standard radio mast still on top of the rear fuselage, while the mysterious short wire is visible underneath the aircraft at the same time. The image is not sharp enough to make every detail completely certain, but it changes our interpretation significantly.<\/p>\n

The wire was evidently not simply a substitute for the standard radio antenna. It was something else. What it was for, however, we still do not know.<\/p>\n

It also gives us another possible configuration of Snortin\u2019 Phyllie<\/em>: the aircraft with the normal single radio mast on its back and the mysterious wire underneath.<\/p>\n

Putting the snapshots together<\/h3>\n

The difficulty is that the surviving photographs give us only fragments of the story. We do not have one clear photograph showing the complete antenna arrangement from nose to tail. Instead, we have snapshots from different sides which show different details.<\/p>\n

\"Another<\/a>
Another of the original photographic snapshots used to reconstruct \u201cSnortin\u2019 Phyllie\u201d. No single view gives us the complete antenna arrangement.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The other four photographs still suggest another stage, with the twin Uncle Dog masts behind the cockpit. What we cannot establish from them is whether the standard blade radio antenna had already been relocated underneath the fuselage at that moment. No single photograph gives us a clear view of the complete installation.<\/p>\n

This makes us wonder whether the photographs may record Snortin\u2019 Phyllie<\/em> at different stages of the Uncle Dog conversion. The fifth photograph may show an earlier configuration, with the original radio mast still on the rear fuselage and the mysterious wire already present. Other views appear to show the aircraft after the twin Uncle Dog masts had been fitted.<\/p>\n

A further possible stage would be the completed textbook Uncle Dog installation, with the twin masts behind the cockpit and the standard blade radio antenna relocated underneath the fuselage. This would be the normal final arrangement described above by Carl. But we do not have a sufficiently clear photograph of Snortin\u2019 Phyllie<\/em> showing the whole aircraft in that configuration.<\/p>\n

Perhaps the lower blade antenna was installed later. Perhaps it is simply hidden by the angle or quality of the photographs available to us. Perhaps it was temporarily missing or had been damaged. We do not know.<\/p>\n

P-51D Mustang VLR \u2013 Markings from the Box #70073<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n