Seemingly impossible task. Looking for a picture of Major Ralph F. Johnson - 325thFG

[Mysticpuma]

Well, here I am throwing myself at your mercy! I have an interesting story to illustrate in Part 2 of my (free for anyone to watch or download) Checkertails Documentary but for the life of me I cannot locate an image of Major Ralph F. Johnson anywhere. Has anyone got one they would be willing to let me use?

Cheers, MP

[katdogfizzow]

Wow that is a tough one..I gave it whirl, but came up with nothing. Is it possible he's still alive? I couldnt even find an obituary where surely there would be a pic....or a group photo somewhere of 325th FG. What was his plane name?

[Madfish]

Well, is there anything else you could provide that makes a search possible? A name alone is very vague if it's not a really important figure of the past. From what I can find he had 1 victory (http://www.cieldegloire.com/fg_325.php) which might contribute to the lack of information?

So do you have a brief resume? Some pointers what he did after the war? For example what I can basically gather is:

Major Ralph F. Johnson
- CO 319th FS (fighter squardron)
- part of the 325th FG (fighter group)
- flew a P-51D with the serial number 44-15284 #100, it was scrapped September 1945
- the name on the plane was "dusty butt"
- he was the last commanding officer of the 319th FS during WW2, 7 December 1944 – May 1945

A search brought up confusing results. For example that the site of the 319th FS says he flew the "dusty butt" (http://www.319th.com/inventor.htm) but the site of the current 325th FG says dusty butt was the plane of Felix Vidal (http://www.tyndall.af.mil/library/factsheets/factsheet.asp?id=5039). Both might be correct however, eventually the name was common.


You might try to:
contact the 325th Fighter Wing (http://www.tyndall.af.mil/units/index.asp) historian office though.
You might also be lucky by getting in touch with the 319th FS (http://www.319th.com/contact_us.htm) directly.


I hope this info helps you getting some results. Feel free to provide further details in the thread as your research progresses as that might help finding what you are looking for.

[eirinn]

Hi MP
There is a very good book on the 325th FG called "Checkertails: The 325th Fighter Group in the Second World War" published by Squadron/Signal.
I downloaded it from http://ebook30.com/ some time ago. It's still available.
There is a picture of Johnson on page 71.

Cheers
Eirinn

[Mysticpuma]

eirinn, amazing!

I actually have that book and have looked through it numerous times and never noticed a picture of him. Thanks for helping out, it was right under my nose!

Cheers, MP

[Madfish]

Great to hear you found what you were looking for puma. I also saw that book, checked the price and decided not to mention it. Didn't know you already own it! :-P

You might want to edit out that website though, eirinn, as it's far from being legal. *cough*

[chevy510]

Well, here I am throwing myself at your mercy! I have an interesting story to illustrate in Part 2 of my (free for anyone to watch or download) Checkertails Documentary but for the life of me I cannot locate an image of Major Ralph F. Johnson anywhere. Has anyone got one they would be willing to let me use?

Cheers, MP

Hi intresting reading your story, I am also trying to trace Ralph Jonhson of the 319th, did you manage to find any further information. I currantly have his A2 flying jacket and found out he shot down a german jet, but would love to find out more, I would like to find out if he is still alive or his family members.
kevin

[chevy510]

[QUOTE=chevy510;659821]Hi intresting reading your story, I am also trying to trace Ralph Jonhson of the 319th, did you manage to find any further information. I currantly have his A2 flying jacket and found out he shot down a german jet, but would love to find out more, I would like to find out if he is still alive or his family members.
kevin