RAAF No78 Sqd P40E "Black Magic" v2.0

"Black Magic" P40E with improved damage

  1. Jello
    Served with 78 Sqn; on 25/5/44 it was issued to 78 Sqn from 11 RSURP and was coded HU-E with
    "Black Magic" on the cowl and was so named by F/L Baker who initially flew this a/c; on 3/6/44
    F/L Denis Russell Baker (411271) flew this in the last major aerial combat of the RAAF during WW2
    in the Pacific claiming a fighter destroyed; on 10/6/44 F/L Baker shot down the last Japanese
    aircraft in the New Guinea campaign in this a/c; on 6/9/44 blew blast tubes while attacking Samate
    strip with W/O Peter Barton Lavender (408853) returning successfully; on 9/10/44 it was received
    back at 78 Sqn from 22 RSU and three months later was flown by Australia's only aboriginal fighter
    pilot of WW2 W/O Leonard Victor Waters (78144); on 26/12/45 it was stripped of useable equipment
    and burnt at Tarakan Is. [The code for this a/c has been suggested as HU-L and appeared on an
    aerogram in dedication to W/O Len Waters. However photo and log book evidence contradicts it being
    HU-L.]