Herky! The Memoirs of a Checkertail Ace

Flight Journal, Jun 2000 by DeGroat, Robert S

Herky! The Memoirs of a Checkertail Ace

by Herschel H. Green.

Schiffer Publishing Ltd.,

7 Lower Valley Rd.,

Atglen, PA 19310;

192 pages; 287

b&w photographs; $45.

During WW II, when higher headquarters finally grounded Col. Herschel H. Green, he was a leading ace in the 15th Air Force with 18 victories. But no one had heard very much about him because the 8th Air Force out of England was given much more press than the 15th, which flew out of Italy.

Green flew with the 325th Fighter Group, known as the "Checkertail Clan." He was there literally from the beginning, flying his P-40 off the carrier USS Ranger to the unit's first Mediterranean base at Casablanca in January 1943. As the Group fought its way north, the 325th converted first to the P-47 Thunderbolt and later to the P-51 Mustang. "Herky" Green scored victories in all three types and was an ace in both the 47 and 51.

Better late than never, enthusiasts and historians alike are "discovering" the 15th Air Force and finding that the men endured an airway just as tough as those who flew with the "Mighty 8th": "What they overlooked originally was that we were fighting many of the same Germans out of Italy as they were out of England." Green's autobiography, "Herky: The Memoirs of a Checkertail Ace," should help with that revelation.

In his 100 combat missions totaling 402 combat hours, Col. Green had 18 victories in the air and was credited with 10 more on the ground. His medals include the Air Medal (with 25 clusters), the Distinguished Flying Cross (with cluster), the Distinguished Service Cross, the Purple Heart and the Silver Star.

Green's book tells an engrossing story and is filled with some great pictures of the men and machines-- most of them never before published. His successful postwar military and business careers are also covered in some detail, but it is the long-overdue coverage of the 15th-and more specifically the 325th-that will interest the enthusiast and historian.

Though it took Herschel Green nearly 50 years to tell his wartime experiences, it was worth the wait.