WWII Aviator Shot Down over Germany to be Buried in Colorado

[Donster]

Army Capt. Franklin B. Tostevin was shot down on March 20, 1945, but his remains were not accounted for until Oct. 30 of this year by matching DNA samples.

Please note the writer of the article identified the aircraft as a F6P, which is not correct. It would have been a North American F-6 Mustang. Nearly 500 P-51 Mustangs were built or converted to perform the tactical reconnaissance role under the F-6 designation. The F-6A was the first version of the Mustang to see active service with the USAAF, flying its first missions from Tunisia with the 154th Observation Squadron in April 1943. The RAF also used a number of their Mustangs at photographic reconnaissance aircraft.

The majority of F-6s carried two K-24 cameras, in two different configurations. In version of the F-6 based on the P-51 to P-51C, an oblique camera was placed in the back of the cockpit, with another vertical camera placed in the fuselage behind the radiator.

In the F-6D and F-6K, based on the bubble canopied P-51D and P-51K, the oblique camera also had to be placed in the rear fuselage, being placed just above the vertical camera.

Welcome back home Captain Tostevin.

[Stans]

My guess is, based on the date at which he was shot down, his aircraft was likely a F6D. A "P" and a "D" can look and sound similar.

Welcome home, Capt. Tostevin. S!