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The Notable Aircraft of George E. Laven, Jr


TheRealMrEd

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  • TheRealMrEd
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  • Interests:1/72 US military aircraft and small scale r/c aircraft.

I am not really certain where to post this, as it is more of a collection than anything else, and all of the models have been seen before.  It is however my desire than all the information gathered and posted about these aircraft should be in one place that all modelers who wish to duplicate any of these models, may find the necessary info and some pictures or mentioned references, and in some cases, original artwork that can be downloaded.

 

I sort of stumbled across George Laven while researching builds of various colorful aircraft.  I soon realized that this one guy was responsible for an awful lot of them, and wondered, "who WAS this guy"?  There's not a lot out there, but I'll give a brief bit of what I've found.

 

First, "Stars and Bars -- A Tribute To The American Fighter Ace 1920 - 1973", by Frank Olynyk, ISBN I-898697-17-5, copyright Grub Street London, 1995 states " George Laven joined the Army Reserves and served as a Flying Cadet beginning Dec 30, 1940....was commissioned a 2nd Lt. and rated a pilot  Aug 15, 1941 at Luke Field, AZ... was promoted to 1st Lt. June17, 1942  and sent to the Aleutians, Alaska, assigned to the 55th FG, 54th FS....  (and more).  Where he is first found in a P-38E, named "Itsy-Bitsy":

 

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This aircraft has at least two known pictures, one on the flight line in Alaska, and one at the San Antonio, Tx airfield, where he flew the aircraft from Alaska for repairs, and a brief holiday.  Interestingly, "Stars and Bars" (above) states that he had earlier flown this same aircraft on what they quote as the longest over-water attack mission to that date, 8 hrs 45 mins, or 600 miles from Umnak to Kiska, where he claimed his first kill, sharing a Kawanishi 97 flying boat, which was on the water -- later dis-allowed.

 

Then he appears again, still in the Aleutians, flying his second P-38E, also named "Itsy-Bitsy":

 

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While the blue color seems highly suspect, much discussion and analysis of Life Magazine photos of this aircraft (including color-correcting the photos) failed to yield any explanation.  So, it is painted, as it appears.

 

Next, Laven was promoted from  Captain (Oct 8, 1942) to Major (July 19, 1944), and sent to HQ 49th FG in the Phillipines on March 3, 1945, where he flew a Lockheed P-38L-5-LO, "Itsy-Bitsy II".  It should be noted that the girl he married had this for a nick name, while his familial nickname was "Butz".  Anyway, his P-38L, names "Itsy-Bitsy II":

 

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In this aircraft, he shot down the last kill of his unit, an Emily, on April 26, 1945, which would be his last.  Nominally his 5th kill, but since the first would later be dis-allowed, turned out to be his fourth kill.

 

Laven was promoted to Lt Col on Sept 7, 1945, and when next we see him, he is in Maine, flying a Republic F-84B, named  "Itsy-Bitsy III":

 

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He is next seen flying two or three F-84E aircraft, and on Aug 1, 1951, he was promoted to full Colonel.  The most colorful of his three F-84E's is shown here:

 

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Finished Pics Here

 

Next we find Laven in maybe the most colorful USAF aircraft ever, a North American F-100C:

 

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This model is a heavily modified Trumpeter F-100C kit, and it was a boat-load of work!

 

Later, he also had a Lockheed F-104C painted to order here:

 

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Finished Pics Here

 

It should be noted that the Brass was very unhappy about this paint job, and was eventually ordered "de-tuned", so Laven can be seen in F-104's with at least three sets of markings.  It should also be noted that his aircraft at the time were kept "squeaky clean" and highly polished, as he was known to attend an airshow or two...

 

Next Laven was chosen to receive for the Air Force it's first Phantom, dubbed the "F-110A", which was in fact a standard Navy-type F-4B, which the Air Force flew around on public relations tours, until their own real version, the F-4C could be delivered.

 

Here is the F-110A:

 

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And we come to (chronologically) the last major aircraft type tied to Laven.  As commander of Clark Field in the Philippines, he flew a flight to Vietnam, where at the last minute, and not planned to include him originally, he was placed in charge of the the first F-100 mission into Laos, to bomb a North Vietnamese ground-to-air missile defense site, which mission turned into such a snafu  --  NOT LAVEN's FAULT --  that in the time honored military way, Laven got the blame and was axed from his job!

 

Anyway, only one known photo of the takeoff on that last mission of his is currently known to exist, and this is my interpretation of the F-100D flown by Laven that day:

 

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Again, another Trumpeter kit, with many mods!

 

Anyway, Laven stayed on with the Air Force, finally retiring in June 1969.  He was later hired by McDonnel Aircraft, and McDonnel-Dougles, as their  representative to the Israeli Air Force. He died Feb 16, 1995 in San Antonio, TX.

 

Oh, and one last thing -- he was known for fast cars (wrecked his DeLorean at high speed) and strange cars:

 

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Well, I am not claiming that George E. Laven Jr was the best airman, or the best pilot, or anything like that.  But I am claiming that he may be the most flamboyant American flyer;  not a Chuck Yeager, but my hero nevertheless, and we should all be thankful for his 30 years of service defending freedom  -- as well as all the others sort of like him, fighting the unsung fight.

 

Ed Ellickson

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That's a heck of a collection and I have to agree with your analysis that he may have had more colorful planes in his career than anyone else. I knew about many of these, but to see ALL of them together really completes the story. Great looking builds and cool history too. Might I suggest you elaborate on this a bit and submit it as an article for the Journal? I have to believe that a LOT of our members would love it! Thanks for sharing!

 

GIL :smiley16:

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I second what Gil says: Fill this out and submit it as an article for the Journal. I for one would love to know more about the mission where he was blamed for the snafu that was not his fault and what really did happen. I also would love to know more details on how he got his four kills; among other things. 

 

Congrats on an excellent article with some amazing aircraft model pictures. I've also seen a number of these but never connected them together; much less to Col. Laven. Brilliant work Ed!

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