Checkertails: How the 325th FG got a documentary
Neil Pugh, "MysticPuma" thought he was retired from making internet movies. Here's what happened, in his own words:
In 2007 I had just finished a short movie about Robert S. Johnson's
survival against all the odds stacked against him when he was shot up
and trapped in a burning aircraft after his canopy jammed. That film was
called "Not my time to Die!" and was Narrated by Ralph Gimenez. He and I
became friends through our mutual interest in Flight Simulation, WW2
Aviation history and a passion to keep these great stories alive.
Ralph is a dedicated historian of B-25's that flew in the Mediterranean
Theatre of operations and during one of our chats on Skype he mentioned
that the B-25's would often be escorted by P-51's of the Checkertail
Clan..........and that's when all my problems began!
My interest was hooked and I decided to make a short 5-minute film
depicting one-battle fought by the 325th.
I sent a speculative email to Art Fiedler, a P-51 Ace who flew with the
325th and didn't really expect a reply. However, never under-estimate a
Checkertail! Art replied and the detail and enthusiasm he went into
regarding my questions made me realise that this could be more than just
a fleeting 'action flick'. I steadily set about researching the 325th
and through books and emails my knowledge soon grew and I became
entranced by their history and the people who served with them. My
search for more information led to me contacting the "Virtual325th" who
take part in online historical battles using combat flight simulation
software and from this I made contact with Ian MacDonald who had more
contact for me to follow up. Steadily my emails became full of
incredible stories and anecdotes and I realized I would need to meet
these surviving members to record their memories so generations would be
able to see and hear what these veterans did to preserve our freedom.
Along the way I have met many great people, in-fact too-many to mention
but a few do stand out. Ian MacDonald hired an airplane and we flew from
his home in New Hampshire to meet Jerry Edwards so I could film his
memoirs, Ralph Gimenez arranged for groups of 'virtual' pilots to fly
battle-scenes that were required to make some of the action scenes,
as-well as making the paint-schemes that appear on the aircraft suing
his knowledge of Photoshop. Frank Lawless who's Father-in-Law (Gordon
McDaniel) became an 'Ace-in-a-day' replied to one of my many speculative
emails and he paved the way for me to contact Gary Bullock who has
appeared in many Hollywood productions and ultimately jumped at the
chance to Narrate my project. With reference to Gary, he has been
tireless in his dedication to create a professional Narrative
which has seen him editing and re-writing my very amateur script and
making it into a full-blown piece of art! As an aside, I should add that
when I made the original edit of part 1, I had to record the Narration
myself to 'time' the footage to, so that I could progress quickly with
the project. This was great until Gary read it 'properly' like a
Narrator should. Sadly I had talked like a typical 'natter-jack' and
Gary was rock-solid and smooth, making sure each intonation was exactly
as it should be read. This meant that once I got his Narration back and
put it onto the timeline, what had taken me 10-seconds to say, took Gary
18-seconds to say! Cut to me pulling my hair out and having to re-edit
my edit! However, it was worth every second of effort and Part 1 has
currently been seen by nearly 500,000 viewers! I did say there were
too-many to mention but I need to most-certainly add Kathy Evans-Cluff
who now has taken the reins of the Checkertail Clan Organization and is
dedicated to preserving their story. She (and her family too) has been a
great inspiration , especially with her help (and Patrice Manget
(Daughter of Jerry Edwards)) in organising the reunions and also making
the effort to arrange flights for me to travel to the 65th reunion.
Everything that you see in Part 1 and Part 2 has been done for free.
There is no agenda, no 'money-making', no profit. Everything has been
created just because 'we can' and what greater motivation can there be,
than to honor these great en who served for us and protected us and
ultimately gave us the freedom we know take for granted. To quote from
the opening of Part 1:
"The following is the story of one unsung group of Pilots, who stood up
to be counted when the time came to fight back against the rising tide
of tyranny. They were young men, who like us, all had hopes and
dreams of what their future would bring. Yet when all hope seemed lost,
they did not cower, they did not run, they stood firm and chose to
fight. Many of them gave the ultimate sacrifice in that fight.
This is our tribute to these men, who were feared and known by their
enemies as ........Checkertails"
My name is Neil Pugh, my website is
www.decisiveimaging.com and I am
proud to have honoured "The Checkertail Clan"