The Pennington P-51 ‘Lucy Gal’ Tuskegee Flight Memorial (Part 5)

An effort to honor a local MIA Red Tail takes-off, again

(…continued from Part Four)

My checklist of discoveries that I had wanted to unearth about Leland Pennington had begun to dwindle, thanks to my Tuskegee Airman guru Craig. Only two questions now remained:

1. What happened to Leland Pennington, why did he go MIA?
2. Where is Leland suspected to have gone missing? Where could he and ‘Lucy Gal’ be?

I knew these questions had answers to them, somewhere out there in the universe. However, I had trouble at times believing that I would ever find resolutions. As it turns out, the solutions to the mysteries around Leland’s disappearance were closer to me than I thought.

In July 2009, our museum held its annual Geneseo Airshow, as per tradition. This also marked the 5th consecutive year that we hosted the Tuskegee History Program, which I mentioned in Part One of this article series. This particular year, we had a few additional Red Tail guests, to supplement Charlie Prices’ appearance. Among them was Dr. Thurston Gaines. A member of the 99th Fighter Squadron, Dr. Gaines graduated with Leland Pennington in Class SE-44-G. Both men flew P-51s during the War and were based at Ramitelli Airfield, in Italy. Both Leland and Thurston were born in 1922, and had a passion for aviation from a young age. The parallels between their lives are profound. 

On April 15th, 1945, Thurston was hit by enemy anti-aircraft artillery fire 40 miles from Muhldorf, Germany. He tried to keep his Mustang flying as long as he could, in hopes of reaching Allied lines, but ended up setting down in Germany. Thurston was captured and held as prisoner of war. I had the privilege of meeting Dr. Gaines during his visit to our museum in 2009, albeit briefly. In hindsight, I wish I had met him a year or two later. As I recently found out, thanks again to my friend Craig Huntley, the bomshell information that Thurston was friends with Leland. After Leland’s disappearance on 4/21/45, word had spread about what was really going on with him. Even though Thurston was now holed-up in Stalag Luft VII in Moosburg, Germany, the crew had ways of staying up on the news of their squadron.

Craig most recently sent me a link to a video, writing “Thurston Gaines talks about Leland Pennington 01:10:59.” The link took me to a 2-hour long interview with Dr. Gaines, hosted on the Library of Congress Veterans History Project Service site. I knew this could lead to a significant discovery about Leland, likely something I didn’t yet know about him or his service. I clicked play, and watched with bated breath. I could have simply fast-forwarded to the section on Leland, but I want to build up the anticipation a bit, and also learn more about Dr. Gaines in the process. The whole interview was breathtaking, a real eye opener to what these men and women had to overcome to serve their country in WWII. Soon enough, the time had come. When it did, my jaw hit the floor.

“Leland Pennington was…not a ‘happy-go-lucky’ guy, but certainly not a pensive individual. He was a pretty good guy.”

“When they got back from the mission, somebody said he didn’t come back…that he had appendicitis. You know, you have some symptoms when you have a diagnosis of appendicitis.”

“You know, I’d never talked with anyone who was flying with him that day or who bunked with him, but, that’s what was said. He’d had appendicitis, and apparently went off and probably crashed into the Alps. And, that was a lousy day.”

I was, once again, shook. Right from the mouth of the man who knew him, and who flew with him on previous missions. History came alive in that very moment. The spirits of Tuskegee Airmen awoke to tell me their story, one that was screaming to be told. We only had to dig a little deeper to unearth it. I now had my answer. I knew that Leland likely succumbed to appendicitis, leading to his likely crash where his P-51B ‘Lucy Gal’ would also have ended up. It was very conflicting to receive this information. On one hand, I was glad to finally know what likely happened, and to know where he is in the event that a search and recovery effort should ever come together. On the other hand, I felt the pain of Leland, his family and friends. It felt as if I had traveled back in time, and I was just one of the guys, receiving the sad news about the loss of my fellow Airman. 

Now, all the pieces to the puzzle were in place. And, with a firm foundation on the life and service of Leland to work from, I have a new mission. The Pennington P-51 Memorial is dedicated to keeping the story of Flight Officer Leland Pennington and his fellow Tuskegee Airmen alive, flying. 

In 2010, the effort began with the intent to find a local Tuskegee Airmen connection to Rochester, NY, for a local aviation museum. Leland Pennington’s name was discovered, and what followed has become a passion project. At the outset, little was known about Leland. Now, through years of digging and research technology developments, so much has been learned. Leland Pennington’s family, both local to Rochester and from afar have been found and are now part of our team. Countless presentations have been given, to tell the story of the Tuskegee Airmen and Leland Pennington. Today, we are in a great position to take the next step in our memorial to Leland, a flying tribute.

We are now planning to fundraise and acquire a replica P-51, and restore it in the colors of Leland Pennington’s B-Model Mustang ‘Lucy Gal.’ We seek taildragger aircraft with aerobatic capabilities, and one that looks strikingly familiar to the original. This would serve as a perfect platform to tell Leland’s story with. Once restored, ‘Lucy Gal’ will participate in fly-in events and airshows. We will fly a demonstration featuring flight maneuvers used by the Tuskegee Airmen in World War II, while a narrator will tell their story, along with Leland’s, during the act. This act will also help me build experience to be able to fly a real P-51, one day, and continue to use these skills as a Mustang pilot to share the Tuskegee legacy at each show I fly in (shoutout to Wes, Thom, Mac, Bryan, Potato, and Groot for giving me a great start on this with the T-6 checkout this past summer!) 

The ‘Lucy Gal’ replica will participate in the EAA Young Eagles program, to give kids their first taste of aviation via an airplane ride. Not only do we want to tell the Red Tails’ story, we also want to inspire others to fly, just as they did. ‘Lucy Gal’ will serve as the centerpiece of the soon-to-be built Tuskegee Airmen display, at the National Warplane Museum in Geneseo, New York. It will motivate, educate, and commemorate this brave group of men and women.

I want to personally thank each and every one of my National Warplane Museum and Warbird Community friends for your motivation on this project through all these years, and your mentorship toward my Warbird flying goals. April 21st, 2025 will mark 80 years since Leland went Missing In Action. Our team truly feels that an airworthy replica of the P-51 ‘Lucy Gal’ is the perfect tool to keep the story of Leland Pennington and the Tuskegee Airmen flying. The time is now. With your help, we will make this new mission a success.

Austin Hancock

Commercial Pilot, CFI, and Museum Entrepreneur, with a subject focus on WWII Aviation. I am dedicated to building flight experience so I can fly WWII Fighters, such as the P-51 Mustang, for museums and airshows, and in the USAF Heritage Flight. I lead and run the Pennington Flight Memorial, to honor local MIA Tuskegee Airman F/O Leland “Sticky” Pennington.

• The Pennington P-51 ‘Lucy Gal’ Tuskegee Flight Memorial (Part 4)
• The Pennington P-51 ‘Lucy Gal’ Tuskegee Flight Memorial (Part 3)
• House of The B-23 Dragon
• The Pennington P-51 ‘Lucy Gal’ Tuskegee Flight Memorial (Part 2)