| Original caption: “Two Chinese soldiers help armorers, Staff Sergeant Harry L. Gray, Cisco, Texas, and Staff Sergeant Donald W. Dell, Los Angeles, California, of the Seventy-Fourth Fighter Squadron, Twenty-Third Fighter Group, check the guns on a Curtiss P-40 at Kunming, China.” Staff Sergeant Harry L. Gray (April 11, 1922 – July 27, 2003) and Staff Sergeant Donald W. Dell (June 27, 1922 – September 1, 1987) clean the Browning 50 caliber (12.7 millimeter) machine guns on 1st Lieutenant Raymond W. Lucia’s (November 23, 1916 – July 3, 2005) Curtiss P-40 Warhawk. Note the gun covers on top of the wing and the flight jacket hanging from the pitot tube. Lucia of Glendale, New York, was shot down while strafing a Japanese motor pool near Mangshih on March 19, 1943. The squadron thought he had been killed, and he is often listed as killed in action. Lucia survived and was sent to Sentai 10B in Iwate, Japan, and endured 31 months of captivity. Upon recovery in November 1945, Lucia served in the United States Air Force for 30 years, retiring as a Colonel. The 74th Fighter Squadron was designated on May 15, 1942, and activated on July 4, 1942, in Kunming, China, as 1 of the 3 original squadrons of the 23rd Fighter Group, constituted from the “Flying Tigers” American Volunteer Group. Operated from Yunnani, China, starting March 12, 1943, and Kweilin on May 19, 1943. A detachment operated from Liuchow, China, from February 16 to April 30, 1944. After operations in Liuliang, Tushan, Liuchow, and Hangchow until December 1945, the 74th Fighter Squadron returned to Fort Lewis, Washington, in early January 1946. Dell enlisted in the United States Army Air Corps on March 20, 1941. He was honorably discharged from the United States Air Force as a Master Sergeant on May 21, 1968, having served in World War II, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War. He is buried in Riverside National Cemetery. Gray graduated from Austin High School in 1939. He was stationed in Oklahoma in 1944, where he met his 1st wife. He served in the Air Force Reserve until 1955. On May 28, 1955, he married United States Air Force 1st Lieutenant Molly J. Moffett (May 6, 1931 – March 26, 2012). He ran his own engineering firm and served as the City Engineer for Alvin and Angleton, Texas. Molly and Harry Gray are buried in Houston National Cemetery. Still attached to the 23rd Fighter Group, the 74th Fighter Squadron operates Fairchild-Republic A-10C Thunderbolt II ground attack aircraft. Because of the legacy of the Flying Tigers, the 23rd Fighter Group is the only unit allowed to display the “shark mouth” livery on the nose of their planes. | |
| Image Filename | wwii1583.jpg |
| Image Size | 931.78 KB |
| Image Dimensions | 3762 x 2915 |
| Photographer | |
| Photographer Title | United States Air Force |
| Caption Author | Written or Adapted by Jason McDonald |
| Date Photographed | February 1, 1943 |
| Location | |
| City | Kunming |
| State or Province | Yunnan |
| Country | China |
| Archive | National Archives and Records Administration |
| Record Number | 342-FH-3A01077-74000AC |
| Status | Caption ©2026 MFA Productions LLC Please Do Not Duplicate or Distribute Without Permission; Image in the Public Domain |
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