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(See update at the end of the article!)

I was recently paging through Julian Oller’s book Los aviones de Carl C. Bucker and noticed an original picture of Jungmann E3B-616. 



My good friend Rick Surgent owns this airplane and he was happy to see a picture of his airplane in its original markings.  But, I noticed something interesting on the cowling.  What was this logo?



I was able to zoom into the picture, but it was not very clear.  In another Bucker book , I found an artist’s rendering of the same airplane, this time in color.



So, I decided to contact Paco Rivas, who is my reliable “go to” guy for Spanish Bucker Air Force history.  As expected, he quickly replied: “The bird is a pelican, the famous 'Ala de Caza Bombardeo número 7' (7th Fighter-Bomber Wing) logo.  Based at 'El Copero' Air Base (Sevilla) it appeared mainly on the 'Buchón'.”



So, Rick’s Jungmann was part of a fighter bomber group in Seville, Spain in the 1960’s.  You can see the same logo on the cowling of these Spanish Air Force Buchóns (Hispano Aviación HA-1112-M1L, License built Messerschmitt Bf109s with Rolls-Royce Merlin engines)



I would love to know more about this squadron logo.  Perhaps Paco would be so kind…….
 
E3B-616 today:



Brian

Update:

Paco Rivas added that the squadron 7 pilots, as well as their aircraft took place in the filming of the movie "Battle of Britain" and that the reason they chose a pelican as their squadron symbol was the shape of the nose/bill :)