Lockheed P-38L-5 Lightning
"Itsy Bitsy"

S/N: 44-25568 / 44

Major George "Butz" Laven Jr.
HQ Squadron
54th Fighter squadron
49th Fighter Group
Philippines, 1944



George Laven was a native of San Antonio, Texas and joined the US Army
Airforce in 1940 and by August of the following year, earned his flying
wings and commissioned as an 2nd Lt. 

George Laven was one of the first to score kills in the P-38. 
He spent the early part of the war in the Aleutians when he was
assigned to the 343rd Fighter Group, where the now Captain scored 4 kills 
with his first P-38E "Itsy Bitsy". Later he served in the South Pacific where he 
picked up his last kill making him an ace after transferring to the
49th Fighter Group. 

Although he only had 5 kills he was considered one of the more experienced 
P-38 drivers in the 5th AF. He flew with some of the most famous and high 
scoring P-38 aces of WW2 - Thomas McGuire and Jerry Johnson to name a few. 

There is a book called "Peter Three Eight," which gives a very 
good perspective of P-38 aces. Your Uncle George has several 
pages written about him. One of his feats besides becoming an 
ace was flying his P-38 from the Aleutians to San Antonio 
Texas. By today's standards that's a long and treacherous trip.

After the war, he would continue on with the newly developed USAF, 
with the 14th Fighter Group. They would be the first unit to 
receive the P-84B Thunderjet. He named his "Itsy Bitsy III". 

He would continue his career piloting the F-100 and F-104s out of George AFB and
retiring from the USAF as a Colonel in 1969. 

Butz woulb pass on in February of 1995. He had been McDonnel Douglass's advisor to 
Israel after his retirement from the Air Force.

Laven would turn out to be the last Lightning ace of WWII.

There is a story told by his relatives that he was an owner of two
DeLoreans, one which he flipped doing 100+ and walked away unscratched, 
and the other which he would sell later on in '83. 
 




http://ww2aircraft.net/forum/aviation/info-george-laven-8th-fs-49th-fg-6382.html

http://www.starduststudios.com/george-laven.html
http://wp.scn.ru/en/ww2/f/298/3/13
http://modelism.airforce.ru/gallery/nadin/p38/index.htm
http://pavlac.fr/spip.php?article263
http://www.largescaleplanes.com/kitdb/details.php?kit=820
http://www.2iemeguerre.com/avions/lockheed_p38_lightning.htm
http://www.largescaleplanes.com/reviews/review.php?rid=948
















