Ya, i wanted to say something like a captured P-51, but i'm not 100% positive that thats what it is.

It's not a P 51.
BTW I think I did the mistake of mirroring it while scanning, the antenna is on the left wing.

Bears a lot, but not all the similarities of the XP-46 and the Warhawk.... Can't pin it down as yet.

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When I finally get to Heaven, to St. Peter I will tell, "Another Marine reporting sir, I've served my time in Hell".

Upright engine rules out Me-309.
It looks for all the world like a '51 hybrid with a griffon. Aerofoils have me stumped, they look European. Fuselage and the photo itself looks American.
Is it Republic Aircraft Corp? An inline Thunderbolt?

Smaller than a Jug and the engine is a Merlin not a Griffon, it does have a P-51 look but it's nothing of the sort.

Thougt this one would be easiy despite the P51 resemblance (it did have the same engine but rounded wingtips?)

HINTS: Officially not a fighter but an advanced trainer (sic), was built as both single and two seater.

Okay ... I'll have another stab at this one.

Is it a Fiat-G59 ? The single seat version being the G59-4A and the two seat version the G59-4B ??

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When I finally get to Heaven, to St. Peter I will tell, "Another Marine reporting sir, I've served my time in Hell".

Yes it's the single seat G59 A, basically a G 55 with a Merlin, the DB engine supply ran out a bit like what happened in spain with the Hispano HA-1112). The picture came out of a set of AMI postcards.

BTW this is the pic the right way round (complete with bread crumb from my scanner near the left leg )

G-59.jpg

Got the I.D. from the two seat 4B version ... the single seat seems a lot harder to track down a picture of.

By 'bread crumb' I take it you don't mean a tantalizing clue then ?

I'm gonna go back to good old black and white for my effort ...

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When I finally get to Heaven, to St. Peter I will tell, "Another Marine reporting sir, I've served my time in Hell".

The picture has a bit of a soviet Lavochkin look, assuming they experimented with moving the radiator under the nose, but that tail weel (or is it a skid?) is something I've never seen ...

Soviet ... yes. Lavochkin ... no.
From the 'line' drawings of this plane it would appear to be a tail wheel, and not a skid ... maybe it's chocked or just a shadow?

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When I finally get to Heaven, to St. Peter I will tell, "Another Marine reporting sir, I've served my time in Hell".

I feel a clue or two may be in order ... The designer of this plane was jailed in 1938 after one of his earlier designs (not this one) suffered engine failure and crashed killing the test pilot.

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When I finally get to Heaven, to St. Peter I will tell, "Another Marine reporting sir, I've served my time in Hell".

Not much of a help, looks like half the soviet aircraft designers worked from jail .

Bartini (Beriev bureau), Polikarpov, Grigorivich and Tupolev come to mind ....

No, I've ruled out Tupolev and Bartini. If it's not Polikarpov or Grigorivich, I'm dead in the water for anyone else it could be.

MastahCheef ... You have ruled out the correct two ... The designer of the plane was a 'deputy' to one of the remaining two at the time of his imprisonment. He established his 'own' project bureau in 1941, when he developed the single seat fighter you're looking for.

__________________
When I finally get to Heaven, to St. Peter I will tell, "Another Marine reporting sir, I've served my time in Hell".

Tupolev was already "signing" his planes in the early forties. Bartini AFAIK did work with Grigorivich but still cant find any trace of our mistery plane.

I HAVE IT!!!

Yakolev Yak-1!!!

Picture of recognition: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi.../9/9f/Yak1.jpg

EDIT:

Actually, Yakolev Yak-7

Pic: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Jakowkew_Jak-7.JPG

Sorry to burst your bubble MastahCheef ... but it isn't a Yak.

If you find the man ... then you find the plane. It was originally referred to as Samolet (aircraft), but was later named after it's designer.

__________________
When I finally get to Heaven, to St. Peter I will tell, "Another Marine reporting sir, I've served my time in Hell".

HOW IS IT NOT A YAK-7? ASODMAOSDNUAWEBR

K then... made in 41, askdoawnd... IDK. Another clue plz

EDIT: Besides as a dogfighter, were their any other combat designations? Was it a two-seater?

Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-3?

I don't think it's a variation of one of the second generation water cooled engined soviet monoplanes fighters that got into production LaGG-3, MiG 1/MiG 3 and Yak 1 as all of those had ventral not nose radiators. More likely a competing design from some other team. Tupolev is best known for large planes so it could be a Bartini design, the dates for his bureau match what you said but the only Bartini fighters are can find are the much earlier earlier Stal-6 and Stal-8 designs.

Snake said I was correct when I ruled out Bartini. It can't be Illyushin, can it?

It is a Tomashevich 110

Tomashevich Aircraft

Nice detective work Jagdtiger, I read Snake's comment the wrong way round so didn't look at Polikarpov , as the man had a preference for radial engines he would probably not have been my guess anyway. This is fun, I'm certainly learning a lot about aviation history I hadn't suspected before. Keep them comming !!!

Yes indeed JagdtigerI ... very nice detective work.

That one really tested the knowledge ... over to you ...

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When I finally get to Heaven, to St. Peter I will tell, "Another Marine reporting sir, I've served my time in Hell".

Ok guys how about this one:

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