F2H-2 Banshee BuNo #123234 Photo

I happened to find this interesting early Banshee photo misfiled amongst the William Rudolph Collection of photos. It shows him standing in front of a lineup of new F2H aircraft.

I believe the BuNo is #123234. Which would make it a Marine F2H-2 of VMF-224(WK) at MCAS Cherry Point.

It is interesting in that it doesn’t say “Marines” on the aft section of the aircraft; but, has the Star and Bars there with the number “1” on the nose! Also, no tip tanks.

Note how the markings are placed on these later VMF-224 birds. First photo below from Million Monkey Theater, second photo from Shorpy