RAF Fighter Sweep
26 July 1942Description
6 Spitfire VB aircraft from 31FG join with 412 (Falcon) Squadron RCAF flying from Merston on a fighter sweep over Abbeville and St. Omer, France. Lt Col Albert P. Clark, O-020218, 31FG Executive Officer flying EN784 is shot down and captured becoming the first 8th Air Force fighter pilot to become a POW.
Lieutenant Colonel Albert P Clark, Executive Officer of the 31st Fighter Group, is shot down while flying an RAF fighter on a sweep over France, thus becoming the first 8th Air Force fighter pilot to be shot down in the ETO; he survives and is taken prisoner by the Germans.
Mission Details
ABBEVILLE / SAINT-OMER / GRAVELINES
Description: FIGHTER SWEEP
Aircraft Type: Spitfire
Notes: A fighter sweep. This is the first all 8th Air Force fighter mission (Spitfires). One aircraft is listed Missing in Action (MIA), it's pilot is LT COL Albert Clark bails out and is made a POW. This is the first operation of the 31st Fighter Group since arriving in the UK in June 1942.
- Unit Hierarchy: Group
- Air Force: Eighth Air Force
- Type Category: Fighter
Mission Statistics
- Aircraft sent: 6
- Aircraft effective: 6
- Aircraft missing in action: 1
Connections
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People
- Military/Civilian/Mascot: Military
- Nationality: American
- Unit: 31st Fighter Group
- Service Numbers: O-020218
- Highest Rank: Lieutenant General
- Role/Job: Pilot
Aircraft
- Aircraft Type: Spitfire
- Unit: 309th Fighter Squadron
Revisions
THE ARMY AIR FORCES IN WORLD WAR II: COMBAT CHRONOLOGY, 1941-1945 by Carter / Mueller, the Office of Air Force History,
Lee Cunningham 19-Oct-2014 "Losses of the 8th & 9th AIr Forces" Stan Bishop & John A hey MBE.
Lee Cunningham, 8th Air Force missions research database / Stan Bishop's 'Losses of the US 8th and 9th Air Forces', the Combat Chronology of the US Army Air Forces and the work of Roger Freeman including the 'Mighty Eighth War Diary'.