Clark Clemmons from Jackson Mississippi became a pilot in the USAAF via the usual route being a college freshman when he joined up and therefore eligible for the training programme. By the time he entered the fray there was little doubt about the outcome. Crossing the Atlantic at the tail end of 1944 however the threat from submarines was still very much present, the SS Queen Elizabeth with 15,000 troops on board 'doing horrible turns' and then serving kippers for breakfast! On arrival at Greenock in Scotland he was - like so many before him - sent via British Rail to Whittlesford in Cambridgeshire. Trucked to nearby RAF Duxford with three other new boys he thought they were arriving at 'a grand hotel' instead of a barracks. Two to a room with a batman to take care of their needs, even cleaning the bath after them; class A uniform required for the dining room and the anteroom like a big hotel. USAAF policy was never to put two new men into a room together but to pair the newcomer with an old hand who had lost a roommate 'gone home or disappeared'.



Assigned to 84th Squadron 15th February 1945 Clemmons - then aged 21 - was to have apparently only two rides in a P47 before the 78th FG fully converted to the P51 Mustang. He did see action over Germany engaging with jet aircraft which proved impossible to catch in the air but were vulnerable on the ground. He recalls seeing an Arado 234 - the first operational jet bomber - shadowing the attacking bomber stream and relaying the altitude to the German 88 gunners. The 78FG's principal role was still bomber escort; the huge number of bombers would have already reached the Channel before the fighter escort had finished their briefing. Clemmons quotes people on the coast saying the bomber streams would take three hours to pass over. He recalls the huge maps at briefing showing tail numbers and symbols ' because you could be an hour passing bombers till you got to the right ones' and was astonished to discover that when the bombers arrived at the IP (initial point) for the bombing run the fighters pulled away and left them to it because of the heavy flak. 'Just ride it out and watch those poor bastards'. More thrilling was the strafing and low level bombing on the way home 'flying low across the bulb fields in blossom, Dutch people waving at them'.



The first mission he flew spanned more than six hours after which he could barely stand and had to be helped out of the aircraft by the crew chief. Clemmons had enormous respect for his Crew Chief Roman Polanski 'Pollock' assigned to look after his personal P51 named 'Frances Dell'. Both pre and post mission servicing was long and arduous and Polanski was not pleased when Clemmons scrapped a rudder whilst taxiing. They made it up over a whisky; 'camaraderie between crews and pilots was outstanding'. It took a ground crew of three to service each aircraft, often working through the night to ready the plane for the next day's mission 'run the Merlins (engine) for 15 minutes or 7 hours, had to change plugs because the gas was so leaded it balled up on the plugs immediately the engine went cold.....'



By the time Clemmons came to Duxford most of the visiting celebrities had been and gone but he did recall General Woodbury, CO of the 66th Fighter Wing, coming to pin 'full eagles' on John Landers a Colonel at 24 and commander of 78th FG in February 1945. Memories of England? Springtime, the rose garden in front of the Officers' Mess, meeting the locals when cycling around. Later being astonished by the primitive council houses in London, ' loo in the back garden.......outside plumbing that froze up in winter'. On VE Day the NAAFI ran out of beer and spirits, all they had to drink in the Mess was champagne which had been shipped in dribs and drabs from the newly liberated Champagnes warehouses in Rheims. 'Had a few extra rounds that night, you were happy but you knew your life was going to change' Clemmons in his short time at Duxford with the 78th completed 17 missions prior to VE Day; he then ferried P51s to the occupation forces in Europe before returning to the USA in June 1946. After a spell at college he went on to fly with United Airlines. His personal P51 Mustang - the 'Frances Dell' was still alive and well in 2015 after performing for many years on the US airshow circuit.





Assigned to 84FS, 78FG, 8AF USSAF. Transferred to 364FS, 357FG, 8AF USAAF.