18 Victory Ace - 2nd highest score in the 15th AF. Leading ace of the 325th FG



Col. Herschel H. Green was born on July 3, 1920, in Mayfield, Kentucky. He was introduced to flying at the young age of five after receiving a ride in a barnstormerÍs bi-plane. While attending Vanderbilt University, he enrolled in the Civilian Pilots Training Program, and earned his private pilot license in 1940. In September, 1941, he enlisted in the United States Army Air Force as an aviation cadet, and was commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant at Foster Field, Texas. He was assigned to the 57th Fighter Group at BostonÍs Bradley Field, training in the P-40 (specifications). In September, 1942, he was transferred to the 317th Fighter Squadron, 325th Fighter Group, later nicknamed the ñCheckertail Clan, at Hillsgrove, Rhode Island. The 325th FG was moved from Rhode Island to Langley Field, Virginia, in January, 1943, where the Group began training for Navy aircraft carrier takeoffs in the P-40. On January 8, 1943, the 325th FG set sail for North Africa aboard the USS Ranger (CV-4), and after taking off from the carrier, arrived at Cazes Aerodrome in Casablanca on January 19, 1943. Herschel Green flew his first combat mission on May 19, 1943, off the Italian coast, and shot down a BF-109. He was flying P-40 number 13, which was badly damaged, and the plane was later hauled away for scrap and spare parts. He was assigned to P-40 number 11, a number he kept and transferred to his P-47 (specifications) and P-51 (specifications). A few days after his first combat mission on May 19, he was promoted to Captain. While flying the P-40, he shot down a total of three enemy aircraft.

400 Rounds and Counting

In September, 1943, Captain Green transitioned to the P-47 Thunderbolt, and downed ten enemy fighters, including six on January 30, 1944. He was flying a P-47 that was assigned to Captain Bunn Hearn, Jr., as his P-47 number 11 was down for maintenance. Unaware that Captain HearnÍs P-47 was carrying 800 rounds of ammunition per gun instead of the standard 400 rounds the Group used, Captain Green broke off his attack after he began to see tracers from the guns, which normally signaled that each machine gun had 50 rounds remaining. Had he continued to fight with the remaining 3,200 plus rounds in the guns, his total enemy aircraft destroyed on the mission could have been much higher. On March 25, 1944, he became the Commanding Officer of the 317th Fighter Squadron, and in May, 1944, his squadron transitioned from the P-47 Thunderbolt to the P-51 Mustang. While flying the P-51, he shot down five enemy aircraft, and became an Ace in both the P-47 and P-51.



100 Missions

When he left the 325th FG, he was assigned to the 15th Air Force Headquarters as a Lt. Colonel, and he was the leading Ace in the Mediterranean Theatre of Operation, having flown 100 combat missions, and destroying eighteen enemy aircraft in air-to-air combat, plus ten more on the ground. After the war, he was the Deputy Commander of the 4th Fighter Group, flying the new Lockheed F-80 Shooting Star. After only eight years in the service, he was promoted to Colonel at the young age of 30. He retired from the United States Air Force on April 1, 1964, and went to work for Hughes Aircraft Company, until he retired in 1982. In 1996, he wrote his autobiographical book, Herky, the Memoirs of a Checkertail Ace. For his distinguished service to his country, Colonel Green received the Distinguished Service Cross, the Silver Star, two Distinguished Flying Crosses, Air medal with 25 oak leaf clusters, the Purple Heart, and the French Croix de Guerre with Palm.



Air to Air Victories

05/19/1943 – one ME-109 – Flying the P-40

05/28/1943 – two ME-109s – Flying the P-40

01/30/1944 – four JU-52, one MA-202, one DO-217 – Flying the P-47

03/11/1944 – one ME-109 – Flying the P-47

03/18/1944 – one ME-109 – Flying the P-47

03/29/1944 – one FW-190 – Flying the P-47

04/07/1944 – one ME-110 – Flying the P-47

06/13/1944 – one MA-202 – Flying the P-51

06/23/1944 – one ME-109 – Flying the P-51

07/09/1944 – one ME-109 – Flying the P-51

07/14/1944 – one ME-109 – Flying the P-51

08/23/1944 – one FW-190 – Flying the P-51