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26 April 1944
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FIGHTER ESCORT
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A mix of 554 fighters from 8th Air Force and 9th Air Force provide escort: 90 P-38s, 311 P-47s and 153 P-51s. IX Fighter Command contributes 116 aircraft to this total. No claims. Only 8th Air Force losses are included in the table. IX Fighter Command 354th Fighter Group loses 3 P-51s, pilots MIA. On P-47 from 356th Fighter Group sustained a mid-air collision and crashed at Bromeswell, UK, pilot killed, other aircraft landed safely.
Group
In August 1943, the 20th Fighter Group arrived in Clyde, Scotland, before travelling to Kings Cliffe, Northamptonshire, which was to be their base for the rest of the war. The Group flew 312 missions before their last mission on 25 April 1945. The...
Group
The 352nd Fighter Group were based at Bodney, Norfolk from July 1943 until November 1945 but in the winter months of 1944/1945 detachments moved to bases in Belgium to provide extra air support to ground forces during the Battle of the Bulge and to...
Group
The 353rd Fighter Group was assigned to the Eighth Air Force on 7 June 1943. The group flew P-47 Thunderbolts, and from October 1944, P-51 Mustangs, as escorts for bombing missions across occupied Europe and to strafe targets on the ground. Tactical...
Group
The Group moved to England in the autumn of 1943 and was assigned to the Ninth Air Force in December 1943. The Group were the first to fly P-51 Mustangs operationally and in their bomber escort missions pushed to find the long-range limits of the...
Group
Where the 353rd Fighter Group had pioneered ground strafing techniques, it was the 355th Fighter Group who destroyed more enemy aircraft by ground strafing than any other Eighth Air Force Group. Based at Steeple Morden from July 1943 to July 1945, the...
Group
The 356th Fighter Group flew 413 missions between 15 October 1943 and 7 May 1945 and suffered the highest ratio of losses to enemy aircraft claims of any Eighth Air Force Group. This gave the Group the reputation of being the 'hard luck' outfit. The...
Group
The 359th Fighter Group flew 346 missions from East Wretham between December 1943 and April 1945. In the main these missions were escorting bombers flying over occupied Europe. The Group, soon after converting from Thunderbolts to Mustangs, were...
Group
The Group trained in P-47s and moved to England in November 1943. Arriving earlier than many other Ninth Air Force fighter groups, the pilots main occupation was escort work for heavy bombers. The Group's first mission on 8 February 1944 was one...
Group
The 364th Fighter Group flew 342 missions in P-38 Lightnings and P-51 Mustangs from Honington, Suffolk. The missions ranged from escorting bombers and dive-bombing and strafing targets to area patrol missions across a swathe of land that took in France...
Group
The Group moved to England in December 1943 as part of the Ninth Air Force. Flying P-47s, the Group took part in missions over northern France designed to weaken Germany's ability to repulse the planned Allied invasion of summer 1944. After the...
Group
Some of the pilots of the 4th Fighter Group had seen many hours of combat by the time they joined the 4th Fighter Group as they had volunteered with the Royal Canadian Air Force and the Royal Air Force. The three 'Eagle Squadrons' of RAF Fighter...
Group
Flying P-47 Thunderbolts throughout their time stationed in England, the Group, known as "the Wolfpack", had more ace pilots than any other Eighth Air Force Fighter Group. The 56th Fighter Group also destroyed more enemy aircraft in air combat than any...
Group
The 78th Fighter Group was initially based at Goxhill but moved to Duxford in April 1943 and stayed there until October 1945. The 78th FG flew each of the three US built principal fighters of the AAF in the ETO. In their Thundetbolts, the 78th FG ...
| Tonnage dropped | NA |
Military | First Lieutenant | Fighter pilot | 355th Fighter Group
Assigned to 354FS, 355FG, 8AF USAAF. Credited with 3 x kills and 3 x destroyed [ground]. Failed to Return (FTR) ramrod to Brunswick shot down in P-51B 43-6948 by friendly fire from escorted B-17 bombers top turret gunner, engine hit in oil system,...
Military | Technical Sergeant | Radio Gunner | 305th Bomb Group Can Do
My dad, Enrico 'Rick' Carpini was from Linden, NJ and served as a radio gunner on a B-17G with the 305th Bomb Group/365th Bomb Squadron. He flew 30 missions from 1/4/44-5/22/44. The pilot was John F. Schleifer from Buffalo, NY.
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P-51 Mustang
Assigned to 354FS, 355FG, 8AF USAAF. Personal aircraft of Major Charles W Lenfest. Failed to Return (FTR) ramrod to Brunswick shot down by friendly fire from B-17 bomber being escorted, engine failed and A/C abandoned. Pilot Lt William P Boulet baled...
| Date | Contributor | Update |
|---|---|---|
| 11 December 2014 09:39:12 | Emily | Changes to event |
| Sources | ||
Moved pin from Brunswick, US to Braunschweig, Germany |
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| Date | Contributor | Update |
| 27 September 2014 18:43:14 | AAM | AAM ingest |
| Sources | ||
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'. |
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