Military
Earning two aerial victories, Lt. Boyd N. Adkins Jr. of Stiltner, WV, flew with the 368th Fighter Squadron, 359th Fighter Group, from September 1944 through April 1945. Photo courtesy of Marvin Boussu. Archived by Char Baldridge, Historian, 359th Fighter Group Association. Posted by Janet Fogg, Author.
Assigned to 368FS, 359FG, 8AF USAAF, and earning two aerial victories, Lt. Boyd N. Adkins Jr. of Stiltner, WV, flew 69 combat missions with the 368th FS, 359th FG, from September 1944 through April 1945. Ended Tour of Duty (ETD).
1 January 1945 mission: "On January 1st we furnished ramrod support for the 1st Force, 1st Air Division, Capt. Ralph L. Brown leading. The target was Magdeburg. Rendezvous was made by “A” Group at 1145 in vicinity of Ratzburg, but we lost the bombers at 1150 when an Me 109 attacked Lt. Billy D. Kasper. In the dog fight that followed Lt. Kasper destroyed this enemy aircraft. We followed the bomber course but were unable to pick up our assigned bombers. “B” Group made R/V with assigned bombers at 1115, East of Meldorf, but immediately lost them when the formation was attacked by two Me 262s and six+ Me 109s. Another Me 262 made a shallow diving attack at “A” group at 1200, in vicinity of Hamburg. All our ships landed safely. Capt. J.B. Hunter’s flight landed on continent at Laon/Couvron airdrome, but returned to home base same day, at which time we learned that Lt. Leonard D. Carter and F/O Boyd N. Adkins Jr. got into a “dog fight" with a FW 190 in vicinity of Havelberg, Germany at 1155. Lt. Carter attacked the enemy aircraft and observed several strikes on him, his canopy clouded up, and F/O Adkins came in and knocked the enemy aircraft down." ~ Excerpt from the 368th Fighter Squadron report dated 31 January 1945.
On 3 April 1945 Adkins was part of a friendly fire incident where yellow flight engaged and fired upon P-51s of the 3rd Scouting Force, after mistaking them for enemy aircraft.
Military | Lieutenant | Fighter Pilot | 359th Fighter Group
On his 12th operational flight on 3 April 1945, Everhart was flying as part of Yellow flight. Yellow Flight mistook friendly P-51s of the 3rd Scouting force for enemy aircraft firing upon them.
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Eighth Air Force Bomber Command became the Eighth Air Force on February 1944, it oversaw bombardment of strategic targets in Europe until 1945.
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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...
Squadron
Distinguished Unit Citation: Germany, 11 September 1944.
P-51 Mustang
Assigned to 368FS, 359FG, 8AF USAAF.
Military site : airfield
East Wretham was not improved to Class A standard. It retained its shorter runways, although eventually pierced-steel planking was laid to make take offs and landings easier for the Thunderbolt, and then Mustang, pilots. Steel matting was also laid to...
| Event | Location | Date |
|---|---|---|
| Born | Logan County, WV, USA | 8 July 1921 |
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Son of Boyd Newman and Bessie [Clark] Adkins. |
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| Lived in | Stiltner, WV 25512, USA | 1940 |
| Enlisted | Charleston, WV, USA | 17 August 1942 |
| Assigned | Wretham, Thetford, Norfolk IP24, UK | 9 August 1944 – 24 April 1945 |
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Assigned to 361FS, 359FG, 8AF USAAF. |
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| Promotion | Wretham, Thetford, Norfolk IP24, UK | 26 January 1945 |
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Promoted to 2nd Lieutenant. |
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| Promotion | Wretham, Thetford, Norfolk IP24, UK | 29 March 1945 |
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Promoted to 1st Lieutenant. |
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| End Tour of Duty (ETD) | England, UK | 24 April 1945 |
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Ended Tour of Duty (ETD). |
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| Buried | Kenova, WV, USA | November 2011 |
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Docks Creek Cemetery and Mausoleum |
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| Died | Huntington, WV, USA | 3 November 2011 |
| Date | Contributor | Update |
|---|---|---|
| 08 May 2019 18:19:56 | Janet Fogg | Changes to biography |
| Sources | ||
359th Fighter Group Association |
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| Date | Contributor | Update |
| 08 May 2019 18:16:37 | Janet Fogg | Changes to media associations |
| Sources | ||
359th Fighter Group Association |
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| Date | Contributor | Update |
| 08 May 2019 18:10:52 | Janet Fogg | Changes to biography |
| Sources | ||
359th Fighter Group archvies |
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| Date | Contributor | Update |
| 13 August 2018 11:29:01 | Emily | Changes to biography |
| Sources | ||
Information and friendly fire narrative report provided by Pyker |
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| Date | Contributor | Update |
| 26 June 2016 12:39:58 | Al_Skiff | Changes to suffix, highest rank, biography, awards, events, unit associations and place associations |
| Sources | ||
https://www.fold3.com/page/84221521_boyd_n%20adkins%20jr/details/ |
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| Date | Contributor | Update |
| 27 September 2014 18:04:45 | AAM | AAM ingest |
| Sources | ||
Drawn from the records of the National Museum of the Mighty Eighth Air Force, Savannah, Georgia / Ted Damick, VIII Fighter Command pilots list / Unit History, Jigger, Tinplate & Redcross, The 359th Fighter Group in World War Two |
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