50th Fighter Group | American Air Museum in Britain

Insignia of the 50th Fighter Group

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P-47 'Galveston Gal'. One of its pilots was Rex David.

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Two propellers of P-47D-10-RE (no.42-75116) at the site it crashed, near Lymington, on the 19th of April 1944. The pilot 2nd Lt. Edwin R. Johnston had been in collision with the aircraft of Capt. William R. Fleming and both crashed, Fleming was killed.

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On the 21st of September 2017 the engine was recovered from a point some 80m from the crash site. It had apparently been dug up and abandoned there, unfortunately the propellor set and possibly other items taken.

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"T/Sgt. Robert N. Nash, Rapid City, SD., installs rocket tubes onto a P-47 fighter bomber at this advanced first TAC AF fighter field in France. The tenacious, hard-hitting P-47s strafing and bombing the enemy on this front, press home the air war with triple-threat intensity vis machine gun, bomb and rockets." - P-47D 'Tish VII' W3-F 44-197?7 assigned to the 313FS, 50FG.

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"1st Lt. Francis G Tuscher (left) of Auburndale, MA., ordnance and transportation officer of a 9th Air force unit in France, supervises the operation of a hoist he made of captured German material to aid in the speedy loading of bombs on Republic P-47 Thunderbolts of the 9th. With him are Sgt George F Chase [centre] of NY City and S/Sgt Walter E Holm of Idaho Falls, ID." - P-47D coded 2N-F 81FS, 50FG, 9AF USAAF.

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Major Thomas A. Personett in his P-47 just prior to the Normandy Invasion. 313th Fighter Squadron, 50th Fighter Group

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Pilot Rex J. David. 81st Fighter Squadron. Cross City Army Air Field, circa 1943-44.

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P-47 42-25744 of the 81st Fighter Squadron, 50th Fighter Group, known as 'The Galveston Gal'.

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Before the build-up to D-Day, the group were based in the United States as part of the Fighter School Command and the Army Air Forces School of Applied Tactics. In spring 1944 though, like so many other fighter and bomb groups, the 50th Fighter Group moved to the ETO. Their new home was to be Lymington in Hampshire, southern England. From there they flew fighter sweeps and bombed targets in northern France. They were over the beaches on D-Day and on base at Carentan by 25 June 1944. Two DUCs were awarded to the group, the first for their close support of the US Seventh Army that helped the Allies breach the Siegfried Line in March 1945 and the second for inflicting heavy damage on airfields outside Munich, allowing American troops to move more swiftly through southern Germany.

Structure

Part of

IX Tactical Air Command

Command
84th Fighter Wing

Wing

Encompassing

10th Fighter Squadron

Squadron
50th Fighter Group (Special). The group moved to the European Theater of Operations in the Spring 1944 expansion of Ninth Air Force in England in preparation for Operation Overlord. It flew its first combat mission on 1 May 1944. Lymington USAAF...
313th Fighter Squadron

Squadron
81st Fighter Squadron

Squadron
Headquarters & Headquarters Squadron (50th Fighter Group)

Squadron

Previously was

Not yet known

Became

Not yet known

Stations

Station	Location	Date
Based	Lymington	5 April 1944 – 25 June 1944
Based	Carentan	25 June 1944 – 16 August 1944
Based	Meautis	16 August 1944 – 4 September 1944
Based	Orly	4 September 1944 – 28 September 1944
Based	Laon/Athies	28 September 1944 – 3 November 1944
Based	Lyon / Bron	28 September 1944
Based	Toul / Ochey	3 November 1944

Connections

People

Donald Angell

Military | Second Lieutenant | fighter pilot | 50th Fighter Group
DONALD A. ANGELL, Sr. 86, of The Villages, Florida passed away on January 18, 2008. He had been a resident of the Palm Beach Gardens area since 1968 after retiring from the US Air Force as a Major. He had resided at The Villages since September 2003....
Billy Bryan

Military | Captain | Pilot | 50th Fighter Group
Died on 2 July 1944. Bryan was on a transport flight on a UC-78 Bobcat from Carentan to Chilbolton, before going on operational leave, his aircraft experienced an engine failure, and crashed close to St Mark's Church in Ampfield, killing all on board.
Bobby Childers

Military | Major | Fighter pilot | 356th Fighter Group
Assigned to 360FS, 356FG, 8AF USAAF. Transferred to 359FS, 356FG, 8AF USAAF. Ended Tour of Duty (ETD). Awards: WWII Victory, EAME, UN and Korean medals. Post war: Served in Korean conflict rising to rank of Major.
Forrest Chilton

Military | First Lieutenant | Fighter pilot | 50th Fighter Group
Forrest Spencer Chilton III was born on December 1, 1921 in Syracuse, New York. Forrest's spent his early life with grandparents in Brooklyn, NY before his family moved to Pompton Plains, New Jersey. He attended Butler High School in Butler, NJ,...
Rex David

Military | Pilot | 50th Fighter Group
Rex David served as a pilot with the 81st Fighter Squadron of the 50th Fighter Group from Lymington, England in 1944. One of the aircraft he flew was P-47 42-25744, which he nicknamed 'The Galveston Gal'.
Walter Dyer

Military | Corporal | Mechanic | 50th Fighter Group
Assigned to 417NFS, 50FG, 12AF USAAF. Killed in crash of Bristol Beaufighter V8812, at Westerdale, Yorkshire 22-Jun-43. Killed in Action (KIA) Awards: PH
Clair Edel

Military | Second Lieutenant | Pilot | 50th Fighter Group
William Fleming

Military | Captain | Fighter pilot | 50th Fighter Group
Capt. William R. Fleming served with the 10th Fighter Squadron, flying Thunderbolts from Lymington (Stn 551). He was born on the 8th of August 1921 to William Richard Fleming senior and his wife Elizabeth (née Early). To differentiate father and son...
Dale Francis

Military | Second Lieutenant | Pilot | 50th Fighter Group
Died on 2 July 1944. Francis was on a transport flight on a UC-78 Bobcat from Carentan to Chilbolton, before going on operational leave, his aircraft experienced an engine failure, and crashed close to St Mark's Church in Ampfield, killing all on board.
Walter Hayes

Military | First Lieutenant | Pilot | 50th Fighter Group
Died on 2 July 1944. Hayes was on a transport flight on a UC-78 Bobcat from Carentan to Chilbore going on operational leave, his aircraft experienced an engine failure, and crashed close to lton, before St. Mark's Church in Ampfield, killing all on board.

Aircraft

42-25708

P-47 Thunderbolt
42-25715

P-47 Thunderbolt
42-25759

P-47 Thunderbolt
42-25766

P-47 Thunderbolt
42-25775

P-47 Thunderbolt
42-25839

P-47 Thunderbolt
42-25851

P-47 Thunderbolt
42-25866

P-47 Thunderbolt
42-25903

P-47 Thunderbolt
42-25904 Lethal Liz II

P-47 Thunderbolt

Citations

None

Date	Contributor	Update
26 July 2015 01:45:58	466thHistorian	Changes to nicknames, motto and insignia
Sources
"Battle Colors - Volume III" - Robert A. Watkins
Date	Contributor	Update
26 July 2015 01:44:22	466thHistorian	Changes to stations
Sources
466th BG Historian
Date	Contributor	Update
02 November 2014 18:35:10	jmchristel	Changes to type and aircraft types
Sources
http://www.armyaircorpsmuseum.org/50th_fighter_group.cfm
Date	Contributor	Update
27 September 2014 18:42:46	AAM	AAM ingest
Sources
Drawn from the records of the National Museum of the Mighty Eighth Air Force, Savannah, Georgia / Paul Andrews, Project Bits and Pieces, 8th Air Force Roll of Honor database / The Mighty Eighth. A History of the Units, Men and Machines of the US 8th Air Force.' by Roger A. Freeman (1989). 'Air Force Combat Units of World War II' compiled by the Department of the US Air Force, edited by Maurice Maurer (1983). / Units in the UK from ETOUSA Station List, as transcribed by Lt. Col. Philip Grinton (US Army, Retired) and extracted by IWM; air division data from L.D. Underwood, based on the 8th Air Force Strength Report of 6th August 1944, as published in 'The 8th Air Force Yearbook' by Lt. Col. John H Woolnough (1980)