IX Tactical Air Command
Command
We are currently working on a site-wide upgrade which will be completed in September 2022
You will not be able to search, add or edit information in the American Air Museum archive while this takes place.
You can find out more about our plans here
Group
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.
Command
Wing
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...
Squadron
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 |
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....
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.
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.
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,...
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'.
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
Military | Second Lieutenant | Pilot | 50th Fighter Group
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...
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.
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.
P-47 Thunderbolt
P-47 Thunderbolt
P-47 Thunderbolt
P-47 Thunderbolt
P-47 Thunderbolt
P-47 Thunderbolt
P-47 Thunderbolt
P-47 Thunderbolt
P-47 Thunderbolt
P-47 Thunderbolt
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 | ||
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) |