357th Fighter Group
Encyclopedia
The 357th Fighter Group was an air combat unit of the United States Army Air Forces
during the Second World War. The 357th operated P-51 Mustang
aircraft as part of the U.S. Eighth Air Force
and its members were known unofficially as "The Yoxford
Boys" after a village near their base. (Group tradition holds that the name was the invention of Lord Haw Haw in a broadcast greeting the night of its arrival at RAF Leiston
.)
Its victory totals in air-to-air combat are the most of any P-51 group in the Eighth Air Force and third among all groups fighting in Europe.
The 357th flew 313 combat missions between 11 February 1944 and 25 April 1945. It is officially credited by the U.S. Air Force with having destroyed 595.5 German airplanes in the air and 106.5 on the ground. The 357th existed as a USAAF unit only during World War II and its immediate aftermath. Its history, lineage and honors were bestowed on an Ohio Air National Guard
group, but the Ohio ANG considers itself a direct descendant of the 357th FG.
s were constituted 16 December 1942, and assigned to the group.
SOURCES: Commanders, AFHRA website and Maurer Maurer; other staff and support units, Olmsted
The 357th remained at Hamilton Field, while its squadrons were activated and personnel and equipment acquired. Cadre for the new group were drawn from the 328th Fighter Group, already at Hamilton. Two of the three designated squadron commanders had served in the Philippines during the first days of the war, Major Hubert Egnes with the 17th Pursuit Squadron, and Captain Varian White with the 20th Pursuit Squadron, and both had air-to-air victories over Japanese aircraft.
On 3 March 1943, the group moved by rail to Tonopah
, Nevada, where it remained until 3 June. At Tonopah the members lived in and worked under primitive conditions, described as "tar-paper shacks", and without enclosed hangar maintenance facilities. They inherited much-used P-39 Airacobra fighters from the 354th Fighter Group, training at Tonopah preceding them, and immediately began a regimen of six-day work weeks with six sortie
s a day practicing air-to-air combat, bombing, and strafing maneuvers. While adequately powered at low altitudes and suited for close support operations, the P-39 was prone to stall
s at higher altitudes. Three pilots and a flight surgeon
died in training accidents while at Tonopah, including Captain White, who was replaced by Major Thomas Hayes, another veteran of the early Pacific campaign.
In June the group entered its next training phase, changing stations to Santa Rosa Army Air Field
, California (the 362 FS was based at nearby Hayward
). There the group continued training on P-39s, flying bomber escort and coastal patrol practice missions. On 7 July 1943, a mid-air collision occurred between two P-39s, killing both pilots including Captain Clay Davis, commander of the 363 FS. On the same date the group commander, Lt.Col. Stetson, relinquished command, and sources who were present at the time are contradictory about a possible connection: Olmsted states that Stetson was sent overseas to command a fighter group; Yeager states he was relieved of command for the high death rate in training. Thirteen pilots and a flight surgeon died in P-39 training accidents in the United States, and numerous aircraft were lost or heavily damaged in non-fatal accidents.
The 357th received an influx of 60 new pilots and moved again, to bases at Oroville
and Marysville
, California in August 1943. It entered its final phase of training on 28 September with the squadrons redeploying to Second Air Force
bases at Pocatello
, Idaho; Casper
, Wyoming; and Ainsworth
, Nebraska, respectively, where they engaged in large-formation mock interceptor missions against bomber groups in training. On 24 October after a final tactical inspection, the group was declared ready for overseas deployment. Beginning 3 November, the 357th turned in its P-39s and entrained for Camp Shanks
, New York, where the entire group staged for embarkation aboard the RMS Queen Elizabeth
, departing New York City on 23 November 1943. Debarking at Greenock
, Scotland, on 29 November, the group immediately moved by train to its base in Suffolk
.
as a P-51 tactical air support unit. It moved into its base at RAF Raydon
on 30 November 1943. It had no aircraft until 19 December, when the it received a former Mustang III
of RAF Fighter Command
, hastily repainted in U.S. olive drab. By the end of the year the 357th received 15 Mustangs, severely restricting conversion training for the pilots, and some made the transition by ferrying in new aircraft. All but a handful gained flying experience in the new aircraft only by flying combat operations.
This handful, consisting of group and squadron commanders and proposed flight leaders, made approximately a dozen sorties on escort missions with the 354th Fighter Group, which had been flying combat only since 1 December. Pilots from both units learned that the P-51s still had maintenance flaws to be worked out, primarily in guns that jammed in maneuvering and engines that overheated from loss of coolant
, and the commanding officer of the 363 FS was shot down on a mission while flying with the 354th Fighter Group on 25 January 1944.
The need for a long-range escort fighter
had resulted in a decision to give the Eighth Air Force a priority for the Mustang, reversing the earlier allocation of these groups to the Ninth for tactical support of Allied ground operations in France. The 357th was re-assigned to VIII Fighter Command in exchange for a P-47
group that had already begun combat operations, and at the end of January, changed bases with the 358th Fighter Group, moving to its permanent base at RAF Leiston
on 31 January.
, Germany, and lost a pilot killed in action.
The first group mission, led by Medal of Honor
-recipient Major James H. Howard
of the 354th FG, was an escort mission for B-24
's bombing V-1
sites in the Pas de Calais. The new commander of the 4th Fighter Group
, Lt.Col. Don Blakeslee, led two similar missions on 12 and 13 February, with the first combat loss occurring on the 13th. The 357th changed commanders on the 17th, its former commander Col. Chickering moving up to a staff position in the Ninth Air Force, and its new CO Col. Spicer the former executive officer of the 66th Fighter Wing.
The groups' fourth combat mission was its first over Germany, at the start of the coordinated strategic bombing attacks against the Luftwaffe and the German aircraft industry that came to be called the "Big Week
." The 357th flew all five days, losing eight Mustangs in combat but recording its first 22 aerial victories. Attacks intensified as Berlin was bombed by the USAAF for the first time in March, with the group shooting down 20 fighters during the first major raid on 6 March. The 364th Fighter Squadron led the group in aerial victories, with 32 by the end of March, and with two pilots claiming ace status on 16 March.
In its first month of operations, the 357th flew 15 missions, losing 14 P-51s but credited with 59 kills. On an escort mission to Bordeaux
, France, on 5 March, the 357th lost two aircraft. Group commander Col. Henry Spicer was captured while the French Resistance
aided Flight Officer Charles E. Yeager
in evading capture for 25 days. He successfully escaped to Spain, where he remained six weeks before being returned to Allied control.
The initial group of P-51B aircraft received by the 357 FG were finished in factory-applied olive drab with gray lower surfaces. The USAAF in a major policy change had ended this specification on all aircraft produced after 13 February 1944.
The 357th applied field camouflage to its replacement P-51C (beginning in March) and P-51D (beginning in June) fighters until December 1944, with most receiving an overall coat of "RAF green" (a shade similar to olive drab) with gray undersurfaces, but a prominent minority being bare metal with olive drab tails and upper surfaces. This practice distinguished 357th Mustangs from those of the other Eighth Air Force groups until 1945 when the camouflage was phased out.
In February 1944, VIII Fighter Command assigned the 357th Fighter Group two-letter squadron identification codes to be painted on the fuselages of its fighters, and each squadron assigned its aircraft individual letter identifiers. The Eighth Air Force had in January given veteran units permission to use brightly-colored spinner
s and identification bands on the engine cowl
s of their fighters. In late March, the 66th Fighter Wing adopted colored spinners and a checkerboard
paint scheme to be painted as an identifying cowl band on the noses of its aircraft, with each of its five groups assigned a different color. These bands were 12 inches (304.8 mm) wide with six-inch (152 mm) squares. The 357th's group nose colors were red and yellow, and many nose art
names were also painted in matching colors. In late 1944 the 357th began to discontinue the use of olive drab camouflage and adopted a color system painted on the tail rudders of its Mustangs to identify the squadron.
On 23 April 1944, VIII Fighter Command changed its system of radio call sign
s to reduce confusion when the fighter groups, now numbering a hundred or more fighters in their inventories, deployed two groups on escort missions ("A group" and "B Group"). Station call signs (RAF Leiston's was EARLDUKE) were unchanged, but all previous call signs were discontinued. In 1945 provision was also made for a C Group on missions (usually only eight to 12 fighters) and all fighters assigned to a C Group mission used the common call sign.
Like all Allied aircraft flying over the continent, the 357th applied alternating 18 inches (457.2 mm), black and white bands, known as "invasion stripes", to the rear fuselage and wings of its fighters just prior to D-Day
. It retained the lower wing stripes and lower portion of the rear fuselage until the end of 1944, when most invasion stripes were deleted.
SOURCES: The basic source is Freeman, but Olmsted and Little Friends website have identical data
Because of the extended range of the P-51, the primary mission of the 357th continued to be heavy bomber escort. On 11 April 1944, 917 heavy bombers and 819 escort fighters of the Eighth Air Force attacked aviation industry targets in Saxony-Anhalt
resulting in a severe fighter reaction by the Jagdverbände. A total of 64 bombers were shot down in one of the heaviest losses to the Eighth, but strong escort support kept the losses from being worse. Three Mustangs from the 364th Fighter Squadron were also shot down but the group as a whole was credited with 23 of the 51 aerial victories scored. Another 22 were credited during the 24 April operations against Bavaria
n airfields and aircraft factories, with 70 total for the month resulting in eight additional aces in the group. While scoring 174 kills in April and May 1944, the 357th also lost 33 Mustangs.
Beginning in late February 1944, Eighth Air Force fighter units began systematic strafing attacks on German airfields that picked up in frequency and intensity throughout the spring (as example, on the above mentioned missions VIII Fighter Command scored 130 strafing kills in addition to 109 aerial victories) with the objective of gaining air supremacy over the Normandy
battlefield. In general these were conducted by units returning from escort missions, but many groups also were assigned airfield attacks instead of bomber support. On 21 May, these attacks were expanded to include railways, locomotive
s and rolling stock
used by the Germans for movements of matériel and troops in missions dubbed "Chattanooga
", . The 357th lost two of its aces in combat when their Mustangs were shot down by flak.
On D-Day
, the group flew eight missions and nearly 130 sorties, and, thereafter, multiple daily missions over the beachhead. The group also performed its first bombing missions using the Mustang in June. It encountered few German aircraft during the month until 29 June, when on a mission to Leipzig
it shot down 20. For its actions over Berlin on 6 March and the Leipzig mission the group was awarded a Distinguished Unit Citation.
The 357th also began receiving new P-51D Mustangs as replacement aircraft but many pilots preferred the earlier B models still prevalent in the group as being more maneuverable and better-powered at high altitude. By the end of June 1944, the 357th had claimed 283 German aircraft shot down and counted 26 pilots recognized as aces. Losses over its initial four months of combat amounted to 27 killed or missing in action, 30 captured and 72 P-51s destroyed.
of British design, reached the 357th for replacement of the existing N-3B reflector sight
s in the P-51B and C. The K-14 allowed for rapid, accurate lead
-computing of up to 90° deflection
by analog computer
with pilot inputs through hand controls. However, the sights were sized for the cockpits of older Mustangs, now constituting less than a third of the 357th's strength. Group commander Col. Donald Graham directed the 469th Service Squadron to mount a K-14 in his assigned P-51D (44-13388 B6-W Bodacious) to replace its N-9 reflector sight, using bracing and panel cutouts to form a recess. Testing the sights in combat in September, the K-14 proved so effective that Graham offered the installation method to other Eighth Air Force groups for retro-fitting the gunsight into all D-model Mustangs in the field, with the 357th method adopted in March 1945 by the Eighth Air Force Modification Center.
The 357th flew escort for the second shuttle-bombing mission by the Eighth Air Force, "Frantic V", on 6 August 1944. Escorting two B-17 groups of the 13th Combat Bomb Wing to bomb a Focke-Wulf
manufacturing plant in Rahmel
, West Prussia, 64 Mustangs of the group continued on to the Soviet Union, landing at Piryatin airfield, a P-39/Yak-3
fighter strip southeast of Kiev
, Ukraine, while the bombers, carrying 357th maintenance crews, continued further east to Mirgorod. The next day, the Mustangs escorted the B-17s against synthetic oil production plants in Trzebinia
, Poland, returning to Piryatin, and on the 8th, escorted them to Foggia
, Italy, bombing Romania
n airfields en route. Temporarily based at San Severo
with the 31st Fighter Group, the 357th supported a C-47
mission to Yugoslavia
on 10 August to evacuate Allied evaders and escaped POWs. On 12 August 1944, the entire Frantic force returned to England, attacking German lines of communication in Toulouse
, France, as part of the preparation for the invasion of Southern France
.
Large-scale combat between VIII Fighter Command and the Luftwaffe interceptor force had become virtually nonexistent after 28 May 1944 but, in August, contact was made for the first time with both rocket-propelled
and jet-propelled interceptors
. While themselves a harbinger of a tactical change by the Luftwaffe, the contacts also indicated that the Germans were husbanding their fighter aircraft for sporadic reaction against Allied bomber attacks. The 357th, escorting B-17s against oil targets near Munich
, encountered one such reaction on 13 September, engaging 75 Messerschmitt Bf 109
s and claiming 15 shot down, but losing five Mustangs.
On 15 September, operational control of VIII Fighter Command's three fighter wings was placed directly under the headquarters of the bomb divisions, removing a layer of command, with a wing controlled by each division. After this date, the 357th Fighter Group's primary duty was protection of the B-17s of the 3rd Bomb Division based in East Anglia
. In September, the simplified mission planning, along with the adoption of the K-14 gyro sight and the issuance of air-inflatable Berger G-suit
to pilots came at a time when numerous veteran pilots were completing their combat tours. Although a significant number of aces opted to fly second tours after taking leave in the United States, these innovations helped the group absorb the pilot turnover without significant loss of combat efficiency.
The Luftwaffe also reacted with a massed response against the airborne invasion of Holland
. On the afternoon of 18 September, German fighters attacked a large re-supply effort of Arnhem
by Eighth Air Force B-24
bombers. The 357th intercepted a force of 60 Bf 109s near Maastricht
, claiming 26 destroyed.The next afternoon the Allies used over 600 transports for airlift in marginal weather conditions, some of which were attacked by numerous German fighters, including Bf 109s of Jadgeschwader
s (fighter wings) 11 and 26. The 357th "bounced" the interceptors as they left the battlefield northeast of Arnhem, shooting down 25 (although five were not credited until after the war when repatriated POWs were debriefed). Against their 51 claims, the 357th lost seven Mustangs, with three pilots killed and three captured.
Air-to-air contacts declined in the following month, but one notable combat occurred during an escort mission to Bremen
on 12 October 1944, when 1st Lt. Chuck Yeager
claimed five German fighters to become an "Ace in a day", and the group scored its 400th kill. Yeager had been with the group since its inception but had only been credited with 1.5 kills to that point. Assigned as mission leader, Yeager observed 22 Bf 109s of III./JG 26 crossing his flight path at the same altitude and attacked. Yeager's feat was unique in that the first two German pilots abandoned their aircraft as he closed the range but before he opened fire.
On 6 November 1944, Yeager also claimed one of the first Me 262
jet aircraft shot down, when after a series of skirmishes with three jets in thick haze over Osnabrück
, he encountered one attempting a landing and blew off its wing. Two days later, 357th pilots again engaged the Kommando Nowotny
. 1st Lt. Edward R. "Buddy" Haydon shared a jet credit in which the German commander, Major Walter Nowotny
, was killed, and 1st Lt. James W. Kenney shot down Hauptmann
Franz Schall
.
The Jagdverbände made three concerted attempts to attack Eighth Air Force bombers between 21 and 27 November 1944, and on the last generated an estimated 750 fighter sorties, the largest defensive reaction of the war. The three fighter wings of the Eighth used a tactical ruse to score a significant victory. Assigning 13 groups to a fighter-bomber mission, P-51s and P-47s simulated heavy bomber formations
while other P-51s flew escort patterns above them. The resulting radar
contact triggered the heavy fighter reaction near Magdeburg
, and the force was directed towards them by a microwave early warning
(MEW) site ("Nuthouse") at Gulpen
, Netherlands.
In the 66th Fighter Wing, the 353d and 357th Fighter Groups engaged approximately 200 Fw 190
s of JG 300 and JG 301, with the 353d downing 22 and the 357th, 30 in the ensuing combats. Captain Leonard K. "Kit" Carson, on the 38th mission of his second tour and having nine previous credits, became the second 357th pilot to become an "ace in a day", while Yeager and Capt John B. England
claimed four kills each. One week later, on 5 December, the 357th escorted 3rd Division bombers to Berlin and encountered 100 more German fighters, claiming 22 against a loss of two.
and the 357th as a whole shot down 30 more, losing three including a P-51 that collided with a 55th Fighter Group Mustang.
In the first two weeks of January 1945 the 357th along with all Eighth Air Force groups supported bomber attacks against German ground transportation during the Allied counter-offensive in the Ardennes, strafing ground targets daily. However, on 14 January, strategic bombing resumed with attacks on oil installations near Berlin. The 357th was tasked with protecting 3rd Air Division B-17s, employing a variation of the escort tactic called the "Zemke Fan", designed to lure in interceptors. Sending 66 Mustangs including spares, the 364 FS led the mission flying ahead of the bombers at 26000 feet (7,924.8 m), the 362nd flew close escort over the lead combat box
of bombers while the 363d flew farther back over the third box at higher altitude.
Near Brandenburg
, the 357th observed the contrails of more than 200 fighters approaching the lead bomber combat box from the southeast. The heavily-armored "sturmgruppen" Fw 190s of II/JG 300 attacked the B-17s in "company front" formations of eight abreast, while a protective force of 100 Bf 109s of JG 300's other three gruppen attempted to cover them from 32,000. The 364 FS attacked and broke up the sturmgruppen formations, which were pursued by the trailing 363rd FS. The German top cover attempted to enter the mêlée and were intercepted by the 362 FS, quickly joined by the 364th. The 30-minute battle resulted in 56.5 German fighters claimed as shot down, by far the largest single day kill of the war by an Eighth Air Force group.
Including the victories of group staff flying with various squadrons, the 364th is credited with 23.5 kills, the 362d with 20, and the 363rd with 12. Ironically, two of the most prolific aces of the 363rd FS, Capt. Bud Anderson
and Capt. Chuck Yeager, had been assigned to the mission but scored no kills. On the last mission of their second tours, they were sent as spares and broke away before contact to make an impromptu farewell tour of Europe that included buzz
ing neutral Switzerland and Paris, France. Even so, the mission resulted in five more aces for the 357th (Dregne, Evans, Maxwell, Sublett and Weaver) and immediate recognition of the feat by Eighth Air Force commanding General Jimmy Doolittle
. The group received its second Distinguished Unit Citation for the mission.
In the four major combats of 27 November, 2 December, 24 December and 14 January, the 357th Fighter Group claimed 137.5 aircraft against a loss of nine Mustangs. The 357th had two more large-scale engagements with German fighters before the end of the war. On 2 March 1945, escorting B-17s to Ruhland
, the group encountered its frequent foes JGs 300 and 301 a final time, shooting down 14 and losing one Mustang. On the way back to base, strafing airfields, the group had an additional four P-51s shot down by flak, with two pilots killed. On 24 March, flying an area patrol near Gütersloh
to protect the Allied airborne crossing of the Rhine
, it encountered 20 Bf 109s of JG 27
and shot down 16 without loss.
The Jagdverbände, severely depleted, turned to jet interceptions beginning 9 February 1945, in an attempt to stop the onslaught of Allied heavy bombers. The Allies countered by flying combat air patrol
missions over German airfields, intercepting the Me 262s and Ar 234
s as they took off and landed. The tactic resulted in increasing numbers of jets shot down and controlled the dangerous situation, particularly as the amount of German-controlled territory shrank daily. The 357th claimed an additional 12.5 jets destroyed during this period to total 18.5 for the war, and destroyed three others on the ground. The 357th flew its 313th and final combat mission on 25 April 1945, without contact or loss.
A total of 128 P-51s were lost in combat by the 357th Fighter Group. Sixty pilots were killed
or missing in action
, 54 were made prisoners of war with two of those dying in captivity and 13 evaded capture to return to duty.(The additional two casualties were a pilot killed and a squadron commander made POW while flying with the 354th FG in January 1944). Three other pilots landed in neutral territory
and were interned
.
Twenty-six Mustangs were destroyed in operational and training accidents in the UK, as was an AT-6
. A total of 13 pilots and a mechanic were killed, three of whom died after cessation of combat operations.
Of the 128 combat losses, 38 were attributed to attack by German fighters, 29 to flak, ten to mid-air collisions, 21 to mechanical causes (mostly engine failure), five to friendly fire
, five to bad weather and 20 to causes not determined.
The first aerial victory by a 357th pilot occurred 20 February 1944, with the downing of an Me-109
by 1st Lt. Calvert L. Williams, 362d Fighter Squadron, flying P-51B 43-6448 (G4-U Wee Willie). The final victory was an Me-262
shot down on 19 April 1945, by 2d Lt James P. McMullen, 364th Fighter Squadron.
The 357th Fighter Group had 609½ claims credited by the Eighth Air Force for German aircraft destroyed in air-to-air combat. U.S. Air Force Historical Study No. 85 recognizes 595.49 aerial victories for the 357th. This total is the third highest among USAAF fighter groups in the ETO
(behind the 354th and 56th Fighter Groups), the second highest among Eighth Air Force groups, and the highest among the 14 P-51 groups of VIII Fighter Command. Eighth Air Force also credited the 357th Fighter Group with 106½ German aircraft destroyed on the ground, making an overall total of 701.99, which is sixth among all Eighth Air Force fighter groups. Of the air-to-air totals, 18½ were Me-262 jets, the most destroyed in aerial combat by any USAAF group.
Among the various units of the 357th, the 364th Fighter Squadron had the most victories with 70 pilots credited with 212 kills. The 362d Fighter Squadron was credited with 198 kills by 63 pilots, the 363d Fighter Squadron with 154.99 kills by 50 pilots, and group headquarters with 30.5 kills by nine pilots.
Counting only air-to-air victories registered while with the group (therefore discounting air-to-ground claims), the 357th had 42 pilots become ace
s, the most of any ETO fighter group (the 354th Fighter Group of the Ninth Air Force
also had 42, the 56th Fighter Group had 39 and the 4th Fighter Group
32 by the same criteria).
SOURCE: Olmsted 1994, p. 148. He in turn used AF Historical Study 85
¹Totals include one Me 262 jet shot down
²Totals include two Me 262 jets shot down
in Bavaria as part of the Four-Power Occupation Force
, and was inactivated there in 1946.
The 357th Fighter Group was re-designated the 121st Fighter Group on 21 August 1946, a unit allocated to the OHANG in 1947. The official site of the Ohio Air National Guard
notes that the OHANG is "descended from the 357th Fighter Group".
Old Crow (P-51D-10-NA 44-14450 B6-S), 363rd Fighter Squadron, survived World War II and is now in private ownership in Sweden. Originally the Mustang flew in olive drab camouflage, but in late 1944, was stripped to a bare metal finish, although its black-and-white "invasion stripes" remained on the bottom of the rear fuselage. The plane has been restored by its owner in its OD paint scheme and is based in Belgium.
A number of private owners of P-51s have restored their Mustangs in 357th livery for display at air shows and private exhibitions. Most are P-51Ds produced too late to see combat and declared surplus, or models that served in the Royal Canadian Air Force
in the 1950s, although the Mustang restored as Frenesi was first an F-6K photographic reconnaissance model. Among Mustangs restored to resemble 357th aircraft are:
¹OD=Olive Drab NMF=Natural Metal Finish
United States Army Air Forces
The United States Army Air Forces was the military aviation arm of the United States of America during and immediately after World War II, and the direct predecessor of the United States Air Force....
during the Second World War. The 357th operated P-51 Mustang
P-51 Mustang
The North American Aviation P-51 Mustang was an American long-range, single-seat fighter and fighter-bomber used during World War II, the Korean War and in several other conflicts...
aircraft as part of the U.S. Eighth Air Force
Eighth Air Force
The Eighth Air Force is a numbered air force of the United States Air Force Global Strike Command . It is headquartered at Barksdale Air Force Base, Louisiana....
and its members were known unofficially as "The Yoxford
Yoxford
Yoxford is a village in the east of Suffolk, England close to the Heritage Coast, Minsmere Reserve , Aldeburgh and Southwold.-Location and features:...
Boys" after a village near their base. (Group tradition holds that the name was the invention of Lord Haw Haw in a broadcast greeting the night of its arrival at RAF Leiston
RAF Leiston
RAF Leiston is a former airfield in the United Kingdom. The airfield is located northwest of Leiston and south of Theberton in Suffolk.-USAAF use:...
.)
Its victory totals in air-to-air combat are the most of any P-51 group in the Eighth Air Force and third among all groups fighting in Europe.
The 357th flew 313 combat missions between 11 February 1944 and 25 April 1945. It is officially credited by the U.S. Air Force with having destroyed 595.5 German airplanes in the air and 106.5 on the ground. The 357th existed as a USAAF unit only during World War II and its immediate aftermath. Its history, lineage and honors were bestowed on an Ohio Air National Guard
Ohio Air National Guard
The Ohio Air National Guard is a part of the United States National Guard and an Air Reserve Component of the United States Air Force. It is composed of approximately 5,000 airmen and officers assigned to four flying wings and eight non-flying support units. OHANG units are based in Columbus,...
group, but the Ohio ANG considers itself a direct descendant of the 357th FG.
Lineage
- Constituted as 357th Fighter Group on 1 December 1942 and activated the same day.
- Inactivated in Germany on 20 August 1946
- Redesignated 121st Fighter Group. Allotted to ANG (Ohio) on 21 August 1946
Assignments
- IV Fighter CommandIV Fighter CommandThe IV Fighter Command is an inactive United States Air Force unit. It was last assigned to Fourth Air Force, based at Oakland Airport, California...
, 1 December 1942 - 72d Fighter Wing72d Fighter WingThe 72d Fighter Wing is an inactive United States Air Force unit. Its last was assigned to the Second Air Force, stationed at Colorado Springs Army Air Base, Colorado...
, 7 October – 9 November 1943 - 66th Fighter Wing66th Fighter Wing (World War II)The 66th Fighter Wing is an inactive United States Air Force organization. Its last assignment was with the VIII Fighter Command, being stationed at RAF Troston, England...
, 31 January 1944
- Attached to: 1st Bombardment (later Air) Division, 15 September 1943 – 8 July 1945
- XII Fighter Command, 21 July 1945 – 20 August 1946
Components
- 362d Fighter Squadron162d Fighter SquadronThe 162d Fighter Squadron flies the F-16C/D Fighting Falcon. It is a unit of the Ohio Air National Guard. Its parent unit is the 178th Fighter Wing.-Mission:As of 2008 the 162d Fighter Squadron , is equipped with F-16 aircraft...
: (G4) 1 December 1942 – 20 August 1946 - 363d Fighter Squadron164th Airlift SquadronThe 164th Airlift Squadron flies the C-130 Hercules. It is a unit of the Ohio Air National Guard. Its parent unit is the 179th Airlift Wing.-Major Command:*Air National Guard/Air Mobility Command...
: (B6) 1 December 1942 – 20 August 1946 - 364th Fighter Squadron166th Air Refueling SquadronThe 166th Air Refueling Squadron flies the KC-135R Stratotanker. It is a unit of the Ohio Air National Guard. Its parent unit is the 121st Air Refueling Wing.-History:...
: (C5) 1 December 1942 – 20 August 1946
Stations
- Hamilton Field, California, 1 December 1942
- Tonopah Army Airfield, NevadaNevadaNevada is a state in the western, mountain west, and southwestern regions of the United States. With an area of and a population of about 2.7 million, it is the 7th-largest and 35th-most populous state. Over two-thirds of Nevada's people live in the Las Vegas metropolitan area, which contains its...
, 4 March 1943 - Santa Rosa Army Airfield, California, 3 June 1943
- Oroville Army Airfield, California, 18 August 1943
- Casper Army Airfield, WyomingWyomingWyoming is a state in the mountain region of the Western United States. The western two thirds of the state is covered mostly with the mountain ranges and rangelands in the foothills of the Eastern Rocky Mountains, while the eastern third of the state is high elevation prairie known as the High...
, 7 October – 9 November 1943 - RAF RaydonRAF RaydonRAF Raydon is a former United States Army Air Force station in England. It is located just to the northeast of the village of Raydon, about 6 miles from Ipswich on the B1070 in Suffolk.-Origins:...
(USAAF Station 157), England, 30 November 1943 - RAF LeistonRAF LeistonRAF Leiston is a former airfield in the United Kingdom. The airfield is located northwest of Leiston and south of Theberton in Suffolk.-USAAF use:...
(USAAF Station 373), England, 31 January 1944 – 8 July 1945 - Fliegerhorst Neubiberg (ALG R-85), Germany, 21 July 1945 – 20 August 1946.
357th FG command staff
| Group Commanders | Dates of command | Casualty Status |
| Lt.Col. Loring G. Stetson, Jr. | 16 December 1942 – 7 July 1943 | |
| Lt.Col. Edwin S. Chickering | 7 July 1943 – 17 February 1944 | |
| Col. Henry R. Spicer | 17 February 1944 – 5 March 1944 | Prisoner of war Prisoner of war A prisoner of war or enemy prisoner of war is a person, whether civilian or combatant, who is held in custody by an enemy power during or immediately after an armed conflict... |
| Col. Donald W. Graham | 7 March 1944 – 11 October 1944 | |
| Lt.Col. John D. Landers | 12 October 1944 – 2 December 1944 | |
| Lt.Col. Irwin H. Dregne | 2 December 1944 – 21 July 1945 | |
| Lt.Col. Andrew J. Evans | 21 July 1945 – 20 November 1945 | |
| Lt.Col. Wayne E. Rhynard | 20 November 1945 – 1 April 1946 | |
| Col. Barton M. Russell | 1 April 1946 – 20 August 1946 | |
| Deputy Group Commanders | Dates of service | Casualty Status |
| unknown | 16 December 1942 – 27 September 1943 | |
| Lt.Col. Donald W. Graham | 27 September 1943 – 7 March 1944 | |
| Lt.Col. Hubert I. Egnes | 7 March 1944 – 28 March 1944 | Killed in action Killed in action Killed in action is a casualty classification generally used by militaries to describe the deaths of their own forces at the hands of hostile forces. The United States Department of Defense, for example, says that those declared KIA need not have fired their weapons but have been killed due to... |
| Lt.Col. Thomas L. Hayes | 28 March 1944–unknown | |
| Lt.Col. John D. Landers | unknown–12 October 1944 | |
| Lt.Col. Irwin H. Dregne | 12 October 1944 – 2 December 1944 | |
| Lt.Col. Andrew J. Evans | 2 December 1944 – 21 July 1945 | |
| Operations Officers (S-3s) | Dates of service | Casualty Status |
| Major Donald W. Graham | 16 December 1942 – 27 September 1943 | |
| unknown | 27 September 1943– | |
| Lt.Col. Thomas L. Hayes, Jr. | 14 August 1944– |
Squadron commanders
Three fighter squadronSquadron (aviation)
A squadron in air force, army aviation or naval aviation is mainly a unit comprising a number of military aircraft, usually of the same type, typically with 12 to 24 aircraft, sometimes divided into three or four flights, depending on aircraft type and air force...
s were constituted 16 December 1942, and assigned to the group.
| 362d Fighter Squadron | Dates of command | Casualty Status |
| Lt.Col. Hubert I. Egnes | 16 December 1942 – 10 March 1944 | Killed in action Killed in action Killed in action is a casualty classification generally used by militaries to describe the deaths of their own forces at the hands of hostile forces. The United States Department of Defense, for example, says that those declared KIA need not have fired their weapons but have been killed due to... |
| Major Joseph E. Broadhead | 10 March 1944 – 25 August 1944 | |
| Major John B. England John B. England John Brooke England was a World War II fighter ace in the 357th Fighter Group and a career fighter pilot in the United States Air Force.-Biography:... |
25 August 1944 – 8 April 1945 | |
| Major Leonard K. Carson | 8 April 1945 – 1 November 1945 | |
| Captain Robert D. Brown | 1 November 1945– | |
| 363d Fighter Squadron | Dates of command | Casualty Status |
| Capt. Stuart R. Lauler | 8 January 1943 – 20 May 1943 | |
| Capt. Clay R. Davis | 20 May 1943 – 7 July 1943 | Killed in training accident |
| Major Donald W. Graham | −27 September 1943 | |
| 1st Lt. Wesley S. Mink | 27 September 1943 – November 1943 | |
| Capt. Joseph H. Giltner, Jr. | November 1943–25 January 1944 | Prisoner of war |
| Major Montgomery H. Throop, Jr. | 25 January 1944 – June 1944 | |
| Major Edwin W. Hiro | June 1944–20 September 1944 | Killed in action |
| Lt.Col. Guernsey I. Carlisle | 20 September 1944 – January 1945 | |
| Major Donald C. McGee | January 1945 – February 1945 | |
| Major Donald H. Bochkay | February 1945– | |
| 364th Fighter Squadron | Dates of command | Casualty Status |
| Capt. Varian K. White | 16 December 1942 – 18 May 1943 | Killed in training accident |
| Major Thomas L. Hayes, Jr. | 22 May 1943 – 14 August 1944 | |
| Major John A. Storch | 14 August 1944 – May 1945 | |
| Major Donald C. McGee | May 1945– |
Non-component support organizations
- 50th Service Group headquarters and detachment
- 469th Service Squadron
- 70th Station Complement
- 1177th Quartermaster Company (detachment)
- 1076th Signal Company (detachment)
- 1260th Military Police Company (platoon)
- 1600th Ordnance Company (detachment)
- 18th Weather Squadron (detachment)
- 2121st Engineering Firefighting Platoon
SOURCES: Commanders, AFHRA website and Maurer Maurer; other staff and support units, Olmsted
Training history and movement overseas
On 3 March 1943, the group moved by rail to Tonopah
Tonopah, Nevada
Tonopah is a census-designated place located in and the county seat of Nye County, Nevada. It is located at the junction of U.S. Routes 6 and 95 approximately mid-way between Las Vegas and Reno....
, Nevada, where it remained until 3 June. At Tonopah the members lived in and worked under primitive conditions, described as "tar-paper shacks", and without enclosed hangar maintenance facilities. They inherited much-used P-39 Airacobra fighters from the 354th Fighter Group, training at Tonopah preceding them, and immediately began a regimen of six-day work weeks with six sortie
Sortie
Sortie is a term for deployment or dispatch of one military unit, be it an aircraft, ship, or troops from a strongpoint. The sortie, whether by one or more aircraft or vessels, usually has a specific mission....
s a day practicing air-to-air combat, bombing, and strafing maneuvers. While adequately powered at low altitudes and suited for close support operations, the P-39 was prone to stall
Stall (flight)
In fluid dynamics, a stall is a reduction in the lift coefficient generated by a foil as angle of attack increases. This occurs when the critical angle of attack of the foil is exceeded...
s at higher altitudes. Three pilots and a flight surgeon
Flight surgeon
A flight surgeon is a military medical officer assigned to duties in the clinical field variously known as aviation medicine, aerospace medicine, or flight medicine...
died in training accidents while at Tonopah, including Captain White, who was replaced by Major Thomas Hayes, another veteran of the early Pacific campaign.
In June the group entered its next training phase, changing stations to Santa Rosa Army Air Field
Santa Rosa, California
Santa Rosa is the county seat of Sonoma County, California, United States. The 2010 census reported a population of 167,815. Santa Rosa is the largest city in California's Wine Country and fifth largest city in the San Francisco Bay Area, after San Jose, San Francisco, Oakland, and Fremont and 26th...
, California (the 362 FS was based at nearby Hayward
Hayward, California
Hayward is a city located in the East Bay in Alameda County, California. With a population of 144,186, Hayward is the sixth largest city in the San Francisco Bay Area and the third largest in Alameda County. Hayward was ranked as the 37th most populous municipality in California. It is included in...
). There the group continued training on P-39s, flying bomber escort and coastal patrol practice missions. On 7 July 1943, a mid-air collision occurred between two P-39s, killing both pilots including Captain Clay Davis, commander of the 363 FS. On the same date the group commander, Lt.Col. Stetson, relinquished command, and sources who were present at the time are contradictory about a possible connection: Olmsted states that Stetson was sent overseas to command a fighter group; Yeager states he was relieved of command for the high death rate in training. Thirteen pilots and a flight surgeon died in P-39 training accidents in the United States, and numerous aircraft were lost or heavily damaged in non-fatal accidents.
The 357th received an influx of 60 new pilots and moved again, to bases at Oroville
Oroville, California
Oroville is the county seat of Butte County, California. The population was 15,506 at the 2010 census, up from 13,004 at the 2000 census...
and Marysville
Marysville, California
Marysville is the county seat of Yuba County, California, United States. The population was 12,072 at the 2010 census, down from 12,268 at the 2000 census. It is included in the Yuba City Metropolitan Statistical Area, often referred to as the Yuba-Sutter Area after the two counties, Yuba and...
, California in August 1943. It entered its final phase of training on 28 September with the squadrons redeploying to Second Air Force
Second Air Force
The Second Air Force is a numbered air force of the United States Air Force Air Education and Training Command . It is headquartered at Keesler Air Force Base, Mississippi....
bases at Pocatello
Pocatello, Idaho
Pocatello is the county seat and largest city of Bannock County, with a small portion on the Fort Hall Indian Reservation in neighboring Power County, in the southeastern part of the U.S. state of Idaho. It is the principal city of the Pocatello metropolitan area, which encompasses all of Bannock...
, Idaho; Casper
Casper, Wyoming
Casper is the county seat of Natrona County, Wyoming, United States.. Casper is the second-largest city in Wyoming , according to the 2010 census, with a population of 55,316...
, Wyoming; and Ainsworth
Ainsworth, Nebraska
Ainsworth is a city in Brown County, Nebraska, United States. The population was 1,862 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Brown County.-Geography:Ainsworth is located at ....
, Nebraska, respectively, where they engaged in large-formation mock interceptor missions against bomber groups in training. On 24 October after a final tactical inspection, the group was declared ready for overseas deployment. Beginning 3 November, the 357th turned in its P-39s and entrained for Camp Shanks
Camp Shanks
Camp Shanks, named after Major General David Carey Shanks was a United States Army installation in and around Orangeburg in the Town of Orangetown, New York. Situated near the juncture of the Erie Railroad and the Hudson River, it served as a point of embarkation for troops departing overseas...
, New York, where the entire group staged for embarkation aboard the RMS Queen Elizabeth
RMS Queen Elizabeth
RMS Queen Elizabeth was an ocean liner operated by the Cunard Line. Plying with her running mate Queen Mary as a luxury liner between Southampton, UK and New York City, USA via Cherbourg, France, she was also contracted for over twenty years to carry the Royal Mail as the second half of the two...
, departing New York City on 23 November 1943. Debarking at Greenock
Greenock
Greenock is a town and administrative centre in the Inverclyde council area in United Kingdom, and a former burgh within the historic county of Renfrewshire, located in the west central Lowlands of Scotland...
, Scotland, on 29 November, the group immediately moved by train to its base in Suffolk
Suffolk
Suffolk is a non-metropolitan county of historic origin in East Anglia, England. It has borders with Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south. The North Sea lies to the east...
.
Combat operations and tactics
All mission dates, targets, and details from Roger Freeman, Mighty Eighth War Diary, by date of mission. German unit identifications are from Merle Olmsted.Ninth Air Force
The 357th had been allocated to the Ninth Air ForceNinth Air Force
The Ninth Air Force is a numbered air force of the United States Air Force's Air Combat Command . It is headquartered at Shaw Air Force Base, South Carolina....
as a P-51 tactical air support unit. It moved into its base at RAF Raydon
RAF Raydon
RAF Raydon is a former United States Army Air Force station in England. It is located just to the northeast of the village of Raydon, about 6 miles from Ipswich on the B1070 in Suffolk.-Origins:...
on 30 November 1943. It had no aircraft until 19 December, when the it received a former Mustang III
P-51 Mustang
The North American Aviation P-51 Mustang was an American long-range, single-seat fighter and fighter-bomber used during World War II, the Korean War and in several other conflicts...
of RAF Fighter Command
RAF Fighter Command
RAF Fighter Command was one of three functional commands of the Royal Air Force. It was formed in 1936 to allow more specialised control of fighter aircraft. It served throughout the Second World War, gaining recognition in the Battle of Britain. The Command continued until 17 November 1943, when...
, hastily repainted in U.S. olive drab. By the end of the year the 357th received 15 Mustangs, severely restricting conversion training for the pilots, and some made the transition by ferrying in new aircraft. All but a handful gained flying experience in the new aircraft only by flying combat operations.
This handful, consisting of group and squadron commanders and proposed flight leaders, made approximately a dozen sorties on escort missions with the 354th Fighter Group, which had been flying combat only since 1 December. Pilots from both units learned that the P-51s still had maintenance flaws to be worked out, primarily in guns that jammed in maneuvering and engines that overheated from loss of coolant
Coolant
A coolant is a fluid which flows through a device to prevent its overheating, transferring the heat produced by the device to other devices that use or dissipate it. An ideal coolant has high thermal capacity, low viscosity, is low-cost, non-toxic, and chemically inert, neither causing nor...
, and the commanding officer of the 363 FS was shot down on a mission while flying with the 354th Fighter Group on 25 January 1944.
The need for a long-range escort fighter
Escort fighter
The escort fighter was a World War II concept for a fighter aircraft designed to escort bombers to and from their targets.The perfect escort fighter had long range, a lengthy combat loiter time to protect the bombers, and enough internal fuel to return home...
had resulted in a decision to give the Eighth Air Force a priority for the Mustang, reversing the earlier allocation of these groups to the Ninth for tactical support of Allied ground operations in France. The 357th was re-assigned to VIII Fighter Command in exchange for a P-47
P-47 Thunderbolt
Republic Aviation's P-47 Thunderbolt, also known as the "Jug", was the largest, heaviest, and most expensive fighter aircraft in history to be powered by a single reciprocating engine. It was heavily armed with eight .50-caliber machine guns, four per wing. When fully loaded, the P-47 weighed up to...
group that had already begun combat operations, and at the end of January, changed bases with the 358th Fighter Group, moving to its permanent base at RAF Leiston
RAF Leiston
RAF Leiston is a former airfield in the United Kingdom. The airfield is located northwest of Leiston and south of Theberton in Suffolk.-USAAF use:...
on 31 January.
Initial operations
Assigned to the 66th Fighter Wing, the 357th was the first P-51 Mustang Group of the Eight Air Force. Between its move to Leiston and 11 February, when it flew its first combat mission, the group received a full inventory of P-51B fighters. On 8 February six pilots flew a final mission with the 354th, a deep penetration bomber escort to FrankfurtFrankfurt
Frankfurt am Main , commonly known simply as Frankfurt, is the largest city in the German state of Hesse and the fifth-largest city in Germany, with a 2010 population of 688,249. The urban area had an estimated population of 2,300,000 in 2010...
, Germany, and lost a pilot killed in action.
The first group mission, led by Medal of Honor
Medal of Honor
The Medal of Honor is the highest military decoration awarded by the United States government. It is bestowed by the President, in the name of Congress, upon members of the United States Armed Forces who distinguish themselves through "conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his or her...
-recipient Major James H. Howard
James H. Howard
James Howell Howard was a general in the United States Air Force and the only fighter pilot in the European Theater of Operations in World War II to receive the Medal of Honor — the United States military's highest decoration...
of the 354th FG, was an escort mission for B-24
B-24 Liberator
The Consolidated B-24 Liberator was an American heavy bomber, designed by Consolidated Aircraft of San Diego, California. It was known within the company as the Model 32, and a small number of early models were sold under the name LB-30, for Land Bomber...
's bombing V-1
V-1 flying bomb
The V-1 flying bomb, also known as the Buzz Bomb or Doodlebug, was an early pulse-jet-powered predecessor of the cruise missile....
sites in the Pas de Calais. The new commander of the 4th Fighter Group
4th Operations Group
The 4th Operations Group is the flying component of the 4th Fighter Wing, assigned to the United States Air Force Air Combat Command. The group is stationed at Seymour Johnson Air Force Base, North Carolina...
, Lt.Col. Don Blakeslee, led two similar missions on 12 and 13 February, with the first combat loss occurring on the 13th. The 357th changed commanders on the 17th, its former commander Col. Chickering moving up to a staff position in the Ninth Air Force, and its new CO Col. Spicer the former executive officer of the 66th Fighter Wing.
The groups' fourth combat mission was its first over Germany, at the start of the coordinated strategic bombing attacks against the Luftwaffe and the German aircraft industry that came to be called the "Big Week
Big Week
Between February 20–25, 1944, as part of the European strategic bombing campaign, the United States Strategic Air Forces launched Operation Argument, a series of missions against the Third Reich that became known as Big Week. The planners intended to lure the Luftwaffe into a decisive battle by...
." The 357th flew all five days, losing eight Mustangs in combat but recording its first 22 aerial victories. Attacks intensified as Berlin was bombed by the USAAF for the first time in March, with the group shooting down 20 fighters during the first major raid on 6 March. The 364th Fighter Squadron led the group in aerial victories, with 32 by the end of March, and with two pilots claiming ace status on 16 March.
In its first month of operations, the 357th flew 15 missions, losing 14 P-51s but credited with 59 kills. On an escort mission to Bordeaux
Bordeaux
Bordeaux is a port city on the Garonne River in the Gironde department in southwestern France.The Bordeaux-Arcachon-Libourne metropolitan area, has a population of 1,010,000 and constitutes the sixth-largest urban area in France. It is the capital of the Aquitaine region, as well as the prefecture...
, France, on 5 March, the 357th lost two aircraft. Group commander Col. Henry Spicer was captured while the French Resistance
French Resistance
The French Resistance is the name used to denote the collection of French resistance movements that fought against the Nazi German occupation of France and against the collaborationist Vichy régime during World War II...
aided Flight Officer Charles E. Yeager
Chuck Yeager
Charles Elwood "Chuck" Yeager is a retired major general in the United States Air Force and noted test pilot. He was the first pilot to travel faster than sound...
in evading capture for 25 days. He successfully escaped to Spain, where he remained six weeks before being returned to Allied control.
Camouflage, unit markings and call signs
The 357th applied field camouflage to its replacement P-51C (beginning in March) and P-51D (beginning in June) fighters until December 1944, with most receiving an overall coat of "RAF green" (a shade similar to olive drab) with gray undersurfaces, but a prominent minority being bare metal with olive drab tails and upper surfaces. This practice distinguished 357th Mustangs from those of the other Eighth Air Force groups until 1945 when the camouflage was phased out.
In February 1944, VIII Fighter Command assigned the 357th Fighter Group two-letter squadron identification codes to be painted on the fuselages of its fighters, and each squadron assigned its aircraft individual letter identifiers. The Eighth Air Force had in January given veteran units permission to use brightly-colored spinner
Propeller (aircraft)
Aircraft propellers or airscrews convert rotary motion from piston engines or turboprops to provide propulsive force. They may be fixed or variable pitch. Early aircraft propellers were carved by hand from solid or laminated wood with later propellers being constructed from metal...
s and identification bands on the engine cowl
Cowling
A cowling is the covering of a vehicle's engine, most often found on automobiles and aircraft.A cowling may be used:* for drag reduction* for engine cooling by directing airflow* as an air intake for jet engines* for decorative purposes...
s of their fighters. In late March, the 66th Fighter Wing adopted colored spinners and a checkerboard
Checkerboard
A checkerboard or chequerboard is a board of chequered pattern on which English draughts is played. It is an 8×8 board and the 64 squares are of alternating dark and light color, often red and black....
paint scheme to be painted as an identifying cowl band on the noses of its aircraft, with each of its five groups assigned a different color. These bands were 12 inches (304.8 mm) wide with six-inch (152 mm) squares. The 357th's group nose colors were red and yellow, and many nose art
Nose art
Nose art is a decorative painting or design on the fuselage of a military aircraft, usually located near the nose, and is a form of aircraft graffiti....
names were also painted in matching colors. In late 1944 the 357th began to discontinue the use of olive drab camouflage and adopted a color system painted on the tail rudders of its Mustangs to identify the squadron.
On 23 April 1944, VIII Fighter Command changed its system of radio call sign
Call sign
In broadcasting and radio communications, a call sign is a unique designation for a transmitting station. In North America they are used as names for broadcasting stations...
s to reduce confusion when the fighter groups, now numbering a hundred or more fighters in their inventories, deployed two groups on escort missions ("A group" and "B Group"). Station call signs (RAF Leiston's was EARLDUKE) were unchanged, but all previous call signs were discontinued. In 1945 provision was also made for a C Group on missions (usually only eight to 12 fighters) and all fighters assigned to a C Group mission used the common call sign.
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
- Operations Identification Data
362d Fighter Sqdn 363d Fighter Sqdn 364th Fighter Sqdn Squadron Code G4 B6 C5 Rudder color white but not applied red yellow Radio call signs 362d FS 363d FS 364th FS Group prior to 23 April 1944 JUDSON CHAMBERS GOWDY RIGHTFIELD A Group Dollar Cement Greenhouse Dryden B Group Roundtree Diver Hawkeye Silas C Group -- -- -- Eyesight
- Operations Identification Data
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-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
Like all Allied aircraft flying over the continent, the 357th applied alternating 18 inches (457.2 mm), black and white bands, known as "invasion stripes", to the rear fuselage and wings of its fighters just prior to D-Day
D-Day
D-Day is a term often used in military parlance to denote the day on which a combat attack or operation is to be initiated. "D-Day" often represents a variable, designating the day upon which some significant event will occur or has occurred; see Military designation of days and hours for similar...
. It retained the lower wing stripes and lower portion of the rear fuselage until the end of 1944, when most invasion stripes were deleted.
SOURCES: The basic source is Freeman, but Olmsted and Little Friends website have identical data
Invasion preparation and support
Saxony-Anhalt
Saxony-Anhalt is a landlocked state of Germany. Its capital is Magdeburg and it is surrounded by the German states of Lower Saxony, Brandenburg, Saxony, and Thuringia.Saxony-Anhalt covers an area of...
resulting in a severe fighter reaction by the Jagdverbände. A total of 64 bombers were shot down in one of the heaviest losses to the Eighth, but strong escort support kept the losses from being worse. Three Mustangs from the 364th Fighter Squadron were also shot down but the group as a whole was credited with 23 of the 51 aerial victories scored. Another 22 were credited during the 24 April operations against Bavaria
Bavaria
Bavaria, formally the Free State of Bavaria is a state of Germany, located in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the largest state by area, forming almost 20% of the total land area of Germany...
n airfields and aircraft factories, with 70 total for the month resulting in eight additional aces in the group. While scoring 174 kills in April and May 1944, the 357th also lost 33 Mustangs.
Beginning in late February 1944, Eighth Air Force fighter units began systematic strafing attacks on German airfields that picked up in frequency and intensity throughout the spring (as example, on the above mentioned missions VIII Fighter Command scored 130 strafing kills in addition to 109 aerial victories) with the objective of gaining air supremacy over the Normandy
Normandy
Normandy is a geographical region corresponding to the former Duchy of Normandy. It is in France.The continental territory covers 30,627 km² and forms the preponderant part of Normandy and roughly 5% of the territory of France. It is divided for administrative purposes into two régions:...
battlefield. In general these were conducted by units returning from escort missions, but many groups also were assigned airfield attacks instead of bomber support. On 21 May, these attacks were expanded to include railways, locomotive
Locomotive
A locomotive is a railway vehicle that provides the motive power for a train. The word originates from the Latin loco – "from a place", ablative of locus, "place" + Medieval Latin motivus, "causing motion", and is a shortened form of the term locomotive engine, first used in the early 19th...
s and rolling stock
Rolling stock
Rolling stock comprises all the vehicles that move on a railway. It usually includes both powered and unpowered vehicles, for example locomotives, railroad cars, coaches and wagons...
used by the Germans for movements of matériel and troops in missions dubbed "Chattanooga
Chattanooga Choo Choo
"Chattanooga Choo Choo" is a song by Harry Warren and Mack Gordon . It was recorded in a big-band/swing manner by Glenn Miller and his orchestra and featured in the 1941 movie Sun Valley Serenade, which starred Sonja Henie, John Payne, Glenn Miller and his orchestra, The Modernaires, Milton Berle...
", . The 357th lost two of its aces in combat when their Mustangs were shot down by flak.
On D-Day
D-Day
D-Day is a term often used in military parlance to denote the day on which a combat attack or operation is to be initiated. "D-Day" often represents a variable, designating the day upon which some significant event will occur or has occurred; see Military designation of days and hours for similar...
, the group flew eight missions and nearly 130 sorties, and, thereafter, multiple daily missions over the beachhead. The group also performed its first bombing missions using the Mustang in June. It encountered few German aircraft during the month until 29 June, when on a mission to Leipzig
Leipzig
Leipzig Leipzig has always been a trade city, situated during the time of the Holy Roman Empire at the intersection of the Via Regia and Via Imperii, two important trade routes. At one time, Leipzig was one of the major European centres of learning and culture in fields such as music and publishing...
it shot down 20. For its actions over Berlin on 6 March and the Leipzig mission the group was awarded a Distinguished Unit Citation.
The 357th also began receiving new P-51D Mustangs as replacement aircraft but many pilots preferred the earlier B models still prevalent in the group as being more maneuverable and better-powered at high altitude. By the end of June 1944, the 357th had claimed 283 German aircraft shot down and counted 26 pilots recognized as aces. Losses over its initial four months of combat amounted to 27 killed or missing in action, 30 captured and 72 P-51s destroyed.
Operations in the summer and fall of 1944
In July 1944, the K-14, an improved gryoscopic gunsightGyro gunsight
A gyro gunsight is a modification of the non-magnifying reflector sight in which target lead and bullet drop are allowed for automatically, the sight incorporating a gyroscopic mechanism that computes the necessary deflections required to ensure a hit on the target...
of British design, reached the 357th for replacement of the existing N-3B reflector sight
Reflector sight
A reflector or reflex sight is a generally non-magnifying optical device that allows the user to look through a partially reflecting glass element and see an illuminated projection of an aiming point or some other image superimposed on the field of view...
s in the P-51B and C. The K-14 allowed for rapid, accurate lead
Lead (disambiguation)
Lead has two different pronunciations and several different meanings, usually related to either the chemical element lead or the verb to lead.- When pronounced :With this pronunciation, "lead" refers to:...
-computing of up to 90° deflection
Deflection (military)
Deflection is a technique used for effectively firing a ranged weapon at a moving target, that describes "leading the target"; that is, shooting ahead of a moving target so that the target and projectile will collide...
by analog computer
Analog computer
An analog computer is a form of computer that uses the continuously-changeable aspects of physical phenomena such as electrical, mechanical, or hydraulic quantities to model the problem being solved...
with pilot inputs through hand controls. However, the sights were sized for the cockpits of older Mustangs, now constituting less than a third of the 357th's strength. Group commander Col. Donald Graham directed the 469th Service Squadron to mount a K-14 in his assigned P-51D (44-13388 B6-W Bodacious) to replace its N-9 reflector sight, using bracing and panel cutouts to form a recess. Testing the sights in combat in September, the K-14 proved so effective that Graham offered the installation method to other Eighth Air Force groups for retro-fitting the gunsight into all D-model Mustangs in the field, with the 357th method adopted in March 1945 by the Eighth Air Force Modification Center.
The 357th flew escort for the second shuttle-bombing mission by the Eighth Air Force, "Frantic V", on 6 August 1944. Escorting two B-17 groups of the 13th Combat Bomb Wing to bomb a Focke-Wulf
Focke-Wulf
Focke-Wulf Flugzeugbau AG was a German manufacturer of civil and military aircraft before and during World War II. Many of the company's successful fighter aircraft designs were slight modifications of the Focke-Wulf Fw 190.-History:...
manufacturing plant in Rahmel
Rumia
Rumia is a city in the Eastern Pomerania region of north-western Poland, with some 45,000 inhabitants. It is a part of the Kashubian Tricity and a suburb part of the metropolitan area of the Tricity...
, West Prussia, 64 Mustangs of the group continued on to the Soviet Union, landing at Piryatin airfield, a P-39/Yak-3
Yakovlev Yak-3
The Yakovlev Yak-3 was a World War II Soviet fighter aircraft.Robust and easy to maintain, it was much liked by pilots and ground crew alike....
fighter strip southeast of Kiev
Kiev
Kiev or Kyiv is the capital and the largest city of Ukraine, located in the north central part of the country on the Dnieper River. The population as of the 2001 census was 2,611,300. However, higher numbers have been cited in the press....
, Ukraine, while the bombers, carrying 357th maintenance crews, continued further east to Mirgorod. The next day, the Mustangs escorted the B-17s against synthetic oil production plants in Trzebinia
Trzebinia
Trzebinia is a town in Chrzanów County, Lesser Poland, Poland with an Orlen oil refinery and a major rail junction of the Kraków - Katowice line that connections to Oświęcim and Spytkowice.-History:...
, Poland, returning to Piryatin, and on the 8th, escorted them to Foggia
Foggia
Foggia is a city and comune of Apulia, Italy, capital of the province of Foggia. Foggia is the main city of a plain called Tavoliere, also known as the "granary of Italy".-History:...
, Italy, bombing Romania
Romania
Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...
n airfields en route. Temporarily based at San Severo
San Severo
San Severo is a city and comune of 55,486 inhabitants of the province of Foggia in the southern Italian region of Apulia....
with the 31st Fighter Group, the 357th supported a C-47
C-47 Skytrain
The Douglas C-47 Skytrain or Dakota is a military transport aircraft that was developed from the Douglas DC-3 airliner. It was used extensively by the Allies during World War II and remained in front line operations through the 1950s with a few remaining in operation to this day.-Design and...
mission to Yugoslavia
Yugoslavia
Yugoslavia refers to three political entities that existed successively on the western part of the Balkans during most of the 20th century....
on 10 August to evacuate Allied evaders and escaped POWs. On 12 August 1944, the entire Frantic force returned to England, attacking German lines of communication in Toulouse
Toulouse
Toulouse is a city in the Haute-Garonne department in southwestern FranceIt lies on the banks of the River Garonne, 590 km away from Paris and half-way between the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea...
, France, as part of the preparation for the invasion of Southern France
Operation Dragoon
Operation Dragoon was the Allied invasion of southern France on August 15, 1944, during World War II. The invasion was initiated via a parachute drop by the 1st Airborne Task Force, followed by an amphibious assault by elements of the U.S. Seventh Army, followed a day later by a force made up...
.
Large-scale combat between VIII Fighter Command and the Luftwaffe interceptor force had become virtually nonexistent after 28 May 1944 but, in August, contact was made for the first time with both rocket-propelled
Messerschmitt Me 163
The Messerschmitt Me 163 Komet, designed by Alexander Lippisch, was a German rocket-powered fighter aircraft. It is the only rocket-powered fighter aircraft ever to have been operational. Its design was revolutionary, and the Me 163 was capable of performance unrivaled at the time. Messerschmitt...
and jet-propelled interceptors
Messerschmitt Me 262
The Messerschmitt Me 262 Schwalbe was the world's first operational jet-powered fighter aircraft. Design work started before World War II began, but engine problems prevented the aircraft from attaining operational status with the Luftwaffe until mid-1944...
. While themselves a harbinger of a tactical change by the Luftwaffe, the contacts also indicated that the Germans were husbanding their fighter aircraft for sporadic reaction against Allied bomber attacks. The 357th, escorting B-17s against oil targets near Munich
Munich
Munich The city's motto is "" . Before 2006, it was "Weltstadt mit Herz" . Its native name, , is derived from the Old High German Munichen, meaning "by the monks' place". The city's name derives from the monks of the Benedictine order who founded the city; hence the monk depicted on the city's coat...
, encountered one such reaction on 13 September, engaging 75 Messerschmitt Bf 109
Messerschmitt Bf 109
The Messerschmitt Bf 109, often called Me 109, was a German World War II fighter aircraft designed by Willy Messerschmitt and Robert Lusser during the early to mid 1930s...
s and claiming 15 shot down, but losing five Mustangs.
On 15 September, operational control of VIII Fighter Command's three fighter wings was placed directly under the headquarters of the bomb divisions, removing a layer of command, with a wing controlled by each division. After this date, the 357th Fighter Group's primary duty was protection of the B-17s of the 3rd Bomb Division based in East Anglia
East Anglia
East Anglia is a traditional name for a region of eastern England, named after an ancient Anglo-Saxon kingdom, the Kingdom of the East Angles. The Angles took their name from their homeland Angeln, in northern Germany. East Anglia initially consisted of Norfolk and Suffolk, but upon the marriage of...
. In September, the simplified mission planning, along with the adoption of the K-14 gyro sight and the issuance of air-inflatable Berger G-suit
G-suit
A G-suit, or the more accurately named anti-G suit, is worn by aviators and astronauts who are subject to high levels of acceleration force . It is designed to prevent a black-out and G-LOC caused by the blood pooling in the lower part of the body when under acceleration, thus depriving the...
to pilots came at a time when numerous veteran pilots were completing their combat tours. Although a significant number of aces opted to fly second tours after taking leave in the United States, these innovations helped the group absorb the pilot turnover without significant loss of combat efficiency.
The Luftwaffe also reacted with a massed response against the airborne invasion of Holland
Operation Market Garden
Operation Market Garden was an unsuccessful Allied military operation, fought in the Netherlands and Germany in the Second World War. It was the largest airborne operation up to that time....
. On the afternoon of 18 September, German fighters attacked a large re-supply effort of Arnhem
Arnhem
Arnhem is a city and municipality, situated in the eastern part of the Netherlands. It is the capital of the province of Gelderland and located near the river Nederrijn as well as near the St. Jansbeek, which was the source of the city's development. Arnhem has 146,095 residents as one of the...
by Eighth Air Force B-24
B-24 Liberator
The Consolidated B-24 Liberator was an American heavy bomber, designed by Consolidated Aircraft of San Diego, California. It was known within the company as the Model 32, and a small number of early models were sold under the name LB-30, for Land Bomber...
bombers. The 357th intercepted a force of 60 Bf 109s near Maastricht
Maastricht
Maastricht is situated on both sides of the Meuse river in the south-eastern part of the Netherlands, on the Belgian border and near the German border...
, claiming 26 destroyed.The next afternoon the Allies used over 600 transports for airlift in marginal weather conditions, some of which were attacked by numerous German fighters, including Bf 109s of Jadgeschwader
Luftwaffe Organization
Between 1933 and 1945, the organization of the Luftwaffe underwent several changes. Originally, the German military high command decided to use an organizational structure similar to the army and navy, treating the branch as a strategic weapon of war...
s (fighter wings) 11 and 26. The 357th "bounced" the interceptors as they left the battlefield northeast of Arnhem, shooting down 25 (although five were not credited until after the war when repatriated POWs were debriefed). Against their 51 claims, the 357th lost seven Mustangs, with three pilots killed and three captured.
Bremen
The City Municipality of Bremen is a Hanseatic city in northwestern Germany. A commercial and industrial city with a major port on the river Weser, Bremen is part of the Bremen-Oldenburg metropolitan area . Bremen is the second most populous city in North Germany and tenth in Germany.Bremen is...
on 12 October 1944, when 1st Lt. Chuck Yeager
Chuck Yeager
Charles Elwood "Chuck" Yeager is a retired major general in the United States Air Force and noted test pilot. He was the first pilot to travel faster than sound...
claimed five German fighters to become an "Ace in a day", and the group scored its 400th kill. Yeager had been with the group since its inception but had only been credited with 1.5 kills to that point. Assigned as mission leader, Yeager observed 22 Bf 109s of III./JG 26 crossing his flight path at the same altitude and attacked. Yeager's feat was unique in that the first two German pilots abandoned their aircraft as he closed the range but before he opened fire.
On 6 November 1944, Yeager also claimed one of the first Me 262
Messerschmitt Me 262
The Messerschmitt Me 262 Schwalbe was the world's first operational jet-powered fighter aircraft. Design work started before World War II began, but engine problems prevented the aircraft from attaining operational status with the Luftwaffe until mid-1944...
jet aircraft shot down, when after a series of skirmishes with three jets in thick haze over Osnabrück
Osnabrück
Osnabrück is a city in Lower Saxony, Germany, some 80 km NNE of Dortmund, 45 km NE of Münster, and some 100 km due west of Hanover. It lies in a valley penned between the Wiehen Hills and the northern tip of the Teutoburg Forest...
, he encountered one attempting a landing and blew off its wing. Two days later, 357th pilots again engaged the Kommando Nowotny
Kommando Nowotny
Kommando Nowotny was a Luftwaffe fighter Gruppe formed during the last months of World War II for testing and establishing tactics for the Messerschmitt Me 262 jet fighter, and was created and first commanded by Walter Nowotny, from whom it drew its name....
. 1st Lt. Edward R. "Buddy" Haydon shared a jet credit in which the German commander, Major Walter Nowotny
Walter Nowotny
Major Walter "Nowi" Nowotny was an Austrian-born German fighter ace of World War II. He is credited with 258 aerial victories in 442 combat missions...
, was killed, and 1st Lt. James W. Kenney shot down Hauptmann
Hauptmann
Hauptmann is a German word usually translated as captain when it is used as an officer's rank in the German, Austrian and Swiss armies. While "haupt" in contemporary German means "main", it also has the dated meaning of "head", i.e...
Franz Schall
Franz Schall
Franz Schall was a German World War II fighter ace and recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross . The Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross was awarded to recognise extreme battlefield bravery or successful military leadership...
.
The Jagdverbände made three concerted attempts to attack Eighth Air Force bombers between 21 and 27 November 1944, and on the last generated an estimated 750 fighter sorties, the largest defensive reaction of the war. The three fighter wings of the Eighth used a tactical ruse to score a significant victory. Assigning 13 groups to a fighter-bomber mission, P-51s and P-47s simulated heavy bomber formations
Combat box
The Combat box was a tactical formation used by heavy bombers of the U.S. Army Air Forces during World War II. The combat box was also referred to as a "staggered formation"...
while other P-51s flew escort patterns above them. The resulting radar
Radar
Radar is an object-detection system which uses radio waves to determine the range, altitude, direction, or speed of objects. It can be used to detect aircraft, ships, spacecraft, guided missiles, motor vehicles, weather formations, and terrain. The radar dish or antenna transmits pulses of radio...
contact triggered the heavy fighter reaction near Magdeburg
Magdeburg
Magdeburg , is the largest city and the capital city of the Bundesland of Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. Magdeburg is situated on the Elbe River and was one of the most important medieval cities of Europe....
, and the force was directed towards them by a microwave early warning
Early warning radar
An early warning radar is any radar system used primarily for the long-range detection of its targets, i.e., allowing defences to be alerted as early as possible before the intruder reaches its target, giving the defences the maximum time in which to operate...
(MEW) site ("Nuthouse") at Gulpen
Gulpen
Gulpen is a village in the Dutch province of Limburg. It is approximately midway between the Dutch city of Maastricht and the German city of Aachen.Gulpen was a separate municipality until 1999, when it merged with Wittem...
, Netherlands.
In the 66th Fighter Wing, the 353d and 357th Fighter Groups engaged approximately 200 Fw 190
Focke-Wulf Fw 190
The Focke-Wulf Fw 190 Würger was a German Second World War single-seat, single-engine fighter aircraft designed by Kurt Tank in the late 1930s. Powered by a radial engine, the 190 had ample power and was able to lift larger loads than its well-known counterpart, the Messerschmitt Bf 109...
s of JG 300 and JG 301, with the 353d downing 22 and the 357th, 30 in the ensuing combats. Captain Leonard K. "Kit" Carson, on the 38th mission of his second tour and having nine previous credits, became the second 357th pilot to become an "ace in a day", while Yeager and Capt John B. England
John B. England
John Brooke England was a World War II fighter ace in the 357th Fighter Group and a career fighter pilot in the United States Air Force.-Biography:...
claimed four kills each. One week later, on 5 December, the 357th escorted 3rd Division bombers to Berlin and encountered 100 more German fighters, claiming 22 against a loss of two.
Winter operations and jet combat
Fog and ice conditions grounded the P-51s for much of December 1944, but during the German Ardennes offensive the Eighth Air Force conducted the largest single operation in its history on 24 December, dispatching 2,046 bombers and 853 fighters to attack lines of communication and airfields in Germany. The 357th Fighter Group launched a total of 76 Mustangs split into an "A" group of 25 led by group commander Lt.Col. Irwin Dregne and a "B" group of 51 led by Major Richard Peterson. Each group engaged large numbers of German fighters of JG 300 near FuldaFulda
Fulda is a city in Hesse, Germany; it is located on the river Fulda and is the administrative seat of the Fulda district .- Early Middle Ages :...
and the 357th as a whole shot down 30 more, losing three including a P-51 that collided with a 55th Fighter Group Mustang.
In the first two weeks of January 1945 the 357th along with all Eighth Air Force groups supported bomber attacks against German ground transportation during the Allied counter-offensive in the Ardennes, strafing ground targets daily. However, on 14 January, strategic bombing resumed with attacks on oil installations near Berlin. The 357th was tasked with protecting 3rd Air Division B-17s, employing a variation of the escort tactic called the "Zemke Fan", designed to lure in interceptors. Sending 66 Mustangs including spares, the 364 FS led the mission flying ahead of the bombers at 26000 feet (7,924.8 m), the 362nd flew close escort over the lead combat box
Combat box
The Combat box was a tactical formation used by heavy bombers of the U.S. Army Air Forces during World War II. The combat box was also referred to as a "staggered formation"...
of bombers while the 363d flew farther back over the third box at higher altitude.
Near Brandenburg
Brandenburg
Brandenburg is one of the sixteen federal-states of Germany. It lies in the east of the country and is one of the new federal states that were re-created in 1990 upon the reunification of the former West Germany and East Germany. The capital is Potsdam...
, the 357th observed the contrails of more than 200 fighters approaching the lead bomber combat box from the southeast. The heavily-armored "sturmgruppen" Fw 190s of II/JG 300 attacked the B-17s in "company front" formations of eight abreast, while a protective force of 100 Bf 109s of JG 300's other three gruppen attempted to cover them from 32,000. The 364 FS attacked and broke up the sturmgruppen formations, which were pursued by the trailing 363rd FS. The German top cover attempted to enter the mêlée and were intercepted by the 362 FS, quickly joined by the 364th. The 30-minute battle resulted in 56.5 German fighters claimed as shot down, by far the largest single day kill of the war by an Eighth Air Force group.
Including the victories of group staff flying with various squadrons, the 364th is credited with 23.5 kills, the 362d with 20, and the 363rd with 12. Ironically, two of the most prolific aces of the 363rd FS, Capt. Bud Anderson
Bud Anderson
Clarence Emil "Bud" Anderson is a retired officer in the United States Air Force and a "triple ace" in World War II.-Biography:Anderson was born in Oakland, California, and reared on a farm near Newcastle, California...
and Capt. Chuck Yeager, had been assigned to the mission but scored no kills. On the last mission of their second tours, they were sent as spares and broke away before contact to make an impromptu farewell tour of Europe that included buzz
Buzz
-People:*Buzz Aldrin , American pilot and astronaut, second person to set foot on the Moon*George Beurling , Canadian World War II fighter pilot*Buzz Hargrove , National President of the Canadian Auto Workers trade union...
ing neutral Switzerland and Paris, France. Even so, the mission resulted in five more aces for the 357th (Dregne, Evans, Maxwell, Sublett and Weaver) and immediate recognition of the feat by Eighth Air Force commanding General Jimmy Doolittle
Jimmy Doolittle
General James Harold "Jimmy" Doolittle, USAF was an American aviation pioneer. Doolittle served as a brigadier general, major general and lieutenant general in the United States Army Air Forces during the Second World War...
. The group received its second Distinguished Unit Citation for the mission.
In the four major combats of 27 November, 2 December, 24 December and 14 January, the 357th Fighter Group claimed 137.5 aircraft against a loss of nine Mustangs. The 357th had two more large-scale engagements with German fighters before the end of the war. On 2 March 1945, escorting B-17s to Ruhland
Ruhland
Ruhland is a town in the Oberspreewald-Lausitz district, in southern Brandenburg, Germany. It is situated on the river Schwarze Elster, 12 km southwest of Senftenberg....
, the group encountered its frequent foes JGs 300 and 301 a final time, shooting down 14 and losing one Mustang. On the way back to base, strafing airfields, the group had an additional four P-51s shot down by flak, with two pilots killed. On 24 March, flying an area patrol near Gütersloh
Gütersloh
Gütersloh is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, in the area of Westphalia and the administrative region of Detmold. Gütersloh is the administrative centre for a district of the same name and has a population of 96,320 people.- Geography :...
to protect the Allied airborne crossing of the Rhine
Operation Varsity
Operation Varsity was a successful joint American–British airborne operation that took place toward the end of World War II...
, it encountered 20 Bf 109s of JG 27
Jagdgeschwader 27
Jagdgeschwader 27 Afrika was a World War II Luftwaffe Geschwader. It was most famous for service in the North African Campaign, supporting the Deutsches Afrikakorps.- Formation:...
and shot down 16 without loss.
The Jagdverbände, severely depleted, turned to jet interceptions beginning 9 February 1945, in an attempt to stop the onslaught of Allied heavy bombers. The Allies countered by flying combat air patrol
Combat air patrol
Combat air patrol is a type of flying mission for fighter aircraft.A combat air patrol is an aircraft patrol provided over an objective area, over the force protected, over the critical area of a combat zone, or over an air defense area, for the purpose of intercepting and destroying hostile...
missions over German airfields, intercepting the Me 262s and Ar 234
Arado Ar 234
The Arado Ar 234 was the world's first operational jet-powered bomber, built by the German Arado company in the closing stages of World War II. Produced in very limited numbers, it was used almost entirely in the reconnaissance role, but in its few uses as a bomber it proved to be nearly impossible...
s as they took off and landed. The tactic resulted in increasing numbers of jets shot down and controlled the dangerous situation, particularly as the amount of German-controlled territory shrank daily. The 357th claimed an additional 12.5 jets destroyed during this period to total 18.5 for the war, and destroyed three others on the ground. The 357th flew its 313th and final combat mission on 25 April 1945, without contact or loss.
Casualties
| 357th FG losses | |
|---|---|
| 128 | P-51's lost in combat |
| 26 | P-51's lost in accidents |
| 45 | Pilots killed in action Killed in action Killed in action is a casualty classification generally used by militaries to describe the deaths of their own forces at the hands of hostile forces. The United States Department of Defense, for example, says that those declared KIA need not have fired their weapons but have been killed due to... |
| 13 | Pilots killed in accidents |
| 15 | Pilots missing in action Missing in action Missing in action is a casualty Category assigned under the Status of Missing to armed services personnel who are reported missing during active service. They may have been killed, wounded, become a prisoner of war, or deserted. If deceased, neither their remains nor grave can be positively... |
| 54 | Pilots captured Prisoner of war A prisoner of war or enemy prisoner of war is a person, whether civilian or combatant, who is held in custody by an enemy power during or immediately after an armed conflict... |
| 3 | Pilots interned Internment Internment is the imprisonment or confinement of people, commonly in large groups, without trial. The Oxford English Dictionary gives the meaning as: "The action of 'interning'; confinement within the limits of a country or place." Most modern usage is about individuals, and there is a distinction... |
A total of 128 P-51s were lost in combat by the 357th Fighter Group. Sixty pilots were killed
Killed in action
Killed in action is a casualty classification generally used by militaries to describe the deaths of their own forces at the hands of hostile forces. The United States Department of Defense, for example, says that those declared KIA need not have fired their weapons but have been killed due to...
or missing in action
Missing in action
Missing in action is a casualty Category assigned under the Status of Missing to armed services personnel who are reported missing during active service. They may have been killed, wounded, become a prisoner of war, or deserted. If deceased, neither their remains nor grave can be positively...
, 54 were made prisoners of war with two of those dying in captivity and 13 evaded capture to return to duty.(The additional two casualties were a pilot killed and a squadron commander made POW while flying with the 354th FG in January 1944). Three other pilots landed in neutral territory
Neutral territory
A neutral territory is a territory that is not an integral part of any state , and yet is not terra nullius, but is the object of an agreement under international law between at least two parties...
and were interned
Internment
Internment is the imprisonment or confinement of people, commonly in large groups, without trial. The Oxford English Dictionary gives the meaning as: "The action of 'interning'; confinement within the limits of a country or place." Most modern usage is about individuals, and there is a distinction...
.
Twenty-six Mustangs were destroyed in operational and training accidents in the UK, as was an AT-6
T-6 Texan
The North American Aviation T-6 Texan was a single-engine advanced trainer aircraft used to train pilots of the United States Army Air Forces, United States Navy, Royal Air Force and other air forces of the British Commonwealth during World War II and into the 1950s...
. A total of 13 pilots and a mechanic were killed, three of whom died after cessation of combat operations.
Of the 128 combat losses, 38 were attributed to attack by German fighters, 29 to flak, ten to mid-air collisions, 21 to mechanical causes (mostly engine failure), five to friendly fire
Friendly fire
Friendly fire is inadvertent firing towards one's own or otherwise friendly forces while attempting to engage enemy forces, particularly where this results in injury or death. A death resulting from a negligent discharge is not considered friendly fire...
, five to bad weather and 20 to causes not determined.
Honors and campaigns
 Distinguished Unit Citation
|
World War II:
|
Aerial victories
Messerschmitt Bf 109
The Messerschmitt Bf 109, often called Me 109, was a German World War II fighter aircraft designed by Willy Messerschmitt and Robert Lusser during the early to mid 1930s...
by 1st Lt. Calvert L. Williams, 362d Fighter Squadron, flying P-51B 43-6448 (G4-U Wee Willie). The final victory was an Me-262
Messerschmitt Me 262
The Messerschmitt Me 262 Schwalbe was the world's first operational jet-powered fighter aircraft. Design work started before World War II began, but engine problems prevented the aircraft from attaining operational status with the Luftwaffe until mid-1944...
shot down on 19 April 1945, by 2d Lt James P. McMullen, 364th Fighter Squadron.
The 357th Fighter Group had 609½ claims credited by the Eighth Air Force for German aircraft destroyed in air-to-air combat. U.S. Air Force Historical Study No. 85 recognizes 595.49 aerial victories for the 357th. This total is the third highest among USAAF fighter groups in the ETO
ETO
ETO may refer to:* Early termination option in a contract* Earned time off* Earth to orbit* Efforts to Outcomes Software* Electronics Technology Office * Electro-Technical Officer* Emitter Turn-Off thyristor* Engineering, Technology, Operations...
(behind the 354th and 56th Fighter Groups), the second highest among Eighth Air Force groups, and the highest among the 14 P-51 groups of VIII Fighter Command. Eighth Air Force also credited the 357th Fighter Group with 106½ German aircraft destroyed on the ground, making an overall total of 701.99, which is sixth among all Eighth Air Force fighter groups. Of the air-to-air totals, 18½ were Me-262 jets, the most destroyed in aerial combat by any USAAF group.
Among the various units of the 357th, the 364th Fighter Squadron had the most victories with 70 pilots credited with 212 kills. The 362d Fighter Squadron was credited with 198 kills by 63 pilots, the 363d Fighter Squadron with 154.99 kills by 50 pilots, and group headquarters with 30.5 kills by nine pilots.
Counting only air-to-air victories registered while with the group (therefore discounting air-to-ground claims), the 357th had 42 pilots become ace
Flying ace
A flying ace or fighter ace is a military aviator credited with shooting down several enemy aircraft during aerial combat. The actual number of aerial victories required to officially qualify as an "ace" has varied, but is usually considered to be five or more...
s, the most of any ETO fighter group (the 354th Fighter Group of the Ninth Air Force
Ninth Air Force
The Ninth Air Force is a numbered air force of the United States Air Force's Air Combat Command . It is headquartered at Shaw Air Force Base, South Carolina....
also had 42, the 56th Fighter Group had 39 and the 4th Fighter Group
4th Operations Group
The 4th Operations Group is the flying component of the 4th Fighter Wing, assigned to the United States Air Force Air Combat Command. The group is stationed at Seymour Johnson Air Force Base, North Carolina...
32 by the same criteria).
Aces of the 357th Fighter Group
| Pilot | Squadron | Credits | Casualty Status and date | Aircraft Flown |
| Major Leonard K. "Kit" Carson | 362d | 18.5 | Nooky Booky and three successors | |
| Major John B. England John B. England John Brooke England was a World War II fighter ace in the 357th Fighter Group and a career fighter pilot in the United States Air Force.-Biography:... |
362d | 17.5 | U've Had It, Missouri Armada | |
| Capt Clarence E. "Bud" Anderson Bud Anderson Clarence Emil "Bud" Anderson is a retired officer in the United States Air Force and a "triple ace" in World War II.-Biography:Anderson was born in Oakland, California, and reared on a farm near Newcastle, California... |
363d | 16.25 | Old Crow | |
| Major Richard A. "Pete" Peterson | 364th | 15.5 | Hurry Home Honey | |
| Major Robert W. Foy | 363d-Grp | 15¹ | Reluctant Rebel, Little Shrimp | |
| Major Donald H. Bochkay | 363d | 13.75² | Speedball Alice, Alice in Wonderland | |
| 1st Lt John A. Kirla | 362d | 11.5 | Spook | |
| Capt. Charles E. "Chuck" Yeager Chuck Yeager Charles Elwood "Chuck" Yeager is a retired major general in the United States Air Force and noted test pilot. He was the first pilot to travel faster than sound... |
363rd | 11.5¹ | Glamorous Glen and two successors | |
| Lt Col John A. Storch | 364th | 10.5 | The Shillelagh | |
| Capt Fletcher E. Adams | 362d | 9 | Killed in action Killed in action Killed in action is a casualty classification generally used by militaries to describe the deaths of their own forces at the hands of hostile forces. The United States Department of Defense, for example, says that those declared KIA need not have fired their weapons but have been killed due to... 30 May 1944 |
Southern Belle |
| Lt Col Thomas L. "Jack" Hayes | Group | 8.5¹ | Frenesi | |
| 2d Lt Otto D. "Dittie" Jenkins | 362d | 8.5 | Died flying accident 24 March 1945 |
Floogie, Toolin' Tool, Toolin' Fool's Revenge |
| Major Joseph E. Broadhead | 362d | 8 | Baby Mike, Master Mike | |
| 1st Lt Robert M. Shaw | 364th | 8 | ||
| Capt John L. Sublett | 362d | 8 | Lady Ovella | |
| Capt Charles E. Weaver | 362d | 8¹ | Passion Wagon | |
| 1st Lt Dale E. Karger | 364th | 7.5¹ | Karger's Dollie, Cathy Mae II | |
| Capt Glendon V. Davis | 364th | 7.5 | Pregnant Polecat | |
| Capt Robert H. Becker | 362d | 7 | Sebastian, Sebastian, Jr. | |
| Capt James W. Browning | 363d | 7 | Killed in action Killed in action Killed in action is a casualty classification generally used by militaries to describe the deaths of their own forces at the hands of hostile forces. The United States Department of Defense, for example, says that those declared KIA need not have fired their weapons but have been killed due to... 9 February 1945 |
Gentleman Jim and two successors |
| 1st Lt John B. Carder | 364th | 7 | Prisoner of war Prisoner of war A prisoner of war or enemy prisoner of war is a person, whether civilian or combatant, who is held in custody by an enemy power during or immediately after an armed conflict... 12 May 1944 |
Taxpayer's Delight |
| 1st Lt Gilbert M. O'Brien | 362d | 7 | Shanty Irish | |
| 1st Lt Joseph F. Pierce | 363d | 7 | Killed in action Killed in action Killed in action is a casualty classification generally used by militaries to describe the deaths of their own forces at the hands of hostile forces. The United States Department of Defense, for example, says that those declared KIA need not have fired their weapons but have been killed due to... 21 May 1944 |
|
| 1st Lt Gerald E. Tyler | 364th | 7 | Little Duckfoot | |
| Lt Col Andrew J. Evans | Group | 6 | Little Sweetie and three successors | |
| Capt. Alva C. Murphy | 362d | 6 | Killed in action Killed in action Killed in action is a casualty classification generally used by militaries to describe the deaths of their own forces at the hands of hostile forces. The United States Department of Defense, for example, says that those declared KIA need not have fired their weapons but have been killed due to... 2 March 1945 |
Bite Me |
| Capt William R. O'Brien | 363d | 6 | Billy's Bitch | |
| Capt. John F. Pugh | 362d | 6 | Geronimo | |
| Major Arval J. Roberson | 362d | 6 | Passion Wagon | |
| Capt. Robert G. Schimanski | 364th | 6 | Anne Lou | |
| 2d Lt Frank L. Gailer | 363d | 5.5 | Prisoner of war Prisoner of war A prisoner of war or enemy prisoner of war is a person, whether civilian or combatant, who is held in custody by an enemy power during or immediately after an armed conflict... 27 November 1944 |
Expectant, Jeesil Peesil Mommy |
| Capt. Paul R. "Shorty" Hatala | 364th | 5.5 | Jeanne, Nellie Jean | |
| 1st Lt LeRoy A. Ruder | 364th | 5.5 | Killed in action Killed in action Killed in action is a casualty classification generally used by militaries to describe the deaths of their own forces at the hands of hostile forces. The United States Department of Defense, for example, says that those declared KIA need not have fired their weapons but have been killed due to... 6 June 1944 |
Linda Lu |
| 1st Lt Robert P. Winks | 364th | 5.5¹ | Trusty Rusty | |
| Capt Raymond M. Bank | 364th | 5 | Prisoner of war Prisoner of war A prisoner of war or enemy prisoner of war is a person, whether civilian or combatant, who is held in custody by an enemy power during or immediately after an armed conflict... 2 March 1945 |
Fire Ball |
| Lt Col Irwin H. Dregne | Group | 5 | Bobby Jeanne / Ah Fung-Goo | |
| Capt Thomas L. "Little Red" Harris | 364th | 5 | Prisoner of war Prisoner of war A prisoner of war or enemy prisoner of war is a person, whether civilian or combatant, who is held in custody by an enemy power during or immediately after an armed conflict... 22 May 1944 |
L'il Red's Rocket |
| Major Edwin W. Hiro | 363d | 5 | Killed in action Killed in action Killed in action is a casualty classification generally used by militaries to describe the deaths of their own forces at the hands of hostile forces. The United States Department of Defense, for example, says that those declared KIA need not have fired their weapons but have been killed due to... 18 September 1944 |
Horses Itch |
| Capt Chester K. Maxwell | 364th | 5 | Lady Esther | |
| 1st Lt William C. Reese | 364th | 5 | Killed in action Killed in action Killed in action is a casualty classification generally used by militaries to describe the deaths of their own forces at the hands of hostile forces. The United States Department of Defense, for example, says that those declared KIA need not have fired their weapons but have been killed due to... 21 May 1944 |
Bear River Betsy |
| 1st Lt Morris A. Stanley | 364th | 5 | ||
| Capt. Jack R. "Walrus" Warren | 364th | 5 | Missing in action Missing in action Missing in action is a casualty Category assigned under the Status of Missing to armed services personnel who are reported missing during active service. They may have been killed, wounded, become a prisoner of war, or deserted. If deceased, neither their remains nor grave can be positively... 18 March 1944 |
SOURCE: Olmsted 1994, p. 148. He in turn used AF Historical Study 85
¹Totals include one Me 262 jet shot down
²Totals include two Me 262 jets shot down
Postwar history and heritage
In July 1945, the 357th Fighter Group moved to Neubiberg Air BaseNeubiberg Air Base
Neubiberg Air Base is a former German and United States Air Force airfield which was closed in 1991. It is located 9 km south of the city of Munich, Germany....
in Bavaria as part of the Four-Power Occupation Force
Allied Control Council
The Allied Control Council or Allied Control Authority, known in the German language as the Alliierter Kontrollrat and also referred to as the Four Powers , was a military occupation governing body of the Allied Occupation Zones in Germany after the end of World War II in Europe...
, and was inactivated there in 1946.
The 357th Fighter Group was re-designated the 121st Fighter Group on 21 August 1946, a unit allocated to the OHANG in 1947. The official site of the Ohio Air National Guard
Ohio Air National Guard
The Ohio Air National Guard is a part of the United States National Guard and an Air Reserve Component of the United States Air Force. It is composed of approximately 5,000 airmen and officers assigned to four flying wings and eight non-flying support units. OHANG units are based in Columbus,...
notes that the OHANG is "descended from the 357th Fighter Group".
357th Fighter Group P-51 survivors and replicas
A number of private owners of P-51s have restored their Mustangs in 357th livery for display at air shows and private exhibitions. Most are P-51Ds produced too late to see combat and declared surplus, or models that served in the Royal Canadian Air Force
Royal Canadian Air Force
The history of the Royal Canadian Air Force begins in 1920, when the air force was created as the Canadian Air Force . In 1924 the CAF was renamed the Royal Canadian Air Force and granted royal sanction by King George V. The RCAF existed as an independent service until 1968...
in the 1950s, although the Mustang restored as Frenesi was first an F-6K photographic reconnaissance model. Among Mustangs restored to resemble 357th aircraft are:
| Nickname | serial | Sqd | Codes | 357 Pilot | Replica | Owner | Location | Civil r/n | scheme¹ | status |
| Old Crow | 414450 | 363 | B6-S | Capt. Bud Anderson | 473877 | Scandinavian Historic Flight | Copenhagen Copenhagen Copenhagen is the capital and largest city of Denmark, with an urban population of 1,199,224 and a metropolitan population of 1,930,260 . With the completion of the transnational Øresund Bridge in 2000, Copenhagen has become the centre of the increasingly integrating Øresund Region... –Roskilde Airport Roskilde Airport Roskilde Airport , officially known as Copenhagen Airport, Roskilde , is located 4 nautical miles southeast of Roskilde near the town Tune. It was opened in 1973 as the first of three planned relief airports around Copenhagen. These plans were shelved shortly after, and the two other relief... , Denmark |
unk | NMF | Flying |
| do | do | do | do | unknown | Fantasy of Flight Fantasy of Flight Fantasy of Flight is an aviation-related attraction in Polk City, Florida, USA that takes visitors back to the pioneering days of early flight, World War I, World War II and beyond. The attraction opened in November of 1995, and houses the world's largest private aircraft collection on display... |
Polk City Polk City, Florida Polk City is a city in Polk County, Florida, United States. The population was 1,516 at the 2000 census. As of 2004, the population recorded by the U.S. Census Bureau is 1,515. It is part of the Lakeland–Winter Haven Metropolitan Statistical Area... , Florida |
unk | NMF | Static | |
| do | do | do | do | 473877 | private individual | Oslo, Norway | N167F | OD | unk | |
| do | do | do | do | 474774 | Old Crow LLC | Willow Run Airport Willow Run Airport Willow Run Airport is an airport located in Van Buren Charter Township and in Ypsilanti Township, near Ypsilanti, Michigan, that serves freight, corporate, and general aviation clients... , Michigan Michigan Michigan is a U.S. state located in the Great Lakes Region of the United States of America. The name Michigan is the French form of the Ojibwa word mishigamaa, meaning "large water" or "large lake".... |
N6341T | NMF | Flying | |
| Gentleman Jim | 414937 | 363 | B6-P | Capt. Jim Browning | 474230 | Jack Roush Jack Roush Jack Roush is the founder, CEO, and co-owner along with John Henry of Roush Fenway Racing, a NASCAR team headquartered in Concord, North Carolina, and is Chairman of the Board of Roush Enterprises.... LLC |
Willow Run Airport Willow Run Airport Willow Run Airport is an airport located in Van Buren Charter Township and in Ypsilanti Township, near Ypsilanti, Michigan, that serves freight, corporate, and general aviation clients... , Michigan Michigan Michigan is a U.S. state located in the Great Lakes Region of the United States of America. The name Michigan is the French form of the Ojibwa word mishigamaa, meaning "large water" or "large lake".... |
N551J | NMF | Flying |
| Glamorous Glen III | 414888 | 363 | B6-Y | Capt. Chuck Yeager | 463893 | private individual | Uvalde Uvalde, Texas Uvalde is a city in and the county seat of Uvalde County, Texas, United States. The population was 14,929 at the 2000 census.Uvalde was founded by Reading Wood Black in 1853 as the town of Encina. In 1856, when the county was organized, the town was renamed Uvalde for Spanish governor Juan de... , Texas |
N3333E | NMF | unk |
| Nooky Booky IV | 411622 | 362 | G4-C | Maj. Kit Carson | 474427 | private individual | Nîmes Nîmes Nîmes is the capital of the Gard department in the Languedoc-Roussillon region in southern France. Nîmes has a rich history, dating back to the Roman Empire, and is a popular tourist destination.-History:... , France |
F-AZSB | NMF | Flying |
| Frenesi | 413318 | 364 | C5-N | Lt.Col. Tom Hayes | 412852 | private individual | Philadelphia Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Philadelphia is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Philadelphia County, with which it is coterminous. The city is located in the Northeastern United States along the Delaware and Schuylkill rivers. It is the fifth-most-populous city in the United States,... , Pennsylvania |
N357FG | OD | Flying |
| Hurry Home Honey | 413586 | 364 | C5-T | Maj. Pete Peterson | 473206 | Mojo Aerospace | Lexington. Kentucky | N3751D | NMF | Yes |
¹OD=Olive Drab NMF=Natural Metal Finish
External links
- USAF Gallery portrait of P-51D Nooky Booky IV
- 357th Fighter Group "Yoxford Boys" commemorative site
- P-51 Mustang survivors at "Mustangs Mustangs"
- Clarence "Bud" Anderson's website
- Pilots and planes of the Famous Yoxford Boys 65 photos of 357th P-51s
- Story of 357th FG over Paris with illustrations
- Encounter reports of P-51 Mustang pilots Numerous original 357th kill claim reports reproduced here halfway down page
- USAF Historical Study 85: USAF Credits for Destruction of Enemy Aircraft, World War II 27.21 MB pdf file
- 357th FG page of Little Friends
