Aircraft of the Aces 115 - Aces of the 78th Fighter Group (2013).pdf

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OSPREY AIRCRAFT OF THE ACES

® t

Aces of the 78th

Fighter Group

Thomas McKelvey Cleaver

© Osprey Publishing • www.ospreypublishing.com

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SERIES EDITOR: TONY HOLMES

OSPREY AIRCRAFT OF THE ACES 115

ACES OF THE 78th

FIGHTER GROUP

Thomas McKelvey Cleaver

© Osprey Publishing • www.ospreypublishing.com

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First published in Great Britain in 2013 by Osprey

Publishing

Midland House, West Way, Botley, Oxford, OX2 0PH

44-01 21st Street, Suite 219, Long Island City, NY, 11101,

USA

any means, electronic, mechanical, recording or otherwise

(except as permitted here), without the written

permission of the publisher. Please support our continuing

book publishing programme by using this e-book

responsibly.

E-mail: info@ospreypublishing.com

Osprey Publishing is part of the Osprey Group

© 2013 Osprey Publishing Limited

Every effort has been made by the Publisher to secure

permissions to use the images in this publication. If there

has been any oversight we would be happy to rectify the

situation and written submission should be made to

Osprey Publishing.

All rights reserved. Apart from any fair dealing for the

purpose of private study, research, criticism or review, as

permitted under the Copyright, Design and Patents Act

1988, no part of this publication may be reproduced,

stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or

by any means, electronic, electrical, chemical, mechanical,

optical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without

prior written permission. All enquiries should be addressed

to the publisher.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I would like to acknowledge the assistance and support of

Col Richard E Hewitt (USAF Ret’d), Lt Col Huie H Lamb

(USAF Ret’d), Dr Ernie Russell PhD and Capt Wayne E

Coleman, pilots of the 78th FG, for their generous efforts in

providing documentary material, photographs and, most

importantly, their memories, as well as the time they took to

read the manuscript and ensure its accuracy. Thank you also

to Rusty Brown, nephew of Maj Quince Brown, for

material and photographs provided regarding his late uncle.

And, finally, Curt Shepherd, webmaster of the 78th FG

website, for his unstinting efforts to provide photographs

and personal contacts. This book would not exist otherwise.

The editor would like to thank John M Dibbs, Robert F

Dorr, Frank Olynyk and Peter Randall (www.littlefriends.

co.uk) for the provision of photographs.

A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the

British Library

ISBN: 978 1 78096 715 8

PDF e-book ISBN: 978 1 78096 716 5

ePub ISBN: 978 1 78096 717 2

Edited by Tony Holmes

Cover Artwork by Mark Postlethwaite

Aircraft Profiles by Chris Davey

Index by Alan Tatcher

Originated by PDQ Digital Media Solutions, UK

Printed in China through Asia Pacific Offset Limited

13 14 15 16 17

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Osprey Publishing is supporting the Woodland Trust, the

UK’s leading woodland conservation charity, by funding

the dedication of trees.

www.ospreypublishing.com

© Osprey Publishing. Access to this book is not digitally

restricted. In return, we ask you that you use it for personal,

non-commercial purposes only. Please don’t upload this

ebook to a peer-to-peer site, email it to everyone you know,

or resell it. Osprey Publishing reserves all rights to its digital

content and no part of these products may be copied,

stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form by

© Osprey Publishing • www.ospreypublishing.com

CONTENTS

CHAPTER ONE

30 JULY 1943 6

CHAPTER TWO

BEGINNINGS 11

CHAPTER THREE

AGAINST THE ODDS 26

CHAPTER FOUR

BATTLE OF GERMANY 45

CHAPTER FIVE

LIBERATING EUROPE 61

CHAPTER SIX

COMING OF THE MUSTANG 78

APPENDICES

COLOUR PLATES COMMENTARY 92

INDEX 96

© Osprey Publishing • www.ospreypublishing.com

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30 JULY 1943

O n 30 July 1943 ‘Little Blitz Week’ came to its conclusion, thus

marking the end of the first sustained air offensive by the Eighth

Air Force against Germany proper since the USAAF had

commenced operations from southern England nearly a year earlier. This

was the opening blow of the Combined Bomber Offensive that would see

B-17 Flying Fortresses and B-24 Liberators finding targets over the next

ten months in preparation for the Allied cross-Channel invasion and the

eventual liberation of Europe.

Good flying weather in the latter part of July had allowed 14 strikes to

be flown over the six days from 24 July. On the 30th, the Eighth Air Force’s

heavy bombers had targeted the Focke-Wulf factory at Kassel, having

previously attacked similar plants in Oschersleben and Warnemünde

during ‘Little Blitz Week’. All three missions had seen the ‘heavies’

undertake deep penetration strikes beyond the range of escort fighters, and

they drew maximum opposition from the defending Luftwaffe.

The 186 B-17Fs sent to attack Kassel on 30 July were already headed

into the prevailing westerly wind at 22,000 ft as they released their bombs

over the target and came out of the flak umbrella over the city, headed for

home. In a matter of minutes, more than 100 Bf 109s and Fw 190s from

JGs 1 and 11 made their presence known, as the contrails streaming from

the American formation were easy for the German pilots to spot. Several

formations slashed through the bomber boxes in ‘Twelve o’clock high’

attacks. Gunners aboard the Flying Fortresses fired at the grey fighters

streaking past them, their cannon flashing. Bombers were hit, with three

bursting into flames and falling out of formation. The sky was filled with

blossoming parachutes. A B-17 in the lead box took hits in an engine and

eventually fell behind after its crew had tried, forlornly, to keep up with

the formation for protection.

P-47C-2 41-6243 was amongst the

first batch of Thunderbolts assigned

to the 84th FS in the spring of 1943.

Christened “Pappy” sometime after

this photograph was taken from a

91st BG B-17F on 11 June 1943, the

fighter was assigned to Capt George

Hays ( USAAF )

6

© Osprey Publishing • www.ospreypublishing.com

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