23rd Fighter Group: Chennaults Sharks

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23rd Fighter Group 'Chennault's Sharks'

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Aviation Elite Units

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23rd Fighter Group 'Chennault's Sharks'

OSPREY PUBLISHING

Aviation Elite Units • 3 I

OSPREY PUBLISHING

23rd Fighter Group 'Chennault's Sharks'

Carl Molesworth Series editor Tony Holmes

Front Cover P-51 As and P-40Ks of the 76th FS/ 23rd FG had a fierce encounter with Ki-43-lls of the 11th and 25th Sentais near the airfield at Suichuan, in China, on 27 December 1943. The 76th FS, led by its newly appointed commanding officer Capt John S Stewart, had only moved from Kweilin to the advanced base at Suichuan, on the Kan River in Kiangsi Province, 24 hours earlier. Japanese intelligence was clearly very good in this area, as the Japanese Army Air Force's 3rd Air Division launched an attack on the base from Canton the very next

First published in Creat Britain in 2009 by Osprey Publishing

CONTENTS

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CHAPTER ONE

AVG PASSES THE BATON 8

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morning.

Seven P-51As and seven P-40Ks scrambled at 1130 hrs upon receiving word of approaching enemy aircraft via the warning net. At about 1145 hrs, six Ki-48 'Lily' bombers made a run over the base from south to north at 1500 ft, destroying a 6-25 in a revetment and the 76th FS's alert shack. Meanwhile, Capt Stewart led his mixed fighter formation in an attack on the escorting Ki-43 'Oscars' at 12,000 ft directly overhead the base. A tremendous fight then ensued, after which Stewart claimed one 'Oscar' probably destroyed. All but one of his pilots submitted claims following the engagement, five of which were for the destruction of Ki-43 fighters. This was an unusually accurate tally for the C61, as the 25th Sentai had indeed lost three 'Oscars' and the 11th Sentai one. Among the Japanese pilots killed was Capt Nakakazu Ozaki, a 19-victory ace and commander of the 2nd Chutai/25th Sentai. He crashed ten kilometres southwest of Suichuan. The Japanese in turn claimed ten victories, but the only 76th aircraft lost was the P-40K flown by Lt Robert Schaeffer. The latter subsequently reported what had happened to him; 'I was in P-40 No 112, rolling straight down on a Zero's tail when I felt the engine jump. I looked down at my manifold pressure gauge, which started dropping, and realised I was hit. So I dove away to the east on the deck. I tried to use the throttle and prop controls, but both were useless. The fight was still going on over the field, and as I had only 20 inches Hg Imercury} showing, I decided I would have to

INTRODUCTION 6

research, criticism or review, as permined under the Copyright, Designs and

A CI I' catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

CHAPTER TWO

CHINA AIR TASK FORCE 22 Prim ISBN 978 I 84603421 3 PDF e-book ISBN 978 I 84603 884 6

CHAPTER THREE Edited by Tony Holmes

ACTION IN THE EAST 39

Page design by Mark Holt Cover artwork by Mark Posdethwaite Aircraft Profiles by Jim Laurier

CHAPTER FOUR

Index by Alan Thatcher Originated by PDQ Digital Media Solutions, Suffolk, UK

MUSTANGS JOIN THE BATTLE 71

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APPENDICES 120

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COLOUR PLATES COMMENTARY 122 BIBLIOGRAPHY 127

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INDEX 128 www.ospreypublishing.com sit down someplace. I picked out a sandbar in the river, cut the engine with the mixture control. pumped down full flaps and bellied in. I overshot a bit and bounced off an eight-foot bank onto another sandbar.'

Unhurt,Schaefferqu~k~made

contact with some friendly Chinese locals. who in turn helped the Warhawk pilot find his way back to Suichuan air base the following day ICover artwork by Mark Postlethwaite}

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lrhough overshadowed in hisrory by irs forebear, rhe American Volunreer Group (AVG), rhe USAAF's 23rd Fighrer Group (FG) made arguably rhe largesr conrriburion roward rhe Allied vicrory in rhe China-Burma-India ( BI) Thearre ofany air unir in World War 2. According ro rhe official AF website, the 23d FG accounred for the destrucrion of 621 enemy aeroplanes in air combat and 320 more on the ground. The group sank more rhan 131,000 rons of enemy shipping and damaged anorher 250,000 rons. Finally, rhe 23rd caused an esrimared enemy rroop loss of more rhan 20,000 men. These statistics were compiled during the course of 24,000+ combat sOfTies rotalling more than 53,000 flying hours, and at a cost of 1 10 aircraft losr in aerial combat - 90 shot down by surface defences and 28 destroyed while parked on the ground. By the author's counr, 32 aces scored five or more vicrories flying with the 23rd, and eighr more claimed at least one vicrory with the group. Pilors do not compile staristics like these by rhemselves, however. It takes a complete team effort, wirh a large staff of ground personnel supporting flight operarions. Many of these men served in China for more rhan rhree years before they were able ro return home, and rheir skills and devorion ro dUly can nor be oversrated. Just as important as the 23rd FG's outstanding combat record was irs development, and employmenr, of fighter-bomber raeries, which have

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Shown here in the autumn of 1942, these four key pilots of the 75th FS/ 23rd FG were credited with shooting down a total of nearly 30 Japanese aircraft between them during the course of the war. They are, from left, Capt John R Alison, Maj David L 'Tex' Hill, Capt Albert J 'Ajax' Baumler and Lt Mack A Mitchell. The P-40E behind them displays the unofficial unit badge of the 23rd FG (Bruce Holloway)

This handsome P-51 D was assigned to Lt Col Bruce C Downs, the very last wartime commander of the 74th FS. The squadron badge shows a gorilla riding a pony. Downs had flown in the RAF's No 121 'Eagle' Sqn earlier in the war, and he also participated in the defence of Malta, prior to transferring to the USAAF in September 1942 (John Conn)

served as a model for SAF tactical operarions ever since. But rhe 23rd FG did even more than thar, as its pilots flew weather reconnaissance, phororeconnaissance and even combar cargo missions, the larrer seeing drop ranks filled with ammunirion and supplies delivered ro Chinese rroops under siege ar Changsha and Hengyang during 1944. Every year, veterans of the 23rd FG who served in hina meet for a reunion. The rurnour rhins a lirrle ar each garhering, but in rhe peak years ir was nor unusual for more rhan 100 personnel ro show up. For a few days rhey peel back 60+ years of bark and return ro rhe core of their lives - the pivoral rime rhey shared in hina. The bar opens early and stays open late, with no money changing hands. Voices rise in laughter as old srories are rerold for rhe umpreenth time. Hands swoop and dive when the pilots describe air barrles oflong ago. I was lucky enough ro attend one of these reunions in Ocrober 1991, when rhe 23rd FG veterans met at Fort Walron Beach, Florida. On a warm afternoon 1srood with them on the field at nearby Eglin Air Force Base and watched two menacing-looking jet aircraft performing aerobati in the sky above. Eventually, the jets landed and began ro taxi roward the crowd. As they drew closer, ir was clear ro see that the dark-green A-I 0 Thunderbolts were sporting a familiar decoration on their noses - a leering sharksmouth and eyes. Like the vererans in the audience, these jers and their pilots had experienced combat. -arlier that year, when US militafY forces helped eject the Iraqi milirary from Kuwait, the 23rd FG had gone back inro action as a key unit in Operation Desert Storm. Much of the marerial contained in this book, and my previous work on the 23rd FG, Sharks Over China, is rhe result of rhe cooperation and supporr rhar I received from the veterans of rhe 23rd FG at that 1991 reunion. I have stayed in rouch with many of them over the years, and I am proud ro consider rhese men my friends and my heroes. 1 hope they consider my efforts in chronicling the hisrory of the 23rd FG a worthy tribure ro the sacrifices rhar rhey made for their counrry ar a time when rhe furure of freedom and democracy was on the line around rhe world.

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AVG PASSES THE BATON W ar news filled rhe Sunday papers across rhe nired Srares on 1 March J 942, and for rhe mosr pan none of ir was good. Ir was jusr II weeks since rhe surprise Japanese arrack on Pearl Harbor, and rhe narion was reeling from repons of one serback afrer anorher on rhe AJlied war fronrs. In rhe orrh African desen, Allied and Axis forces were sralemared ar Gazala. In rhe USSR, German rroops were bying siege ar Leningrad. In nonhern Europe, Lufrwaffe bombers conrinued ro pound London from bases in occupied France. Ifanyrhing, rhe news was even worse from rhe Pacific. As rhe US avy srruggled ro recover from rhe pounding ir had raken ar Pearl Harbor, American ground forces were rerrearing in rhe face of rhe Japanese advance in rhe Philippines. Singapore had fallen rwo weeks earlier, and Japanese forces were landing in Java. The firsr Japanese air raids againsr norThern Ausrralia had also jusr begun. The siruarion was jusr a lirrle berrer in Burma (now Myanmar), where a group of American fighrer pilors had been arrracring worldwide arrenrion since December for rheir spirired defence of rhe grear porr ciry of Rangoon (Yangon) againsr Japanese bombing arracks. Commanded by a rerired S Army Air Corps (USAAC) caprain by rhe name of Claire Lee hennaulr, rhe AVG consisred of civilian pilors and groundcrews secrerly recruired from US milirary unirs in 1941 ro Ay 100 expon models ofrhe urriss P-40 fighrer for China. Their mission was ro defend 'The Burma Road', rhe lasr supply roure inro China, from Japanese air arracks. Flying from newly caprured airfields in Thailand, Japanese bombers, wirh srrong fighrer escorr, firsr arracked Rangoon on 23 and 25 December 194 I less rhan a week afrer rheir firsr bloody encounrer wirh rhe AVG over Kunming, China. The AVG's 3rd Pursuir Squadron (PS), aJong wirh rhe RAF's No 67 Sqn, Aying American-builr Brewsrer BuffaJoes, inrercepred borh raids wirh grear success. In rwo days, rhe 3rd PS claimed no fewer rhan 35 vicrories, firmly esrablishing rhe AVG's glowing repurarion. Time magazine soon ragged rhe AVG wirh rhe nickname 'The FlyingTigers', and a legend was in rhe making. When phorographs of rhe AVG's sharkmourhed Tomahawk fighrers srarred appearing in rhe press, rhe American public's inreresr and affecrion grew. The AVG conrinued ro fighr over Rangoon for rwo monrhs, bur despire irs successes, Brirish and colonial ground forces were unable ro hair rhe Japanese advance inro Burma. The American press would nor reporT unril much larer rhar rhe lasr AVG Tomahawks had evacuared Rangoon on I March 1942. Back in rhe Unired Srares, a seemingly unremarkable evenr rook place on I March 1942, when rhe USAAC acrivared rhe headquaners secrion of rhe newly forming 23rd Pursuir Group (PG) ar Langley Field, Virginia.

Squadron leader Robert Neale flew H-81 Tomahawk '7' as commander of the AVG's 1st Pursuit Squadron during 1941-42. Neale served as temporary commander of the 23rd FG for the first two weeks after the unit was activated in July 1942, although technically he was a civilian at the time (Jack Cook)

Maj Gen Claire l Chennault, legendary commander of the China Air Task Force and later the Fourteenth Air Force, is credited with developing the tactics and strategies that the 23rd FG and other units under his command used so successfully against Japanese forces in China during World War 2 (Ray Crowell)

The American milirary had been building up ar a franric pace for more rhan a year as rhe prospecrs of war became increasingly likely. Newly minred pursuir groups were in rraining rhroughour rhe U , and ar firsr glance rhe 23rd appeared ro be desrined ro join rhem in preparing for combar. Bur from rhe very beginning, rhis unir was desrined ro be differenr, as subsequenr evenrs would soon show. Maj Roberr A ulberrson, a broad-shouldered, grey-haired career officer, was assigned as rhe group's firsr commander. He and his small cadre of experienced officers and COs were given abour 100 recruirs drawn from orher unirs ar Langley and rold ro ger rhem ready ro ship our for overseas in shon order. Some of rhe recruirs had joined rhe Army jusr a few days earlier, and had nor even experienced rhe 'pleasures' of basic rraining. Wirhin a week an advance derail under rhe command of MSgr Clyde Casro wenr ro Charlesron, Sourh Carolina, ro secure rhe supplies and equipmenr rhar rhe group would need ro rake overseas. The resr of rhe 23rd arrived a week larer ar Charlesron's Overseas Discharge and Replacemenr Cenrer with orders ro ship out immediately for foreign assignmenr. The group had still not yer been organised inro squadrons because ir had neirher pilors nor aircrafr. 23rd PG personnel boarded rhe converred ocean liner SS Brt/zit during rhe evening of 17 March 1942, and rhe ship lefr harlesron's harbour ar 0600 hrs the nexr morn ing. Irs desri nation was unknown ro rhe men of rhe group, who made up bur a small number of rhe 6500 rroops embarked in rhe vessel. A B-25 medium bomber parrolled overhead in rhe cool morning air as rhe ship made irs way on a zigzag course roward an Juan, Puerro Rico. On board rhe ship, rhe men found rhemselves in cramped quarrers. They srood in long lines ar chow rime and had lirrle ro do for rhe resr of rhe day. Afrer a quick srop wirhour shore leave ar an Juan, USS Brazi~ along wirh an escorr cruiser and a small aircrafr carrier loaded wirh scour biplanes, headed our across rhe Adanri Ocean.

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A few days larer rhe convoy arrived ar Freerown, in Sierra Leone, on rhe wesrern coasr of Africa. Again rhe men were prevenred from raking shore leave, bur rhey found a diversion in counring rhe nearly 200 ships in rhe harbour and warching RAF fighrers parrolling overhead. When USS Brazifclocked ar Cape Town, in Sourh Africa, on 18 April, rhe men happily ser foor on dry land for rhe firsr rime in a monrh. From rhere, rhe ship rounded rhe Cape of Good Hope and made anorher shorr srop ar Parr Elizaberh, before serring our on rhe final leg of rhe journey. After passing rhrough rhe Mozambique Srrair berween Madagascar and Africa, rhe convoy headed norrh rhrough rhe Indian Ocean ro dock ar Karachi, in India (now Pakisran) on 17 May 1942. Soon rhe men of the

23rd Fighrer Group (rhe unir's designarion had been changed from 'pursuir' ro 'fighter' in orders dated 15 May 1942) made rheir way rhrough rhe ciry ro rhe ew Malir anronmenr, on rhe edge of rhe nearby Sind Desert. New Malir was a huge airfield with very lirtle on ir, save a cavernous hangar rhat had originally been builr ro house a Brirish dirigible. The 23rd FG was assigned ro' Area', and lived in a scarrering of block buildings. lr was dusry, boring and exrremely hor. Soon, however, Sgr Roy Sell had an excellenr mess hall operarion going, which improved life quire a bit. Meanwhile, SSgr Edwin Jones organised sporrs acriviries rhar gave rhe men a chance ro blow offsome sream. Bur for now rhe 23rd Fe remained

An extensive system of civilian spotters behind enemy lines provided early warning of incoming Japanese air raids. On the airfields of the 23rd FG, personnel could assess the threat by watching the number of paper balls that were run up a pole near the operations office. A two-ball alert, as shown here at Kweilin, meant enemy aircraft were approaching the base and interceptors should scramble a third ball signified an attack was imminent (Tom Raleigh)

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WAR IN CHINA World War 2 in ia was already more rhan ren year old when rhe Japanese arracked Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941 and drew rhe Unired rare inro rhe conflict. Japan's aggre si n began in eprember 193] wirh rhe island narion's aprure ofMukd n in norrheasr hina. By early 1932 rhe enrire province ofManchuria - hina' mineral and indu uial hearr - wa under Japanese conrrol. Infrequenr clashe occurred berween Japane e and hine e rroops rhroughour rhe mid-1930 , de pire rreary r rms limiringJapan ro rhe area norrh ofrhe . rear Wall. Then in 1937 open warfare berween Japan and hina resumed. Fearing rhar rival arionali rand omrnuni r force in hina were abour ro merge, which could render rhe narion roo strong ro subdue by f, rce, rhe Japanese army incired an exchange of gunfire wirh hinese rroops ar rhe Mar 0 Polo Bridge near Peking on 7 July 1937. Wirhin a marrer of days, Japane ground force began pouring inro hina and a fullcale war wa under way. The fighringwenr badJy for rhe hinese for e under Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek. Peking fell quickly, followed by anking in De ember 1937 and rhen rhe major porr of anron and ciry of Hankow in crober 1938. Hainan Island in rhe ourh hina ea was invaded in February 1939, by whi h rime mo t acrive resisran eon rhe hine e mainland had cea ed. Japan rhen rurned ir arrenrion back ro Manchuria, where ir foughr a birrer engagemenr againsr rhe ovier Union From May ro eprember 1939. hiang retreared deep inr wesrern hina, etting up his apiral ar hungking, in zechuan Province, and million of hine e refugee followed him rhere. Japan now occupied all major hine e seaporr and 10

rran porration hub throughout eastern China. hiang was cur off from rhe urside world, ex ept for a thin rhread of a supply line rhat ran from the British- onrrolled port of Rangoon 800 miles through Burma and OntO ir rerminu ar Kunming, in ourhwe r hina. The roure would oon become known worldwide as 'The Burma Road'. The Chinese Air For e ( AP) had made a re p crable howing during the early fighting again t the invader, flying aircraft imported from the Unired tare, the oviet Uni n, Italy and elsewhere. A key elemenr in ir poradi su ce s was the influence of rerired AA pilar apr laire Lee hennaulr, who came ro hina in ] 937 ro erve as Direcror of ombat Training for the AP. He er up flying s hool , advi ed hiang on air rafr pur ha e and devi ed an air-raid warning system. Ac ording ro som ources, hennault also flew reconnaissance mis ion and may have engaged in aerial combat againsr rhe Japane e, a1rhough hi combar record ha never been onnrmed. Evenrually, the CAP wa overwhelmed by the increa ing number of m dern com bar aircraft thar Japan commirted ro it war against hina.A eries f air raids again r hungking began in April 1940, and so n a new Imperial Japane e avy fighrer rype, the MitsubishiA6M Zero- en, mopped upwharwa left of the CAP' air defen e . By thar rime, however, hennauJt had gained a wealrh of knowledge about rhe capabilities of Japane e aircrafr, a well as the srraregies and racri s employed by Japanese airmen and their leaders. Stirred by the wanron de trLlction rhe hine e had uffered at rhe hand of the Japane e, hennault wa determined ro put thi information ro good use. [n crober 1940, he

traveled ro Wa hingron, D. ., ro work with hine e ambas ador T V oong on selling rhe nired tare a new plan for bolsrering hina' air defence. The re ult of rhar rrip was rhe f, rmarion of rhe AV In the ummer of 1941. A key parr f hennaulr's grand plan was rhe mainrenance of an air-raid warning ner rhrough ur hi area of operarion . The ner was a omplex web of gr un I observer, many of them hine e civilian, arranged in a grid parrern and linked by relephone and radio. hennaulr had begun setting up tile warning ner soon afrer arriving in hina in 1937, and by 1942 many of the observer in easrern hina were located behind enemy lines. Under the direction of

radio experr John William, the n r wa greatly expanded in 1940 0 thar rhe inf, rmarion uld be Fed inro command cenrre where inr r epr dire t r coull lead hennauJr' fighrer ro appr a hing Japan e formari n . [r was aid rhar rhe ner worked 0 w II rhar \ hen Japane e aircraft rook off fr m rheir ba ar und Hankow, hennaulr would know about it wirhin minute in Kunming, ome 800 mile away. nly on rare occasi n did rhe ncr Fail ro give advan e warningofenemyairraids.Hisc nfid n einrhen r allowed hennaulr ro spread hi meagre force ro advan ed airfield near enemy lin with little fear of having them caught on rhe ground and d froyed. 11

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Sgt 0 E Westlake and Chinese assistants work on the hydraulic system and landing gear of a P-40E wing at Kunming Factory No 10. With the landing gear fairing removed, the details of the strut's retraction system are visible. A mix of Tomahawk and Kittyhawk fuselages line the wall in the background (Bruce Hollowayl

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a paper organisarion wirhour pilors or aeroplanes. Evenrs were unfolding elsewhere, however, rhar would soon change rhis siruarion. In China, rhe AVG had conrinued ro build on irs repurarion during rhe 23rd's rwo-monrh sea voyage. in acrion over Burma and sourhwesr China againsr rhe invading Japanese forces, AVG pilors racked up success afrer success over enemy aircrafr and ground rargers. Bur rhe AVG's srarus as a civilian organisarion was proving problemaric for Army 'brass' in Washingron, D.C.. If rhis rowdy bunch could go roe-ro-roe wirh rhe Japanese, why were regular Army fighrer ourfirs having such a rough rime ofir in rhe Philippines and rhe Sourh Pacific? There was more perceprion rhan realiry behind rhis rhinking, bur rhe image of rhe AVG as an embarrassmenr ro rhe U AAF held sway neverrheless. The remedy for rhe siruarion seemed simple. inducring rhe AVG inro rhe Army lock, srock and barrel would legirimise irs exploirs, and allow rhe USAAF ro claim irs furure successes. Viewed in rhis lighr, ir becomes obvious why rhe 23rd FG was senr ro a war zone wirhour aircrafr or rrained pilors and groundcrews - rhe men and aeroplanes were already in China fighring rhe war. In war, some srraregies work and orhers do nor. The inducrion of rhe AVG was one rhar did nor. Chennaulr accepred inducrion inro rhe Army wirh rhe rank offull colonel in April 1942, and began meering wirh AVG personnel ro urge rhem ro follow his lead. Bur mosr of rhe men were by now rhoroughly war-weary, and many of rhem were ill ro boor. They had signed up ro fighr for a year, and rhe bulk of rhem were fixed on rhe dare 4 July 1942, when rheirconrracrs wirh China would expire and rheycould

ar lasr go home. They enjoyed rhe loose organisarion of rhe AVG and did nor look forward ro rhe possibiliry of having ro bend ro spir-and-polish Army rules. When rhe Tenrh Air Force senr an inducrion ream from India ro pressure rhe AVG ro sign up, rhe pilors wanred no parr of ir, and mosr of rhe groundcrew felr rhe same. Some resigned from rhe AVG immediarely. The resr resolved ro serve our rheir contracrs, bur would call ir quirs on Independence Day. The USAAF could have whar remained of rheir dwindling force ofP-40s, bur rhar was all. While all rhis was going on, nine Army pilors who would larer serve in rhe 23rd FG arrived in China in May ro gain com bar experience flying wirh rhe AVG. On of rhese men was Maj Bruce K Holloway, a lanky Wesr Poinrer from Tennessee who wangled his way our of a sraffjob in Ten rh Air Force headquarrers by securi ng orders ro reporr ro Chen naulr as an observer of rhe AVG. He recorded his firsr impression of Chennaulr, who had jusr been promored ro br'igadicr general, in his diary; 'He is a sincere, inreresring and affable man - none of rhe usual overbearing and obnoxious rrairs associared wirh some general officers in rhe US Army.' Holloway flew several rimes wirh rhe AVG bur did nor see any acrion prior ro joining rhe 23rd FG. He would see plenty afrer rhar, however. When he finally lefr China in rhe aurumn of 1943, Holloway was borh rhe group commander and rhe leading ace in rhe CBI wirh 13 confirmed vicrories. The lessons learned from Chennaulr conrinued ro serve Holloway well rhroughour his milirary career, and he evenrually rerired from rhe USAF as a four-srar general. Fellow early arrival Capr Alberr J 'Ajax' Baumler was rhe only one of rhe nine pilors wirh combar experience, having flown Polikarpov 1-15 and 1-16 fighrers wirh rhe Republican forces in 1936-37 during rhe Spanish Civil War - he had claimed 4.5 kills and twO probables during rhis p riod. Baumler flew wirh rhe US Army from 1938 ro 1941, and rhen resigned his commission ro join rhe AVG. His firsr arrempr ro reach China was cur

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AVG armourers bore-site the guns of a newly arrived P-40E at Kunming in the spring of 1942. The AVG received about 30 E-models as attrition replacements for the Hawk 81-A2s acquired in 1941, and 18 of these survived long enough to be turned over to the 23rd FG. Some 28 of the 100 Tomahawks issued to the AVG were also handed over to the group when the former disbanded on 4 July 1942 IAVG Association)

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scramble against the incoming enemy force. Bad wearher prevented P-40s at I(weilin From reaching Hengyang ro join the fighr, so Recror and his men had to go ir alone.

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The P-40 Warhawk, with a fearsome shari mouth painted on it distinctiveenginecowling, isoneofthe enduring images of World War 2. It was a handsome machine, with it pointed nout, tapered wings and voluptuously r unded tail surfaces. In phorographs, paintings and even carroon , the P-40 (or' hark' in 23rdF parlance) came ro sym bol ise America's war effort - rough, cocky and colourful. The P-40 design had its roOts in the earlier blunt-

De pite it shortcomings, the P-40 began ro arrive at Army fighter bas s in May 1940. Pilots found it tri ky ro take offand land in the aeroplane until they became accusromed ro the high rorque of irs engine and the narrow track of irs landjng gear. nce In the ajr, they were mo t impres ed by one aspe t of the P-40's performance - its spectacular diving

nosed urtiss H-75 Hawk fighter, which was powered by a radial engines. Designed in 1934-35, the aircraft entered service with the AA in 1938 as the P-36. In an attempt ro build a faster fighter, urtiss propos d replacing the P-36's radial engine with the new AJli on V-1710 liquid-cooled powerplant ro create the P-40. The Army liked the ideaespe ially the fact that Curtiss would be able ro produce the new aeroplane quickly - and it issued a contract for more than 500 of the fighters. The P-40 did achieve an increase in rop speed of nearly 50 mph over the P-36, but the new aeroplane uffered in other ways. Its greater weight slowed the rate of climb and reduced manoeuvrability compared ro the P-36. Perhaps most importantly, theAJli on engine produced maximum performan e

speed. During 1940, redesigned irs P-40B/C ro take advamage of the newly dev loped, more powerful, ver ion of the Alii on engine, the V-171O-39. The aircraft, designated H-87 by irs manufacturer, had a new fuselage design with a lower thru t line and a bigger cockpit opening, and all of irs guns were mounted in the wing. The British c.o.Iled the new aeroplane the Kittyhawk (the previous model had been dubbed the Tomahawk), and in Service it was k.nown informally as the Warhawk. tartingwith the P-40D, all future models

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A detailed record of rhe fight does nor survive, but Four Japanese fighrers were claimed as destroyed For no losses. The citarion For Baumler's first Air Medal credits him wirh one Ki-27 , ate' destroyed that day. This gave Baumler the disrinction of having scored the AAF's first

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confirmed vicrory in the CBI Theatre. He would duly achieve an impressive record as a fighter pilot and squadron commander in China during rhe rumulruous year ahead.

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While rhe AVe was holding rhe line in China, orher Americans were busy Ferrying P-40E fighrers across AFrica roward Karachi. These pilots already had one adventure behind them, having flown 68 aeroplanes off rhe deck of rhe aircraFr carrier USS Ranger on 10 May ro begin rheir journey. Their successFul launch was no small Feat, because rhe P-40 _ a heavy aircraFt wirh a slow rate of climb - had nor been designed wirh the rake-off capabilities needed For carrier operarions. Evenrually, 25 of rhese pi lots would be assigned ro the 23rd Fe, the rest fi II ing au r rhe ranks of the 5 Isr Fe, wh ich had recently arrived in Ind ia wi rh jusr a handful of P-40s. LiFe wenr on as before For rhe 23rd FG at ew Malir unril 12 June, when orders arrived ro send a derail of 19 enlisted men to Kunilling, site of the AVe's headquarrers. By rhis time it was known thar the 23rd would be taking over From rhe AVG on 4 July, but ir srill was nor clear how. To complicare matters, Maj Culberrson Fell ill at ew Malir and was hospitalised, while the group adjutant, Maj Peter Borre, was reassigned to rhe air base command ar Karachi. ow the 23rd FG could add a lack of leadership ro its long lisr of orher obvious shortcomings.

Repair facilities, such as the No 10 Factory in Kunming, helped to keep the 23rd FG supplied with aircraft by rebuilding damaged aeroplanes and stripping parts from others that were beyond repair. Seen here in 1942, the factory is working on four P-40s plus a Republic P-43A at bottom left. Note the Chinese insignia on the P-40 wing in the foreground (Don HyaN)

- and they would be numerous - were modification of the original H-87 design. The P-40 was never the best performing fighter in the sky, but it was rei iable, it carried heavy armament,

at an altitude of juSt 15,000 ft, which was far below the operational ceilings of contemporary European

and ir could withsrand amazing amoum of battle damage and still bring its pilot home afely. By the rime production ended in 1944, urtiss had bujlt

and Japane e fighters. This was not the fauJr of the engine 0 much as it was the product of outdated thinking on the part of the Army, which till aw

more than 15,000 P-40s of all types. They flew for more AJI ied nations than any other combat aj rcraft of World War 2.

Maj Bruce Holloway flies a 76th FS P-40E near Kunming in 1942. The plane lacks the U.S. ARMY marking under its wings, indicating that it may be one of the AVG hand-medowns. The blue 76th FS fuselage band is barely visible (8i/l Johnson)

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fighters as medium-altitude, short-ranged weapons at that time.

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shorr by the Pearl Harbor attack, so he rejoined rhe Army, bur he soon wangled an assignment ro China. Baumler finally arrived ar Chennaulr's headquarters in Kunming in May 1942, and the following month found him at theAVG's easternmosr base, Hengyang, itching For acrion. He soon gOt It. As A VG engagements go, the air bartle near Hengyang on 22 June was successful, but not extraordinary. At 1320 hrs, rhe Chinese warning net reported a force of 14 Japanese Ki-27 'Nare' fighrers bearing down on Hengyang. AVG 2nd PS Vice Squadron Leader Ed RectOr made a call for help ro the lsr P , based at nearby Kweilin, and rhen pulled rogerher a flighr of six P-40E Warhawks, including one flown by Baumler, ro

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the men were pleasanrly surprised by their new dury station. [n the

accepted induction into the USAAF and stayed on with the 23rd FG

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foothills of the Himalayas at an altiwde of6230 ft, Kunming had a cool

was Maj Wesley Sawyer, who flew


cI imate that was a welcome rei ieffrom the June heat of India. The airfield

in the 76th FS until December 1942. He scored two victories with the

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The group's advance detachment arrived at Kunming on 15 June, and

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AVG and one more in August 1942

featured a crushed-s[Qne runway that was 6137 ft long and 375 ft wide

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running northeast [Q southwest so as [Q take advamage of the prevailing

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areas of China. The men, under the direction of AVG Squadron Leader Arvid Olson, began working alongside AVG groundcrews in their specialities [Q learn their jobs as quickly as possible. More USAAF personnel arrived in the days that followed and pi tched in immed iately. On 18 June the first USAAF pilots arrived in Kunming [Q begin training on the AVG P-40s that would be turned over [Q them in a few weeks. By this time the AVe was down [Q JUSt 48 operational fighters - a mixwre of early model

lieutenall( colonel or full colonel, and Chennault knew he needed

P-40Bs (Curtiss designation Hawk 81 -A2) and the remains of35 P-40Es

someone with fighter experience and an aggressive nature. Forwnately, he knew where [Q find just such a man.

that began arriving as replacements in late March. Obviously, the latter aircraft had logged fewer hours than the older P-40s, but all had seen heavy service in the AVG.

NEW COMMANDING OFFICER When Chennault learned that the ailing Culbertson would not be coming with the 23rd FG [Q China, he had [Q scramble [Q find a new CO [Q lead the group. The command structure called for an officer with the rank of

Col Robert L Scott, seen here in the cockpit of a P-40E, commanded the 23rd FG from mid-July 1942 until early January 1943. He returned to the US as the leading ace in China with ten confirmed victories, and went on to write the best-selling book about his experiences in the CBI, God Is My Co-Pi/at (Bill Johnson)

Col Robert L Scott was a 34-year-old West Poill( graduate who had spent most of his pre-war career flying fighters, but at this momell( was cooling his heels in the Assam-Burma-China Ferry Command, flying transports from Dinjan, in India, across the 'Hump' in[Q China. In his spare time, Scott used a P-40E borrowed from the AVG to fly patrols out of Di njan over the western portion of the' Hump' route. Scott got his new assignmem [Q the 23rd FG on 20 June and flew up [Q Kunming a week later [Q begin organising his headquarters. Meanwhile, 4 July and the dissolution of the AVG were moving inexorably closer. Chennault [Qok s[Qck of the situation and realised that the 23rd FG could nO[ possibly be ready [Q take over by that date. He sat down for heart-[Q-heart talks with some of his most trusted AVG pilots and eventually convinced five of them [Q stay on with him and accept commissions in the USAAF. These men - Majs Frank Schiel, David L 'Tex' Hill, Edward F Rec[Qr, J Gilpin 'Gil' Bright and Capt Charles W Sawyer - would give the new squadrons of the 23rd FG a hard core of combat experience that would help [Q carry them through the difficult first five mOll(hs in combat in China. In addition, 18 AVG pilots agreed [Q delay their departure for twO weeks following 4 July, providing Chennault with just enough flyers [Q hold the line until additional USAAF pilots arrived. Just as important, 33 AVG ground personnel agreed [Q be inducted in[Q the Army and stay on in China with the 23rd FG. Their technical skills and experience would be of inestimable value in the mOll(hs ahead. The 23rd FG suffered its first casualry since arriving in

hina on the

morning of3 July 1942. Pvt Marshall F F Brown was servicing the wing guns of a P-40 at Kunming when another enlisted man working in the cockpit accidell(ally tripped the trigger on the aeroplane's control column. Brown was standing direcrly in front of the fighter's twO 0.30-cal wing guns when they fired a short burst. Two rounds struck the private in the head, killing him instanrly. Brown was buried in the local cemetery

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twO days later.

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Pilots of the 16th FS attempt to relax in the open-air alert shack at Peishiyi shortly after arriving in China in July 1942. The 16th FS/51st FG was attached to the 23rd FG to provide air defence for the Chinese capital at Chungking, but it soon moved to the eastern China front (George Barnes)

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Former 3rd PS AVG Tomahawks, now assigned to the 74th FS/ 23rd FG, are parked at Kunming in the summer of 1942. Although these aircraft still carry their CAF serial numbers on their rudders, they also display the 23rd FG badge. Although not visible in this photograph, the Chinese national insignias on the wings have been replaced with the US star-on-disc ILeon Klesman)

Madame hiang Kai-shek, rhe wiFe oFChina's leader and rirular head of rhe AF, hosred a Farewell parry For rhe Few remaining AV members in Chungking (now Chongqing) beFore rhey wenr home, bur rhere was no orher evenr ro mark rhe group's passing inro hisrory. Likewise, rhere was no ceremony ar Kunming on 4 July J 942 For rhe official acrivarion of rhe 23rd FG and irs rhree squadrons. A Formarion of P-40s wenr up and made several low passes over rhe airfield For rhe benefir of rhe press phorographers on hand, bur rhar was ir. Afrer all, rhere was a war on. In Facr, rhe P-40s ar Hengyang Foughr rhe AVG's very lasr engagemenr rhar same day, rhe pilors involved claiming Four confirmed vicrories ao-ainsr Ki-27 , ares' rhar were arrempring ro perForm a srrafing arrack on b rhe airfield.

GROUP DISPERSES

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On 5 July, 'Tex' /-I ill led a flighr of nine P-40s From Kunming ro Kweilin (now Guilin), where he would assume command of rhe 75rh F . The squadron was ro be based ar Hengyang, and rhere ro fly wirh Hill were 'Gil' Brighr, 'Ajax' Baumler, Four U AAF lieurenanrs and a handFul of AVG pilors. Thar same day, Ed Recror and Charlie Sawyer flew From Hengyang ro Kweilin, where rheir 76rh FS would be based. They had an even smaller Army conringenr of jusr rhree lieurenanrs, plus some more AVG pilors. Frank Schiel had a diFFerenr assignmenr wirh rhe 74rh F . He had a Full complemenr of 18 Army lieurenanrs ar Kunming, bur none of rhem had been in hina more rhan a few day. As commander of rhe ' chool Squadron', ir would Fall on Schiel ro rrain rhese pilors in how ro fighr Chennaulr-sryle, whilsr ar rhe same rime providing air deFen e For Kunming. The 74rh rook over rhe red-banded aircraFr of rhe 3rd PS, rhe 75rh gor rhe] r PS's P-40 wirh rheir whire squadron markings, while rhe 76rh rook on rhe blue squadron colour of rhe 2nd PS.

Rounding our Chennaulr's fighrer Force was rhe 16rh FS, arrached For service From rhe 51 sr FG in India. This squadron was supposedly 'loaned' ro Chennaulr For rhe air deFence of hungking, bur irs assignmenr rhere only lasred a Few days. nder rhe command of Maj Harry B Young, rhe 16rh FS would move easr on 12 July ro Lingling, midway berween Hengyang and Kweilin. Irs P-40E-1 s were easily disringuishable From rhe aeroplanes of rhe orher rhree squadrons because rhey were rhe only ones displaying rhe merican narional insignia - a whire srar on a dark bl ue disc - on rheir Fuselages. The 16rh, officially srill a unir of rhe 51 sr F ,used numbers I I ro 39 ro idenriFy irs P-40s. The only orher SAAF combar aircraft in China ar rhar rime were a handFul of B-25 M irchell rwin-engined bombers assigned ro rhe I Irh Bomb Squadron (BS) ar Kunming. Ir would Fall on rhe shoulders of 'Tex' H ill, based Farrhesr easr ar Hengyang, ro lead rhe bulk oFrhe 23rd FG's missions during irs firsr Few weeks of op rarions. Already an ace wirh I] confirmed vicrories, Hill wa

The old and the new mingle on the 75th FS f1ightline at Chanyi. The Tomahawk in the foreground carries the 23rd FG badge and the 75th FS white stripe on its fuselage, but no aircraft number. Next in line are two brand new P-40E-1s or Ks, and then a P-40E. (James L Leel

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a big man ar 6 fr 2 in rall.Wirh his slow drawl, colourful language and gifrs as a sroryreller, he was a naruralleader. Hill recalled rhose early days in rhe

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23rd FG; 'The 23rd was unique in rhat it was formed in rhe field under combat condirions. For instance, in my case I was a squadron leader in rhe AVG. 1carne down offa fl ight and they said, 'Take the oath and sign here. You're now Maj Hill, 75th Fighter Squadron'. Chennaulr's directions were very, very simple. He said, 'Jusr try to kill every damned Jap you can find any way you can'. As American people, being very resourceful, we dreamed up all kinds of ways ro do rhings. 'We were prerty much on our own. Our squadrons were all separated, especially in rhe early days. Larer on rhey gor berrer organised. Whar we would do is move up into these advanced bases (such as Hengyang). All we'd have is fuel, bombs and ammo. Of course the Japs would know the minute we got there, and rhey'd be there the next morning. We'd flghr our of rhose bases unril we'd lose our combat effectiveness, rhen we'd move back to rhe rear echelon and regroup. If we could have susrained our posirions, I believe we could have arrrired the Japanese Army Air Force UAAF) from our China bases.' In mid-morning on 6 July 1942, H ill rook off from Kweilin, leading a flight oHour P-40s that were assigned ro escort five B-25s of rhe I 1rh BS on a mission to bomb insrallations ar Canton (now Guang'Lhou). The riny formarion climbed rhrough a low overcast and headed south towards rhe rarger. Forrunarely, rhe clouds broke up over Canton, allowing rhe B-25s to make their run over the targer at 5000 fr and score direcr hirs on several warehouses along rhe Pearl River, before turning for home. Thirty miles our of Canton, one of the B-25 pilors radioed rhat he was under arrack. H ill checked the sky around him to make sure that rhere were no other enemy flghrers lurking in rhe clouds, prior to leading his flight in a diving arrack on the Ki-27s. He hadlirrle rrouble picking our one of rhe 'Natcs'

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A pilot stands next to a 16th FS P-40E-1 at Kweilin. Note the heavy exhaust staining on the fuselage. In early September 1942, 23rd FG commander Col Scott complained in a memo that the P-40s flown by the 16th FS were worn out, having served as trainers in the US before coming to China I George Barnes)

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and hirring ir wirh a relling bursr ofO.50-cal 'slugs'. The fighter caught fire and dove into rhe ground. Meanwhile, AVG pilor John Petach, leading rhe second element, engaged three more Ki-27s. He filed this report; 'All rhree srarted to turn towards me. 1opened fire ar 500 yards bur was shooting behind rhe last man, so I pulled rhe nose of my aeroplane well ahead of rhe enemy aircraft and gave him a one-second bursr. Then the enemy aircrafr pulled into sighr righr in front of my nose so that my fire raked him as he passed. 1saw large holes in his wings, but rhe other lWO aeroplanes starred to make a pass ar me so I pulled up and took off. 1pulled away and saw cwo more abour three miles norrh of our combar. I rurned toward rhem, and rhis rime rhey rurned away and headed for a mounrain. The flrsr aeroplane was jusr rurning around rhe mounrain top when I overhauled the econd flghrer. I gave him abour a one-second bursr, and he erupred in flame and was burning well when H ill called all aeroplanes from combar. Ar rhat poinr 1broke off my arrack and joined up.' Hill and Perach were each credired wirh one Ki-27 desrroyed, and Perach also claimed a probable during rhe course of rhe 23rd FG's flrsr offensive mission. Sadly he was killed four days later while leading a dive-bombing arrack on rhe town ofLinchuan, which rheJapanese were holdingagainsr Chinese ground forces. Fellow AVG pi lor Arnold Shamblin was also losr on rhe mission. He reporredly baled our and was capru red by rhe Japanese, bur he did nor survive his imprisonmenr. On 19 July, rhe lasr of rhe AVG pilors boarded rransport aeroplanes ar Kunming to begin rheir long journey home. By rhar rime, more USAAF pilors had arrived ro fill our the ranks ofrhe 75th and 76rh FSs. Rector's 76rh crew ar Kweilin, for example, now consisred of 13 pilors including himselfand Sawyer. Ready or nor, they would have to take rhe flghr to rhe Japanese in China from here.

Ex-AVG Tomahawk '49' undergoes outdoor repairs, probably at Kunming. Note the different camouflage colours visible where the wing fairing has been removed. Also, a small turtle has been painted behind the shoulder of the flying tiger lOon Hvattl

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CHINA AIR TASK FORCE B

termi nus at Kunm ing from enemy ai r attacks. In addition, the CATF was expected to provide air support for hinese ground forces facing the Japanese along the border with Burma and in cenrral China. To further complicate the CATF's mission, the Japanese maintained airfields in a ring around Free China, from the Hankow (now Wuhan) area northeast of Hengyang to Canton and Hong Kong on the coast, and Hainan Island in the South China Sea to Hanoi, in French Indochina (now Vietllam). Fortunately for the CATF, the JAAF never had enough combat aircraft in hina to operate from all of these bases at once, however, although it moved its units frequently, and could trike Chinese targets from any direction at any time.

rig Cen Claire L Chennaulr was appoinred commanding officer ~f the China Air Task Force (CATF) as partof the Tenrh Air Force 111

China on 24 June 1942. He was 49 years old, in only fair health, and nearly exhausted after five years offighti ng the Japanese in China. The CATF was a tiny force consisting of the four P-40 squadrons and the I I th BS (Medium) with B-25s. Initially numbering just 70 aircraft, the CATF faced a formidable assignment. The Japanese flanked Chiang Kai-shek's Free China on the east, south and west. To the north was the USSR, which maintained neutrality with Japan. The loss of Burma in the spring had severed China's last supply link ro the out ide world. othing could move in or out of China by road, rail or ship. The only avenue left was the air. Following the fall of Rangoon, transport aircraft began plying the hazardous 450-mile route from Chabua and Dinjan, in India's remote Assam Valley, over the rugged Himalayan Mounrains to Kunming. They brought everything from ammunition and gasoline to roothpaste and toilet paper for the fighting forces in China via rhis route, which soon became known worldwide as the 'Hump'. It was absolutely vital to keep the 'Hump' supply line open, so the CATF's top priority was to protect its transport aircraft and its eastern

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The location and quality of the CATF airfields in China worked to its advantage. Like the warning net, hennault's network of bases was a constant work in progress. Kunming, in Yunnan Province, served not only as the point of entry for 'Hump' flights arriving in China, but also as rhe headquarters for Chennault and the CATF. From Kunming, it was roughly 300 miles southwest to Lashio (the most advanced enemy air base in Burma), 330 miles south to Hanoi and380 miles north to hungking, Chiang Kai-shek's capital city.

Civilian and military transport aircraft, including this USAAF C-47, plied the 'Hump' route between India and Kunming daily to deliver supplies that were essential in keeping China in the war. The 23rd FG provided cover for the China end of the air corridor during 1942-43 (Mrs G H Steidle)

Airfields in China featured crushed rock runways, built by hand. Here, a team of Chinese workers pulls a heavy roller over the Kweilin runway, while a C-47 lands in the background. The gravel runways were hard on tyres, but bomb craters were easily repaired (Tom Raleigh)

Flying easrward from Kunming to the CATF's other primary bases, it was 425 miles to Kweilin, 105 miles farther to Lingling and 65 miles beyond there to Hengyang. From these three sires, the CATF could strike at the Japanese in Canton and Hong Kong on the coast, and up north in the Hankow area. Literally dozens of other airfields were either available for Chennault's use or were under construction. everal of these were located behind Japanese lines in unoccupied areas controlled by Chinese guerrilla forces. Virtually all of the airfields in China featured runways built by hand out of crushed gravel. Although they were not as smooth as paved surfaces,

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and were thereFore hard on aircraFt ryres, crushed gravel runways were nearly impossible ro destroy. A direct hit by an enemy bomb might gouge a hole in the surFace, but within minutes a huge crew of Chinese workers would descend on the damaged area with picks and shovels, wheelbarrows and hand-drawn rollers. The runway could be back in service by the time the Japanese bombers had returned ro base.

NIGHTFIGHTING During the early weeks in the 23rd FG's hisrory, the Japanese had establ ished a pattern ofsend ing small Formations oFbombers over the east China bases at night on harassment missions. At Lingling, the 16th FS pilots rook the abuse For as long as they could, but on the night oF26-27 July two of them decided ro fight back when three bombers were reporred approaching the field. Capt Ed Goss and I Lt John' Moe' Lombard, who were both Future aces, scrambled in their P-40s at around 0 I00 hI'S. Goss gOt oFF first and managed ro SpOt the bombers, which were flying with their Formation lights on. He made three passes at them over the field, possibly damaging one of the bombers, beFore they turned oFF their lights and disappeared inro the night. Lombard did not make contact. Later that night Goss scrambled again, this time with another Future ace, I Lt Dallas Clinger, on his wing. The enemy bombers turned back beFore reaching Lingling, and the P-40 pilots returned ro base disappointed. Word of the attempted night interceptions quickly spread throughout the 23rd FG. At Hengyang, Capts John Alison and 'Ajax' Baumler of the 75th FS sat down ro work out plans For a successFul night interception. Their chance ro tryout their theories came on the night oF29-30 July. On the report of incoming raiders, the pair rook oFF at about 0200 hI'S. Alison got away first, passing through a thin layer oFhaze at 9000 Ft. pon reaching an altitude of 12,000 Ft, he commenced circling, his eyes straining in the darkness ro pick out the approaching enemy bombers (possibly M itsubishi Ki-21 'Sallys', identified as Type 97s by the USAAF pilots involved). Soon Alison's radio crackled with the message that enemy bombers had just passed over Hengyang From norrh ro south without attacking. The next message said that the enemy aircraFt had

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turned onro a reciprocal course and were heading back in the direction of the airfield. Alison assumed that he had missed spotting the bombers because they had passed below the haze layer, but then he had another thought perhaps they were above him. As he flew over the field he looked up ro his leFt and saw shadows passing against the stars, along with the telltale glow of the bombers' exhaust flames. Alison pulled his P-40 into a climb and called in his sighting ro Baumler, who was close by. As Alison reached 15,000 Ft and drew level with his quarry, the twinengined bombers banked ro the right and made a JSO-degree turn that would position them For a third run over the field. Apparently, the rurn placed Alison's P-40 between one of the bombers and the moon, because the tail gunner in the aeroplane ro Alison's right opened fire. A stream of tracers caught the P-40 in the nose and stitched it down the length of the Fuselage. Alison, not knowing how badly his fighter was damaged, immediately starred shooting at the bomber directly in Front oFhim.

A two-second burst From his six 0.50-cal guns ripped inro the bomber, and it Fell away From the Formation. Then Alison turned his guns on the bomber ro his right that had damaged his P- O. He fired again, and this time his target burst inro flames and Fell in pieces From the sky. Men on the field at Hengyang saw the exchange of fire and then watched the Falling fireball. By now the engine in Alison's P-40 had begun ro smoke, and it was throwing oil back over the fighter's windscreen.

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When Alison launched his attack, Baumler was still several thousand Feet below and climbing For all he was worth. He saw Alison's first victim Fall away From the other two and decided his best course of action would be ro finish oFF the damaged machine. AFter a short chase, he pulled inro firing position behind the bomber and cut loose. The latter staggered as it erupted in flames, beForc diving inro the ground. At this point a gunner in yet another bomber opened fire on Baumler, alerting him ro its presence. He chased this aeroplane For abou t 30 miles beFore catch ing up with it and blowing it out of the sky.

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Meanwhile, Alison continued ro fight, although the engine in his P-40 was by now running very roughly. Maintaining visual contact with the third bomber in the original group that he had spotted, Alison reached firing range just aFter the aeroplane had dropped its bombs. In the final Few seconds beFore his engine died, Alison got oFF three bursts, the third of which must have directly hit the bomber's Fuel tanks because the aeroplane literally cxploded. At almost the same moment, the engine in Alison's P-40 gasped and quit. He opened the canopy ro improve his vision and turned ro attempt a dead-stick landing at Hcngyang. JUSt as he began his approach, flames belched out From under the engine cowling, momcntarily stunning and distracting AJison, who in turn overshot the airfield. In the final Few seconds of flight, he nursed the P-40 over some buildings and trees, then set it down on the surFace of the Hsiang River.

Three war-weary P-40Es that saw combat in China with the 23rd FG during 1942 sit on the ramp at Landhi Field near Karachi, in India, where they are in service with an operational training unit. '12' (left) and '37' came from the 16th FS, while '100' had previously served with the 76th FS I George Aldridge)

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The Japanese fighter most often encountered by the 23rd FG was the Nakajima Ki-43 Hayabusa (Allied code name 'Oscar'). This captured example was repainted in Chinese markings at Kweilin. Pilots of the 23rd FG often misidentified the Ki-43 as a 'Zero', especially early on in the war (Everett Hyatt)

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ow ir was Baumler's rurn ro land, bur rhe field ar Hengyang remained blacked our. Two members of rhe 75rh FS rushed ro ser our a line of lanrerns down each side of rhe runway, rhus giving Baumler rhe lighr he needed ro land safely. Alison and Baumler were each awarded rwo confirmed vierories for rhe mission, and borh pilors were larer decorared for rheir bravery. Baumler was in acrion again wirhin hours when rhe Japanese senr a mixed force of abour 30 fighrers (Ki-27 'Nares' and new Ki-43 'Oscars') back ro Hengyang. 'Tex' Hill,' il' Brighr and Baumler led a group of P-40s from rhe 75rh and J 6rh FSs in an arrack ar \9,000 fr nor far from rhe field. H ill made a head-on pass ar a Ki-27, which was crirically damaged by rhe P-40 pilots accu rare bursr offi reo Wi rh no hope of maki ng ir home, rhe JAAF pilar no ed over and aimed his srricken machine ar a dummy 1)-40 rhar had been parked on rhe airfield ar Hengyang. The dearh dive missed rhe 'fighrer' by abour 50 fe, wirh rhe' are' burying irsel fin rhe ground near rhe end of rhe runway. The air barrie raged for abom 15 minures. Brighr pur a bursr inro a Ki-43 from behind and saw rhe aircrafr nose over before he had ro rake evasive acrion ro shake off anorher 'Oscar' rhar was approaching from his rear. Using his superior speed, Brighr made a shallow climb and pulled away from rhe arracker. As rhis was happening, Brights wingman followed rhe firsr' scar' down and repearedly hir ir prior ro rhe Japanese fighrer crashing. ow Brighr headed back inro rhe dogfighr and anempred ro ger onro rhe rail of anorher Ki-27. The 'Nare' pilar sparred rhe approaching P-40 and snap-rurned so righrly rhar he was now in a posirion ro make a headon pass ar Brights Warhawk. nperrurbed, Brighr rook aim and rhe , are' was sn'uck a series of relling blows by rhe P-40's heavy calibre

0.50-cal machine guns. The Japanese fighrer pulled up sharply before dropping offi n a spi n, rraili ng whi re smoke. Brighr could nor srick around ro warch rhe Ki-27 crash, however, because he had ro evade yer anorher enemy fighrer anempring ro arrack him. Hill, Brighr and Baumler were each credired wirh one vierory, and furure ace I Lr Bob Liles of rhe \6rh FS gar a probable for his squadron's firsr claim. Enemy fighrers carne back ro Hengyang again early rhe nexr morning (3\ July). This rime, separare P-40 Aighrs from rhe 75rh and \6rh mer rhem, and yer anorher one-sided barrie erupred. Three furure aces of rhe 16rh - Coss, Clinger and Lombard - claimed rheir firsr vierories in rhe fighr, and a furrher rhree kills were credired ro Maj Brighr, \ Lr Henry Elias and 2Lr Mack M irchell of rhe 75rh. Larer rhar morning, Col orr claimed rwo vierories near Leiyang whil Aying by himself. In rhe pasr 3\ hours, rhe pilors of rhe 23 I'd FC had rallied 15 confirmed vierories f, r rhe cosr of jusr one P-40. Chennaults new boys had mer rhe challenge and were ready for more. This facr was nor losr on rhe hinese. ivilian and milirary leaders ar Lingling expressed rheir grarirucle ro rhe 16rh FS on I Augusr by presenring rhe squadron wirh a large blue-andwhire banner proclaiming ir 'The rear Wall of rhe Air'. This banner, on which rhe rear Wall of hina was porrrayed wirh a shark's mourh and small yellow wings, became rhe inspirarion for rhe \6rh's squadron badge. Larer, rhis emblem was painred on rhe fuselages of mosr of rhe units P-40s. Similar ceremonies rook place in Hengyang ro honour rhe pilors and groundcrews srarioned rhere. More aerion followed, bur ir was nor unril 8 Augusr rhar rhe 76rh FS ar lasr managed ro score irs firsr vicrories. On rhar day, Charlie Sawyer led a four-aeroplane Aighr our ofKweilin, escorring B-25s ro arrack Whire Cloud

2Lt Dallas A Clinger scored the 16th FS's first victory on 31 July 1942 at Hengyang, and he went on to become a five-victory ace. His adventurous spirit is amply on display in this photograph, as he puts a motorcycle through its paces at Karachi prior to his transfer to China (Jack Best!

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airfield ar anton. The following exrracr from rhe 76rh FS's official unir hisrory de cribed rhe flghr, which began ar I 136 hI's; 'As rhe bombers hir rheir objecrive, Lr (parrick) Daniels peeled off and arracked a flighr of rhree Zeros. He spun our of rhe rurn in his flrsr arrack, bur recovered wirh rhree Zeros on his rail. However, he managed ro pull away from rhem wirh full rhrorrle. Two of rhe Zero fell far behind and rurned back, bur rhe rhird Zero followed. Lr Daniels made a quick rurn and a head-on run wirh rhe Jap. The Zero pilor pulled up ro escape rhe gunfire ofrhe P-40, and ro gain posirion where he could fire on Daniels' canopy from above. Daniels pulled up righrly and saw his rracers from his six 0.50-cals go rhrough rhe Zero jusr as rheJap was abour ro fire ar him. The Zero caughr fire and Lr Daniels saw rhe pilor crawl back on rhe fuselage of rhe aeroplane just before ir crashed on rop of a mountain.

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'As rhe bombers started homeward, Capr Sawyer saw a fl igh r of nine Zeros and 1-97s (almost certainly Ki-43s and Ki-27s) coming up ro intercept rhe bombers. He peeled off and headed for the flight. Lt (Charles) DuBois, rhinking the flighr leader was going down ro strafe rhe aerodrome as planned, followed the captain. In rhe engagement that followed, Capt Sawyer shot down one 1-97. Both Capt Sawyer's and Lt Daniels' vicrories were confirmed.'

B-25s of the 11th BS taxi out for a mission in the autumn of 1942. The 23rd FG squadrons often provided fighter escorts for the 11th BS, which was the only other combat unit assigned to the CATF. Note the dusty field conditions (Doug Ericksonl

Further vicrories were claimed on 1 1 and J 7 August, but then rhe reality of war in China set in. Supplies of ammunirion and gasoline were running low, the wearher was rurning sour, rhe P-40s needed servicing and the pilots and groundcrews were getting fatigued. Chennault made the decision ro pull his squadrons our ofeast China for the rime being. The 16th FS rerurned ro Peishiyi, rhe 76rh joined rhe 74 th at Kunming and the 75th went ro the new base ar hanyi (now Zhanyi), 50 miles northeast of Kunming. Japanese commanders opposing rhe CATF used high-flying reconnaissance aircraft - primarily rwin-engined Ki-46 'Dinahs' - ro try to keep track of Chennault's mobile forces. The 74rh FS 'School Squadron' at Kunming got its flrsr tasre of com bar on 8 Seprember 1942 when a single P-40 was sent up ro try ro intercepr one of the snoopers. Maj Bruce K

Holloway, who was serving as 23rd FG operations officer at rhe rime, described the action in his diary. This entry also provides a look ar the CATF's employment of the warning net; 'Starred getting plots of one enemy ship around Paoshan at about 0845 hrs, rhen another of one aeroplane coming this way from rhe direction of Hanoi. Regular plots of this aeroplane ame up ro the 200-km circle and rhen we gor no more. At rhis point, I sent up P-40B "46", pilored by Lt Thomas R Smirh, and gave him instructions ro go as high as he could and circle rhe field. Heard norhing more unril abour 1000 hI'S, when Iliang

Sgts Cotton and Orwin attempt to raise 74th FS Tomahawk '59', which was apparently taxied into a ditch at Kunming. This ex-AVG fighter gave the 74th FS so much trouble that it was eventually nicknamed the 'Yunnan Whore'! ILeon Klesman)

(only 30 km away) reported a dogfight going on overhead. 1 immediately sell( our Lt Daniels in P-40 "104" ro give aid. 'There were no details given of rhe dogfight whatever over the Chinese net-nor even the number ofaeroplanes involved. However, 1considered there was only one enemy aeroplane since ir had been prerty definitely one on the plots coming up - rherefore, I did nor alert rhe command other rhan purring all pursuir unirs on sration. 'Well, Smith shot him down - a (Win-engined 1- 5 (Ki-46). Ir was a grear day forthe 74rh, with much rejoici ng - good for its hererofore rather low srate of m rale. mith did one vicrory rollover the field very low (indicarion of one aeroplane shor down) and made a very short circuit before landing. He was so excited, however, that he overshor the field and had ro go around again. 'The flrsr bl od for rhe 74rh F , which has been sitring here for (WO months and not even seen an enemy aeroplane.'

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mith reporred thar he had caught rhe JAAF aeroplane at 24,000 ft and pulled in close behind it. He put one bursr into ir left engine and then five into the righr engine, which caughr fire. I e was so close behind rhe damaged enemy aeroplane thar it sprayed oil allover the leading edges of his wings and tail surfaces. Finally, the stricken machine nosed over into a long dive and crashed inro the ground. It was Smith's only confirmed

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victory of rhe war, and rhree monrhs larer he was decorared wirh a Silver Srar for rhe acrion.

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Officers of the 76th FS gather at Kunming in mid-September 1942. Sat in the bottom row are, from left to right, Patrick Daniels (KIAI, Charles DuBois, Howard Krippner (KIA). Gordon Kitzman, Bruce Smith (adjutant) and Edward Rector (commanding officer). Second row, from left to right, are Jasper Harrington (engineering chief). Harold Stuart, C W Sawyer, Edward Dangrove (flight surgeon), unknown, M D 'Tim' Marks and Arthur Waite. Top row, from left to right, are unknown and Jewell Matthews 1Bill Johnson)

hennaulr would shurrle his P-40s in and our of rhe easrern bases rhroughour rhe resr of 1942. Deploying in squadron and even down to flighr srrengrh, pilors would show up ar Hengyang, Linglingor Kweilin on shorr norice, fly a couple of missions, and rhen pull our again for rhe relarive safery of rhe Kunm ing area. Ar rhe same ri me, Chennaulr began to look sourh into French Indoch ina and wesr in ro norrhern Burma for more rargcrs ro arrack. On 25 Seprember, rhe CATF srruck Hanoi in force for rhe firsr rime when nine P-40s, led by Maj Ed Recror of rhe 76rh FS ar Kunming, escorred four B-25s in an arrack on Gia Lam airfield. The fighrers stopped ar an auxiliary airfield near rhe Chinese border ar Mengrze ro top off wirh fuel so rhar rhey could rhen rerurn ro Kunming non-srop. RecLOr led rhe close escorr, wirh Col Bob Scorr leading rhe rop cover. A flighr of 13 rwin-engined Japanese fighrers, possibly new Kj-45 icks', were wairing as rhe Ameri ans approached rhe rarger, and rhey arrempred ro arrack rhe B-25s. Recror's flighr offour was able ro cur rhem off, and a swirling dogfighr ensued. Rector shor down rwo, and rhe orher rhree members of his flighr - 2Lrs Par Daniels, Tim Marks and Howard Krippner - each gor one apiece. Afrer rhc B-25s had rurned for home, Col Scorr sporred a flighr of rhree enemy fighrers climbing roward rhe rerrearing bombers. Inrercepring rhem, Scorr claimed ro have shor up all rhree aircrafr, and he was duly credired wirh one confirmed vicrory and a probable. This kill was his fifrh, which made him rhe firsr USAAF pilor ro arrain ace srarus in rhe 23rd FG.

By rhe rime rhe war ended, 40 more pilors would join him on rhe 23rd FG's rosrer ofaces. 25 Seprember was also rhe day rhar rhe CATF reporred the arrival of20 new fighter pilors at Kunming. This was the first significanr influx of pilots since the formation of the 23rd FG some three months previous. Even more important, these new aviators had becn seasoned during long monrhs of parrol and training duries in the Panama anal Zone. They knew how ro fly, and thcy knew how ro ShOOL Vcry quickly, they learned how to fight Chennaulr-sryle as wcll. More good pilors would follow from Panama in coming monrhs.

Studebaker fuel truck No 119 refuels a line of new 76th FS P-40Ks at Kunming in the autumn of 1942. The 23rd FG carried out numerous strafing and reconnaissance missions against traffic and installations along 'The Burma Road' during this period, before escorting B-25s to Hong Kong for the first time on 25 October (Bill Johnson)

The CATF next turned irs attenrion ro an cven biggcr rargcr _ the famous port ciry of Hong Kong. This first mission, a long-planned strike againsr rhe docks at Kowloon, was flown on 25 Ocrober, wirh seven P-40s of the 75th and 76th FSs escorting 12 B-25s. Chennault shutrled his arrack force into Kweilin early that morning, and the mission ro Hong Kong, some 325 miles away, rook off at I 130 hI'S. The 75th F unir hisrory gave th is descri ption of the mission;

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The arrangement for the defence of China was simple - the US provided the airpower and the Chinese provided the manpower. Here, Chinese workers at Kunming carry a Allison V-1710 engine from a 23rd FG P-40 using age-old technology (Leon Klesman)

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16th FS pilot Capt Clyde B Slocumb poses with his P-40E-1 - possibly No 16 (41-24927). Slocumb was credited with shooting down an enemy bomber on 2 November 1942. He returned to China for a second tour in 1944 as CO of the 75th FS, and assumed command of the 23rd FG after the war had ended (Clyde Slocumb)

76th, I Lt Charles DuBois, also saw his first action later that day when a flight of P-40s scrambled from Kunming to intercept a Japanese formation approaching from Indochina. The six P-40s met a mixed force of Ki-43 'Oscars' and Ki-45 'Nicks' near the border, 30 miles south of

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Menrze, and claimed four destroyed and four probables for no losses. DuBois claimed two of the victories, then scored a third kill two days later in a similar encounter over Mengtze. The following monrh, the 23rd FG added three more pilots to its roster ofaces in a single day. The mission was planned as a rerurn to Hong Kong

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in force on 27 November, with ten B-25s escorted by 23 P-40s of the 16th, 74th and 75th FSs. The night before the strike, however, a strong wind blew up from the south. The headwind, combined with a shortage of 75-gallon drop tanks for the P-40s, forced the CATF to change its

'The bombers did some good work on the docks and headed for home when a few Zeros appeared. While the Japs were making up their minds on how to hit the bombers, the top cover picked offa few of the Zeros. Maj Chinese soldiers relax in the alert shack at Hengyang while 75th FS pilot Capt John Hampshire catches up on his reading. Hampshire. one of the many fighter pilots who came to China in 1942 after service in the Panama Canal Zone. was the leading ace in China with 13 confirmed victories when he was killed in action on 2 May 1943 ID J Klaasen)

Hill took his flight into a formation of six Japs. He caught the first one, Col SCOtt got another, Capt Hampshire a third one and Lt Sher of the 76th the fourth. One of the Japs got on the tail ofa B-25, and although he was fortunate enough to shoot down the first B-25 in this theatre, his good fortune was immediately followed by bad in the form of apt Hampshire, who had heard the bomber's call for help and had 'sandwiched' the Jap, sending him spinning to earth less part of one wing.' Capt John Hampshire and Lt Morton Sher were two of the new Panama pilots flying their first mission. Another new Panama pilot in the

target to Canron. Japanese fighters were up in force to oppose the raiders, and a huge air batrle quickly developed. The best description of the mission comes from the diary of Maj Holloway of the 76th, who led the top cover flight; '\,(/ecame into the target area from the north at 19,000 fr. When about 15 miles from the city, the bombers split into three flights - one to bomb the aircraft factory, the second to attack Tien Ho airfield and the third to target any shipping in the river. About the same time they split, Ed Goss (16th FS) ran into ten Zeros over to the left, and the fight was on. I didn't take my flight over there but Stayed with the bombers unril they reached their targets. 'I stayed with the ones who bombed a ship of about 8000 tons. They achieved several direct hits on the vessel and practically tore it to pieces. Right after this, another fight started under us - Alison gOt his flight into

New P-40Ks of the 75th FS get attention during refuelling on the flight/ine at Hengyang. The longer teeth at the front of the mouth were a trademark of the 75th FS 'Sharks'. The third fighter in the line carries the name ROSE MARIE in white below its exhaust stacks (Bill Harris)

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rhis one, and by rhen rhe radio conversarion was gerring good. Everybody was yelling for someone else ro shoor aJap offhis rail. 1heard Clinger say ro (J Lr Jack) Besr, "I jusr knocked one offyourrail, bur you oughr ro move over. I almosr hir you, roo". Abour rhis rime I saw a parachure descending direcrly ahead, and since rhe bombers seemed ro be gerring away all righI', I wenr on ro invesrigare rhe parachure, rhinking ir was from a silvercoloured aeroplane in rhe disrance. 'By rhis rime I was righr over Tien Ho aerodrome, so 1dived down inro rhe fighr. 1was really going srrong, and my flighr pirched inro rhe middle ofir. 1made a pass on a Zero and ir bursr imo flames-I didn'r see ir hir rhe ground, as I had already srarred looking for orhers. They were all over rhe place, and you could see rracer bullers going in every direcrion. 1 saw burning Japanese aeroplanes falling all over rhe sky. I made several more runs on Zeros and 1-97s and finally gor inro a good posirion on an 1-97 and gave him a long bursr. 1don'r know wherher he wenr down or nor1claimed him as a probable. 'Afrer rhis 1climbed back ro 8000 fr and barged in again. By rhis rime 1 could see only abour rhree Japs lefr milling around over rhe field like mosquiroes. All rhe P-40s had eirher len or were chasing some Jap our over rhe counrryside. The rhree rhar were lefr were very elusive, and 1didn'r gel' a good pass ar any of rhem. Finally, cwo of rhem gor on my rail, so 1 lefr rhe viciniry in somewhar of a hurry and srarred for home. [ could hear everybody ralking abour how many rhey shor down, and ir cerrainly sounded good. 'j proceeded on roward home all by myself, looking around behind me all rhe rime, when 1 saw an aeroplane off ro my lefr going back roward Canron. II' was a cwin-engined lighr bomber and was very low over rhe hills. I rurned in behind him and gave chase. Apparenrly he never did see me. I pulled on up ro wirhin abour 100 yards behind him, expecring rhe rear gunner ro open up on me ar any insram. Eirher rhere was no rear gunner, or he was asleep. I opened up from direcrly asrern and poured lead inro him. The whole righr side of rhe aeroplane bursr inro flames, and

immediarely rhereafrer rhere was an explosion rhar rore off rhe enrire righr wing. The flaming wreckage fell ofF ro rhe lefr and crashed inro rhe ground. 1I' made a beauriful fi re, and rhe whole rh ing rook less ri me rhan ir does ro rell abour ir. 1 rurned around and wem home _ [ didn'r have a single buller hole in my aeroplane.' When all rhe claims had been rallied and checked, no fewer rhan 23 confirmed vicrories were awarded ro rhe pilors of rhe 23rd. Only two P-40s were losr, borh as a resulr of running our offuel on rheir way home, and borh downed pilors rerurned safely ro base. II' was rhe highesr scori ng mission in 23rd FG hisrory. Capr John Hampshire of rhe 75rh led all pilors wirh rhree confirmed kills, bringing his roral ro five. Iso reaching ace srarus were ILr Charles DuBois of rhe 76rh wirh rwo vicrories and ILl' John 'Moe' Lombard of rhe I6rh wirh one. Furure aces who scored on rhe mission were Maj Holloway of rhe 76rh FS and Capr Goss of rhe I6rh FS wi rh cwo each, pi us Lr Col Cli mon D 'Casey' Vi ncen I' (CATF operarions officer), 1Lr Dallas Clinger of rhe 16th FS and 1Lr Marvin Lubner of rhe 76rh FS wirh one apiece. Col Scorr also recorded rwo vicrories. Capt John D 'Moe' Lombard was the first ace of the 16th FS, scoring his fifth victory on 27 November

Lt Sam Berman of the 76th FS poses in the cockpit of P-40K '103' in late 1942. Note the AVG-style tiger decal and the two-colour topside camouflage on the aircraft. Berman made a forced landing in Japaneseheld territory in May 1943 but was rescued by Chinese guerrillas and returned to his squadron two weeks later (Bill Johnsonl

1942. He subsequently claimed two more kills and was promoted to commander of the 74th FS before being lost in bad weather in June 1943 (Bruce Holloway))

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ACES' FAREWEll Big changes occurred on 5 December. ThaI' morning, former AVG pilors 'Tex' Hill, Ed Recror, 'Gil' Brighr and Charlie Sawyer boarded a rransporT in Kunming ro begin rheir long-awaired journey home ro rhe U . ArrhaI' rime, Hill was rhe leading acrive ace in rhe CBI wirh 11.75 vicrories, and Recror was nor far behind wirh 6.75 kills. Borh men would rerurn ro China larer in rhe war ro serve a srinr as CO of rhe 23rd F . The lasr remaining AVG pilor, 74rh F commander Maj Frank Schiel, wa killed larer rhar same day flying a mission in a Lockheed F-4 Lighrning phororeconnaissance aircrafr rhar fell vi rim ro bad wearher. Three new squadron commanders rook over from rhem, namely Capr 'Ajax' Baumler in rhe 74rh FS, Maj John Alison in the 75rh F and Maj Bruce Holloway in rhe 76rh F . When Col corr rerurned ro rhe a momh larer, Holloway replaced him as 0 of rhe 23rd F , and a

DAISY MAE was one of two Lockheed F-4s of the 9th PhotoReconnaissance Squadron attached to the 23rd FG in 1942. Maj Frank Schiel, commander of the 74th FS, was killed flying one during a weather reconnaissance mission on 5 December 1942 (Doug Erickson)

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Groundcrewman George Spencer stands next to P-40K '110' of the 76th FS. Its regular pilot was Capt Jeffery Wellborn, who scored the group's only solo P-43 victory. The extended vertical fin of the P-40K, intended to counteract the torque of its uprated Allison engine, is clearly visible in this shot (George Spencer)

Maj Harry M Pike of the 16th FS shot down this Ki-48 bomber of the 90th Sentai over Kweilin in the early morning darkness on 23 November 1942. Lacking radar-guided ground control, pilots of the 23rd FG enjoyed only limited success during night interceptions (G W Hazlett)

newcomer ro China in rhe form of Capr Granr Mahony assumed command of rhe 76rh F . The lasr major engagemenr of 1942 for rhe 23rd FG came ar Yunnanyi. The 16rh FS, now led by Maj George Hazlerr, had deployed ro ~ead~ncrd 'Hump' bue n~r rhe Burma border on Chrisrmas Eve because Gen hennaulr had a hunch rhar rhe airfield was abour ro be arracked by rhe Japanese. As usual, he was righr, for rhe enemy caughr rhe 16rh FS on rhe ground on Chrisrmas afrernoon - forrunarely none of irs aeroplanes was hir. Several hours larer Col corr arrived from Kunming wirh insrrucrions ro prevenr any furrher surprise arracks from raking place. SCOl[ senr up a cwo-aeroplane parrol ar flrsr lighr on 26 December, and increased rhe size of his sranding parrol rhroughour rhe morning. By 1400 hrs rhe full squadron was airborne, and jusr before 1500 hrs nine rwinengined Ki-21 'Sally' bombers wirh ren Ki-43 escorrs were sporred crossing rhe Mekong River from Burma ar 17,000 ft. A fllghr of four, led by 16rh FS operarions officer Maj Harry Pike, was rhe flrsr ro make conracr, and ir successfully drew rhe escorr flghrers away from rhe bombers. Then Col Scorr and Maj Hazlerr led cwo more flighrs in ro arrack rhe now defenceless Ki·2 Is. One of rhe pilors who rook parr in rhe mission was Capr Bob Liles. He recalled rhar a good friend of his in rhe 16rh FS, Lr Bob Mooney, had been delayed on rhe deploymenr ro Yunnanyi, and did nor arrive unril rhe day of rhe flghr. Liles rold rhis srory;

'Jusr as' was raxiing our ro rake off, I saw Bob Mooney land. I saw him pull his c10rhes bag our of rhe aeroplane. He was rrying ro ger refuelled so rhar he could ger in on rhe mission. l'efr. We were parrolling some miles sourh of rhe field, anriciparing rhe Jap arrack. Maj Pike was leading my flighr, and Hazlerr rhe orher. Jusr as we were abour ready ro sail inro rhem, a lone aeroplane came s(J'eaking up from base, and ir was Mooney. I recognised his P-40. He wenr pasr me going prerry fasr. Ar rhar poinr we wenr righr inro rhese Zeros and bombers.

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" was gerring ready ro shoor ar a Zero, moving ro rhe righr. Mooney picked on one going ro rhe lefr. We never did acrually form up as an elemenr and srarr flghring rhar way. Thar was rhe lasr rime' saw him. He was shor down rhar day. Mosr of rhe Jap aeroplanes rhar came in rhar day were shor down, roo. When I landed, someone rold me Mooney was down, so I quickly gor aJeep and driver and we wenr our wesr ofYunnanyi ro look for him. We knew only approximarely where he was. The Chinese rold us abour rhe locarion, so when we gor rhere I saw him being carried on a door.'

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Lr Mooney was srill alive when Liles found him, bur rhe young pilor died rhar nighr. Lr Lewellyn ouch was also shor down rhar same day, bur

The 16th FS produced quite

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a number of outstanding leaders, but none were more respected than Maj Harry B Pike. After a stint as CO of the 16th FS, Pike moved up to 23rd FG headquarters, but was shot down and taken prisoner in September 1943 (George Barnes)

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hina. The firsr move was ro raise rhe srarus

of Chennault's organisarion, and accordingly on 10 March 1943 rhe Fourreenrh Air Force was acrivared in Kunming ro replace rhe CATF, wirh Chennaulr as irs commanding officer. On rhar day, he reporTed his command having 103 P-40s, of which 65 were assigned ro his five fighrer squadrons and rhe resr were in various srares of assembly and repair ar rhe facrory faciliries in Kunming. More unirs would arrive in rhe coming monrhs, bur for rhe rime being rhe war The 16th F5 armament crew boresites an unusual-looking P-40E. Note the hard break between the top and bottom camouflage colours and the lack of a fuselage star. Its number ('52' or '62') is also non-standard for the 16th F5 (Jack Muller) The 23rd FG began to receive new P-40Ks in October 1942. Judging from the expressions of 5gt Leon Klesman, left, and his unidentified buddy, this 74th F5 bird ('47') acquired a nickname that applied as much to its crewmen as to the aircraft itself. Note the crude application of the sharksmouth marking (Leon Klesman)

hesurvived wirh a rwisred knee. On rheplusside, rhe ]6rh FSwascredired wirh ren vicrories, and Col Scon had managed ro add one more ro his roral. Bob Liles, who would go on ro score five vicrories and serve as commander of rhe 16rh for more rhan a year, recorded his firsr confirmed kill, plus a probable, and Dallas Clinger gor his fourrh during rhe course

wenr on as before for Chennault's pilors. The quier period drew ro a close in lare March 1943, when Chennaulr deployed his squadrons on borh fronrs in prepararion for resuming offensive operarions againsr rhe Japanese. He moved rhe 74rh F , now under rhe command of Capr John Lombard, ro Yunnanyi, where ir could

of rhe mission. By rhe rime 1942 ended, rhe 23rd Fe had rallied 97 confirmed vicrories in six monrhs of combar. The 16rh FS led rhe way wirh 35 vicrories, rhe 75rh and 76rh were ried wirh 29 each and rhe 74rh had four. The firsr rhree monrhs of 1943 were relarively quier in China, as rhe CATF srockpiled supplies ar irs advance bases and wedged in missions during sporadic periods of acceprable Aying wearher. Meanwhile, new P-40K fighrers began arriving in grearer numbers, and rhe 23rd Fe was able ro begin reriring irs old AVe 'sharks' ro training unirs in India.

Gen H H 'Hap' Arnold (left), chief of the U5AAF, inspects 23rd FG P·40s with Brig Gen Chennault at Kunming in February 1943. A month later, Arnold would approve orders creating the Fourteenth Air Force to replace the CATF in China, with Chennault as its commanding officer (Bruce Hollowayl

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protect the 'Hump' corridor and also strike at the Japanese in norrhern Burma. The 16th FS, under new commander Maj Hal Pike, and one Right of the 76th FS went ro Kweilin, and the 75th moved ro nearby Lingling. From these bases, they could hit the Japanese in the Hankow and Canron/Hong Kong areas. Meanwhile, the bulk of the 76th would remain at Kunming For air deFence and offensive missions inro Indochina. The 75th FS dominated aerial combat in April, with one of the legendary figures of the China air war emerging during this period. Capt John Hampsh ire scored his sixth vicrory on the first day of the month over Lingling, Followed by claims For twO more kills on 24 April which saw him take the scoring lead among active pilots in the BI. He described the action in a letter he sent ro his father back home in Grants Pass, Oregon, on the 25th. Hampshire wrote;

and put the unit temporarily out of action. The 16th and 75th FSs pulled back ro Yunnanyi and Kunming, respectively, from their eastern bases, as furrher trouble was expected. It duly arrived on 28 April, but this time the Japanese target was Kunming, which had not been bombed in daylight since the first AVe mission of 20 December 194 I. The bomber managed ro reach the airfield and bomb it, but they paid a high price at the hands of the 75th on their way home. Again, the warning net had failed ro give the group sufficient time ro attack the aircraft inbound, so Lt Col John Alison led his squadron on an interception course that allowed the P-40s ro catch the formation on its return Right ro Burma. One of the 75th F pilots involved was Capt Hollis Blacksrone, who recalled;

was impossible ro catch anyone asleep or by itself, so it was mighty rough going for awhile. When the smoke cleared, we had shot down five, and we didn't lose any, so it wasn't a bad day, although it certainly could have been better. The fight was a fairly long one, and just when it was ending, one of their twin-engined fighters RewoveI' and dropped out a bunch of pamphlets - they challenged us ro a "decisive air batrle".

The JAAF turned the tables on the 23rd FG on 26 April. At Yunnanyi, a breakdown in the warning net near the Salween River allowed a Force of enemy bombers and fighters ro catch Lombard's 74th FS on the ground

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'My buddy, Capt John Hampshire, and I joined up. Shorrly afterwards, our CO, Lt Col Johnny AJison, potted theJaps and gave us a heading. From that bearing I knew they were heading for Lashio, Burma. "Hamp" and I spotted two of our fighters milling around, and we waggled our wings for them ro join up. I pi ked out LtJoe Griffin, and I believe "Hamp" got Lt Mack Mitchell. After awhile we could see a black line across the horizon.

'Yesterday, the Japanese paid us another visit, and it was a dilly. They really senr in the first team this time, and they had the most beautiful air discipline I have ever seen. There were 30 or so of them, all fighters, and it

'The monkey that dropped the pamphlets ran inro a litrle hard luck on the way home. For a while it looked like I'd never catch him, but I finally did aFter chasing him For a hundred miles. So that ended the show for that day-I gOt two.'

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This turned out ro be 21 Jap bombers in perfect vee formation. A little later we saw, like a swarm of bees, three umbrellas ofJap fighters with one honcho wayabove-35 fighters in all. 'Johnny Alison made the first arrack and downed one of them, if I recall Hundreds of names of CATF personnel were embroidered into this flag, which the staff presented to Brig Gen Chennault in early 1943. The men in the photograph are, from left to right, Col C D 'Casey' Vincent, Maj 'Ajax' Baumler, Lt Col Bruce Holloway, Maj Aubrey Strickland and Brig Gen Chennault (Bruce Holloway)

it right. By then the four of us had caught up with theJaps, at which poinr all hell broke loose. Starring out with an altitude advantage, we rore inro the melee with our 0.50-cals ablaze. Pieces Rew off one of the Zero and smoke poured out ofanother. But right then we saw eight diving on us and had ro take evasive acrion. We did that with a steep banking dive, pulling away from the bombers' line of Right. It was at this point that we realised the Zeros would only follow us so far before going back ro their prote tive escort of the bombers. nmolested, we regained altitude and hit again. 'I can't recall how many firing passes I made, but I shot down at lea t one moreJap aeroplane. During this time we were joined by Maj Ed 0 s, with Lt Roger Pryor on his wing. Joe and I spotted six or eight Zer and dived on them, our 0.50s blazing. Immediately some of them starred a steep climb, while others dived. The one I was chasing burst inro Rames. While watching him go down and looking for Joe, whom I had 10 t contact with, I sawsome morejapscomingafter me but I finally managed ro elude them. 'I got some altitude again. Ahead and below me, I spotted a buddy I assumed ro be Joe (it was) hot after a jap with his guns blazing. What he didn't see was two japs coming after him. I in turn dove after them and blasted one. I then saw two rip appear a ross the rop of my left wing, shattering my aileron. My control stick was vibrating badly, I was I won gas and about out of ammo. Neverrheless, I made it home. The beautiFul and most amazing part of this mission was the fact that we didn't 10 e a

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single aeroplane, in spite of the great odds against us.' The 23rd FG's tally For the mission was I J confirmed and eight probables. Blacksrone was redited with twO destroyed and one probable. A notable scorer was Maj Ed oss, who had transferred ro the 75th from the 16th in preparation For assuming command of the squadron from Alison. Goss' single vicrory brought his rotal ro five, and added him to the

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The P-43A Lancer saw limited service with the 23rd FG during 1942-43. This particular aircraft was assigned

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to group headquarters, which had the fighter converted into a photoreconnaissance platform - note the opening for the camera lens in the bottom of the fuselage immediately behind the groundcrewman holding the bulky camera. The lack of selfsealing fuel tanks made the Lancer

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too dangerous to fly in aerial combat with the JAAF (Bruce Holloway)

Bombed up for a ground attack mission, P-40K '23' of the 16th FS was assigned to Lt Robert A O'Neill. Amongst the markings applied to the fighter was the nickname DEANIE 11/ on the cowling, the pilot's name and three victory flags beneath the windscreen, and starred hubcaps - the latter were common on 16th FS P-40s during this period (Jack Muller)

ace roster. Future aces scoring in the fight included Pryor and G riffi n, who got one kill each. Meanwhile, Charles Du Bois of the 76th scored his sixth, and last, victory in the fight, and Hampshire stretched his record to 11 confirmed by scoring twice. John Hampshire's luck ran out four days later. By then, the 75th had moved back to Li ngling and was preparing to resume offensive operations. On 2 May the Japanese beat them to the punch by sending a large force of fighters from the 25th and 33rd Sentais down from Hankow to attack Lingling. Lt Col Alison scrambled 16 P-40s to challenge them, and the twO formations met not far from the airfield. Records conflict on the exact sequence of events, but it appears that I Lt Don Brookfield scored a victory in the initial engagement, and then the P-40s began chasing the enemy back toward Hankow. Japanese fighters continued to fall on the flight north, with Hampshire getting twO near Changsha. Alison wrote a description of what happened next in a letter to Hampshire's father; 'When it was over, Johnny rejoined my formation, and as he pulled in close on my wing I couldseeabiggrin on hisfa e. Hetold meon the radio that he had followed his man down and saw him crash and burn. We then

Chinese village. Griffin and Spritzler returned to Lingling the next morning. Joe Griffin scored three victories in China and gOt four more in the ETO during 1944 while serving as a squadron CO in the 367th Fe. Hampshire's twO kills on 2 May gave him a rotal of 13 confirmed victories, tying him with Bob eale of the AVe as the top-scoring US P-40 pilot of the war. Only 23rd Fe commander Col Bruce Holloway would join them at the top of the pile.

MORE PUNCH FOR THE FOURTEENTH AIR FORCE The first step in the build up of the Fourteenth Air Force was the addition ofa heavy-bomber unit in the form of the 308th Be. Equipped with four-

B-24 Liberator heavy bombers of the 308th BG pass overhead a Fourteenth Air Force fighter base in mid-1943. This unit arrived in China in the spring of 1943 as part of the Fourteenth Air Force build-up in-theatre, and the 23rd FG escorted its B-24s on numerous occasions through to V J-Day (Molesworth collection)

headed north, and after a very long chase intercepted a formation of Jap fighters which had been strafinga hinese town. It must have been a lucky shot from a Zero that got him, as none of u saw it happen. John set his aeroplane down in a river and the hinese took him to the nearest hospital. He died before he could rea h adequate medical attention.' Hampshire had crashed near a hinese army outpost, which quickly relayed word back to Lingling that the pilot was wounded but alive. 75th F flight surgeon Capt Ray pritzler t Id Ii on he wanted to fly to the crash site and see if he could help Hamp hire. When Lt Joe Griffin volunteered to fly pritzler there in the baggage compartment of a P-43, Alison reluctantly agreed. pritzl r planned LO bale out over the crash site. Shortly after the P-43 took off, the hine e relayed another messageHampshire had died. Alison rri d unsu e sfully to recall Griffin by radio, but bad weather forced the Pt land at an unmanned airstrip near a

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This poor quality photograph shows significant P-40K Poco LOBO of Capt James W Little, who was a sevenvictory ace with the 75th FS (Rick Garfield)

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Pilots of the 74th FS pose with a new P-40K at Kunming in early 1943. In the front row, from left to right, are R Turner, R Morrison, C Bair, W Crooks, R Lucia (PaWl, W Smith Ibehind Lucia). A Cruikshank, J Hinton, T Shapou and T Jeffreys. Sat on the nose of the fighter are F Ladd, 0 Mitchell and C Crysler, whilst on its wing, from left to right, are L Jones, W Hawkins, o Anderson, C Bunch and W Wanner (Leon Klesmanl

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engine B-24D Liberacors, rhe 308rh flew irs flrsr mission our of Kunming on 4 May 1943 when ir rargered amah Bay on Hainan Island, in rhe Sourh China Sea. The B-24s encounrered lighr flak and no JAAF flghrers over the target. Then, on 8 May, the Liberacors joined B-25s of the I I th Band 24 P-40s of rhe 16rh and 75rh FSs in a strike againsr Cancon. The complex mission plan called for the long-range B-24s co fly co rhe rarger directly from Kunming, while the resr of rhe strike force would stage through Kweilin and meer B-24s jusr prior CO reaching rhe rarger area. The mission went according co plan, carching rhe Japanese at Cancon by surprise. Enemy flghrers were spotted raking off from White Cloud airfield during rhe artack, so the P-40s srayed in rhe area co hold rhem off while rhe bombers wirhdrew. A wild 20-minure air barrie ensued, and when it was over rhe 23rd FG pilots rallied 13 '0 cars' and 'Nares' desrroyed, plus five probables. Among rhe vi corie was an 'Oscar' downed

by I Lt Jim Litrle of rhe 75th F , giving him his fifth kill. The new ace would score twice more a week larer, and rhen wair seven years before getting another chance. On 27 June 1950, Litrle claimed one of rhe flrsr vierories of rhe Korean War when he destroyed a orrh Korean La-7 flghrer while flying an F-82G Twin Mustang nighrflghrer. In addirion, Lt Col John Alison was credired wirh his flfrh kill on 8 May. Ali on would soon leave China for an important new assignment to help form the Isr Air Commando Group, bur like Lirrle, he first would add to his score. The 23rd FG shurned irs flghrer squadrons on J J May, moving the 74rh and 76rh FSs ro the eastern bases at Lingling and Kweilin, while pulling back rhe 75th FS to Kunming and purring rhe 16rh ar Yunnanyi. By 15 May, the 75th was settled ar Kunming, and rhe 74rh FS was at Chanyi waiting for the base at Kweilin to be prepared for irs arrival. The warning ner carne alive that morning wirh reporrs of a large enemy force approaching Kunming from Burma, and at 091 0 hI's Col Holloway led a patrol our to look for the raiders. The rhree P-40s were 60 miles from base, and ar 23,000 ft, when Holloway looked up to see a massive (for China) force of 30 Ki-48 'Lily' bombers approaching at 26,000 ft, escorred by 23 Ki-43 'Oscars' of the 64th Senrai above rhem - the latter were srepped up to 30,000 ft. Holloway climbed as he called in the raid to Kunming, and ordered Maj Ed Goss to scramble his 75rh FS to intercept. Holloway, with Maj Roland Wilcox and Lr Charles Crysler on his wing, clawed his way to 28,000 ft and rurned in behind rhe formation to attack the escorrs. By rhar rime, the 'Lilys' were making rheir run over Kunming air base, bur fortunately their bombs wenr wide and did lirrle damage. Holloway wrote in his dairy; 'About the time the bombs dropped, \ e went in for our first attack. Two flighrs of rhe 75rh were in posirion and did likewise_ Wilcox gar a Zero immediarely, and so did Crysler. They borh went srraighr down into the lake. I picked out a Zero but don'r know if I gar him or nor - think I did. Our surprise was gone, so we pulled ut and climbed back up to 27,000 ft. 'Our enemies made a slow turn co rhe lefr, and we wenr in again. By this time we had abour 15 P-40s in the fight, and it was gerring mixed up pretty

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These three pilots from 23rd FG Headquarters were the first to intercept when Japanese bombers attacked Kunming on 15 May 1943, and they duly scored eight victories between them. They are, from left to right, Maj Roland Wilcox, who was credited with three fighters destroyed, Col Bruce Holloway, who got a fighter and a bomber, and Lt Charles Crysler, who also got three fighters. Brig Gen Chennault's pet dachshund'Joe' shares the cockpit with Holloway IDoug Wilcox)

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Capt Dallas Clinger flew P-40K '48'

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succeed, thanks in part to rhe work f rhe 74 th and 76th FSs in support of Chinese forces at Changsha. The twO units, organised as the East hina Task Force under the control of Col Casey Vincent, immediately commenced offensive operations

art, similar to that seen on his previous P-40E-1, reflects both

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against the advancing Japanese armies. On 23 May, Maj Lombard led rwo Rights of his 74th FS from Kweilin to Hengyang to operate from that advanced base.

Clinger's Wyoming cowboy roots and also his opinion of his enemy. He had the fabric skin on the rudder removed so that he could take it home with him when he completed his combat tour (Bill Hawkins)

good. The bombers were keeping perfect formation, but pretl:y soon there were a couple of stragglers (probably crippled). It didn't take long to get these. Somebody polished off one of them, and I moved in behind the orher and blew him all to hell. He caugh r fire, spu n to the right abour three times, and exploded. This was at about 25,000 ft. 'We kept working on the Zeros, which were pretty well broken up and headed for home in a scattered, demoralised fashion. I saw somebody chasing one, so I joined him. We chased him lower and lower, coordinating our artacks until he was finally Rying right on the ground. He successfully dodged us about six times, but finally we gOt him cornered in the end of the valley. Lt Little closed in on him from the left, and [ came in almost directly behind. He pulled sharply right, and I gOt him with a full deRection shot. He pulled up, Ripped over and went straight into the ground - and made a pretty fire. 'I didn't see any more japs, but the net was telling us about a second wave coming in. I climbed back to 25,000 ft over the field and ordered Lombard (74th FS commander), who was standing by at hanyi waiting to go eat, to send three of his Rights down immediately. I stayed over the field with headquarters and a few of the 75th until the red (74th FS) Rights arrived from Chanyi. I then ordered all the whites (75th FS) to Yankai for a drink.' The score for the day was 16 confirmed destroyed and nine probables. One of the Ki-43 pilots from the 64th entai who went down was Lt Takeshi Endo, commander of the 3rd hutai. 0 P-40s were lost.

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On that same day Maj Grant Mahony became an ace - a longtime goal of his. Leading nine P-40s on a strafing mission to !chang (a Yangtze River town northwest ofTungting Lake), Mahony encountered a single Ki-27 , ate' fighter and shot it down. He also destroyed rwo' ates' parked on the airfield at !chang, and his Right shot up four trucks and a fuel dump. The aggressive Maj Mahony would leave for home on 9 june after J 9 months in combat. He returned to the B[ to Ry with John Alison in the 1st Air Commando Group and then began a third tour in the Pacific Thearre lare in the war. There, on 3 January 1945, he was killed during a strafing mission in a P-38. The fighting continued in east China throughoutJune 1943, and as the 23rd FG approached its firsr birrhday, the unit suffered the loss of one of its top aces. On the morning of20 june, Maj John Lombard set out from Hengyang to check weather conditions north of Tungting Lake. The seven-vicrory ace was caught under a dropping overcast and crashed into a mountainside. Ie died one day shorr of his 24th birthday. The weather was bad allover China on 4 July 1943 - the first anniversary of the 23rd FG. Ar Kweilin, the 74th FS hostel nearly Rooded in a torrent of rain. The men of the 75th FS enjoyed an extra egg for breakfast and a glass of'Sham-Shu' (the local Chinese firewater) with theirdinners. Throughout

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Col Bruce Holloway, second from right, makes a toast at a banquet in Kunming in July 1943 to mark the first birthday of the 23rd FG. Of Brig Gen Chennault, sat fourth from left, Holloway noted on the back of this photograph, 'typical expression on "The Old Man's" face'. The Chinese officer is Gen C P Mow (Bruce Hollowayl

As a result of the action, the 23rd F added anorher ace to its growing list. apt Dallas Clinger of the 74th F was able to make contact with the Reeing japanese formation at rhe end of the battle, claiming one 'Oscar'

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destroyed plus a probable. Not only were these rhe first claims made by a 74th F pilot in 1943, but they al 0 made linger an ace with five victories. After the 74th completed its m ve to Kweilin on 19 May, its pilots would get plenty of opp rrunitie t add t their scores. In early May [943, Japane e gr und forces at Hankow commenced a campaign with the hope of taking hina ut of the war. In a rwo-pronged attack, one force headed w rward up the Yangtze River toward hungkjng, while me mer m ved outh from Tungring Lake (Dorlting Hu) along rhe Hsiang River iang jiang). The latter army's primary objective was to capture the p ky F urteenth fur Force's eastern airfields at Hengyang, Lingling and Kw ilin. either thrust was destined to

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rhe group, men had rime ro reflecr on rheir sue es es over rhe pasr year. They had held rhe line againsr rhe Japanese in easr hina while prorecring rheir end of rhe 'H ump' from enemy arra k, and rhe pilors had scored 171 confirmed vicrories in rhe process. On rhe orher hand, norhing much had changed for rhe berrer eirher. The older P-40 had given way ro newer K- and M-models, bur rhe aeroplanes were sri II few in number and badly worn. Fuel and ammunirion were srill in shorr supply, nor ro menrion luxuries such as fresh mear, soap and uniforms. Even worse, mail deliveries remained sporadic ar besr. In Kunming, Col Bruce Holloway rried ro make lighr of rhe siruarion in his rypical droll manner during a flrsr anniver ary parry for 23rd FG personnel. A year earlier when rhe unir was acrivared, he nored, rhere was nor a single American magazine ar Kunming for rhe guys ro read. ow rhey had several. Nobody laughed.

ENTER THE P-38 On a quier day in July 1943, five rwin-engined flghrers landed ar Kunming airfield, having jusr flown across rhe 'Hump' from India. Their sleek, rwin-boom design made rhem immediarely recognisable as Lockheed Lighrnings, bur rhese were differenr from rhe F-4 phoro-reconnaissance versions rhar had been flying in China since rhe previous aurumn. These were brand-new P-38Gs, considered ar rhar rime ro be rhe besr operarional flghrer aircrafr in rhe SAAF invenrol)'. The five P-38s and rheir pilors were rhe advance e1emenr of a full squadron of Lighrnings - rhe 449rh FS - rhar was on irs way ro China. Boasring long-range and high-alrirude performance equal ro rhe F-4, rhese aeroplanes far exceeded rhe capabiliries of rhe P-40. In addirion,

"LITTLE TOOTS/E" was one of the original P-38Gs that the 449th FS flew from North Africa to China, arriving in the summer of 1943. The squadron served for three months under the command of the 23rd FG, scoring its first victory on 24 July over Kweilin (A Roscettll

Six-victory ace Maj Ed Goss got his start in China with the 16th FS, before transferring to the 75th FS as its commanding officer in May 1943. When the 449th FS arrived in China, he was attached to lead the squadron temporarily while teaching its pilots how to fight 'Chennaultstyle' in their P-38s (Mrs E R Gossl

P-40s of the 75th and 76th FSs stand alert at Kunming in mid-1943. '152' displays the flying shark badge of the 75th FS on its rudder and national insignia overpainted on the fuselage and uppersurface of its right wing. Note the all important C-87 Liberator tanker in the background (Everett Hyattl

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P-38Gs carried heavy armamenr, wirh a 20 mm cannon and four 0.50-cal machine guns grouped in rhe nose. The P-38's only drawback, as Gen Chennaulr saw ir, was rhar irs rurbocharged Allison engines used roo much of rhe Fourreenrh Air Force's precious gasoline. By rhe rhird week in July, all of rhe 449rh FS's Lighrnings had arrived in Kunming. The squadron commander, apr Sam L Palmer, and several orher pilors had combar experience flying rhe P-38 in rhe Medirerranean rhearre. [n facr Palmer had scored a probable vicrory in rhe MTO rhar spring. The resr were fresh our of rraining, however, having been drawn from a pool of replacemenr pilors in orrh Africa. Maj Ed Goss of rhe 75rh FS was arrached ro rhe 449rh ro reach rhe pilors Chennaulr-sryle air racric and lead rhem in rheir inirial combar missions. Some China hands recall rhe P-38 pilors as being none roo receprive ro Goss's advice. On 23 July, rhe 449rh F flew irs P-38s ro Kweilin ro join rhe Fourreenrh Air Force's Forward Echelon under rhe command of 01 Casey Vincenr. The squadron's arrival was forruirous because rhe Japanese arracked Li ngli ng and Hengyang rhar same day as rhey kicked off a new air offensive aimed ar desrroying Fourreenrh Air Force bases and unirs in easr China. Bur as in rhe pasr, rhe expecrarions of rhe Japanese commanders would far exceed rheir unirs' abiliry ro do rhe job. Over rhe nexr week, Vincenr's flghrer pilors would claim no fewer rhan 54 confl rmed vicrories, wh ile losi ng jusr six flghrers and rh ree pi lors in rerum. On rhe morning of 23 July, rhe JAAF senr a mixed formarion of bombers and flghrers from Hankow ro arrack Hengyang and Lingling. The enemy aircraft rook a roundabour roure ro rheir rargers, and flighrs from rhe 76rh F scrambled from borh bases ro meer rhem. The Linglingbased P-40s made flrsr conracr abour 50 kilomerres sourheasr of rhe field. nder rheir aggressive arra k, rhe Japanese bombers jerrisoned rheir ordnance and ran for home, while rheir 'Oscar' escorrs rangled wirh rhe P-40s. Meanwhile, a large flighr f 18 P-40s from rhe 74rh F arrived from Kweilin and joined rhe flghr. The 23rd FG pilors were redired wirh rwo bombers and five flghrer desrroyed in rhis engagemenr, wirh rhree kills going ro 76rh F flighr leader apr Lee Manbe k and anorher ro furure ace 2Lr rephen Bonner.

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By rhe rime rhe Japanese raiders reached Hengyang, two more flighrs ofP-40s from rhe 76rh FS were wairing for rhem ar 28,000 fr, led by lLrs J M 'Willie' Williams and John S Srewart. When rhe larrer pilor's oxygen sysrem began ro fail, he descended ro 20,000 fr and duly sporred rhe incoming enemy bombers. Calling Williams down ro rake on rhe 'Oscar' escorts, Srewart ploughed into rhe bomber formarion head-on. His firsr vicrim sraggered and fell, while gunners from rhe orher bombers fired wildly ar rhe arracking P-40. Srewart shor down a second bomber and was firing on a rhird when his own aeroplane was hir hard. He broke off rhe arrack and headed back ro Hengyang, where he had ro make a belly landing because his landing gear refused ro come down. Larer, mechanics counred 167 buller holes in Srewart's P-40K, which he had named Lynn fIfor his wife. Williams and 2Lr Dick Templeron were able ro confirm two 'Oscars' desrroyed in rhe fighr as well. Thar afrernoon, anorher wave ofenemy aircrafr was reporred on irs way roward Hengyang and Lingling, and again rhe P-40 defenders rose ro do barrie, led rhis rime by Capr Marvin Lubner. Ar rhe same rime, Col Casey Vincenr led six P-40s up from Kweilin, while Col Bruce Holloway flew in ro Lingling, gassed up, and rook offagain ro join rhe fight. The P-40 pilors encountered a large formarion, and claimed six desrroyed for no losses. Among rhe vicrories was a bomber credired ro Vincenr (his fifrh), which added his name ro rhe lisr of aces. The nexr morning, 24 July, rhe Japanese struck Chennaulr's easrern bases again, rhis rime from borh Hankow ro rhe north and from Can ron down sourh. The 76rh added eighr vicrories to irs rally ar Lingling, again for no losses, and a flighr from rhe 74rh rhar had scrambled from Kweilin scored two more vicrories bur losr one pilor killed in rhe process. Meanwhile, a flighr ofeighr Oscars from Canton managed ro approach wirhin 38 miles ofKweilin before rhey weresporred. P-40s and P-38s were hasrily scrambled, bur rhey were caughr from above by rhe Ki-43 escorts. One P-38 was shor down, bur rhe 23rd FG pilors quickly managed ro gain rhe upper hand and destroy six of rhe eighr arrackers. Col Holloway shor down one of rhe 'Oscars' for his renth vicrory. lLr Lewden M Enslen of rhe 449rh FS was also on rhe scoresheer, claiming rhe firsr kill credired ro a P-38 pilor in China (text continues on page 65).

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COLOUR PLATES

1 P-40E '106' of John E Petach Jr, attached to 75th FS, Hengyang, China, July 1942

2 P-40E '104' of Majs Edward F Rector and Bruce K Holloway, 76th FS, Kweilin, China, summer 1942

3 P-40B '46' of Lt Thomas R Smith, 74th FS, Kunming, China, September 1942

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Several of the P-40Ks assigned to the 74th FS carried risque rudder art, such as MISSY WONG from HONG KONG, during 1943-44. Unfortunately, the identity of the artist who created these works remains unknown. Note how the camouflage on the vertical tail has been repainted to cover the aircraft's serial number (Leon Klesman)

4 P-40E-1 '22' of Maj Harry M Pike, 16th FS, Kweilin, China. October 1942

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P-43A '149' of the 76th FS, Kunming, China, late 1942

P-40K '161' of Capt John F Hampshire, 75th FS, Kweilin, China, spring 1943

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P-40K'7' of Col Robert L Scott, 23rd FG, Kunming, China, December 1942

P-40K '111' of Maj Grant Mahony, 76th FS, Lingling, China, May 1943

7

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P·40K '23' of Lt Robert A O'Neill, 16th FS/23rd FG, Chanyi, China, February 1943

P-40K '115' of Lt Marvin Lubner, 76th FS, Hengyang, China, August 1943

8

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P-40K '110' of Capt Jeffrey 0 Wellborn, 76th FS, Kunming, China, spring 1943

P-40K '24' of Lt William B Hawkins, 74th FS, Kweilin, China, late summer 1943

53

54

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17

P-40M '179' of It James llee, 75th FS, Kunming, China, late summer 1943

P-40K '36' of It Fred l Meyer, 74th FS, Kweilin, China, autumn 1943

14

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P-40K '14' of Capt Clyde Slocumb, 16th FS, Yunnanyi, China, summer 1943

P-40K '171' of Maj Elmer Richardson, 75th FS, Hengyang, China, late 1943

15

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P-38G (no number) of 2lt Earl E Helms, 449th FS, Kweilin, China, late summer 1943

P-40N '21' of Capt Harlyn Vidovich, 74th FS, Kweilin, China, December 1943

16

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P-40K '1' of Col Bruce Holloway, 23rd FG, Kweilin, China, September 1943

P-51A '122' of Capt John S Stewart, 76th FS, Suichwan, China, February-March 1944

55

56

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P-40N '45' of Maj Arthur Cruikshank, 74th FS, Hengyang, China, June 1944

P-51C '187' of Capt Forrest Parham, 75th FS, Chihkiang, China, November 1944

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P-40N '22' of Capt Charles E Cook Jr, 74th FS, Kweilin, China, summer 1944

F-6C '600' of Maj Edward McComas, 118th TRS, Suichwan, China, November 1944

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P-51B '11' of Col David l Hill, 23rd FG, Kweilin, China, summer 1944

P-51B '40' of Maj John C Herbst, 74th FS, Kanchow, China, January 1945

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P-51C '103' of It Robert Schaeffer, 76th FS, liuchow, China, autumn 1944

P-51B '48' of It Ira Binkley, 74th FS, Kanchow, China, January 1945

57

58

29

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P-51D (no number) of Col Edward Rector, 23rd FG, Luliang, China, spring 1945

P-51K '143' of Lt Benjamin R Thompson, 76th FS, Laohwangping, China, June 1945

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P-51D '125' of Lt Col Charles Older, 23rd FG HQ, Luliang, China, spring 1945

P-51D '21' of Capt John C Conn, 74th FS, Tushan, China, summer 1945

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P-51C '113' of Lt Donald L Scott, 76th FS, Laohwangping, China, spring 1945

P-51D '71' of Capt John D Rosenbaum, 75th FS, Liuchow, China, August 1945

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P-51C '591' of Lts Fred L Richardson Jr and Russell E Packard, 118th TRS, Chengkung, China, spring 1945

P-51 K '199' of Maj Marvin Lubner, 118th TRS, Laohwangping, China, August 1945

59

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64

More action Followed on 25 July, when 15 Japanese fighters attempted ro catch a flight oFB-25s landing at HengyangaFter their bombing mission ro Hankow. Holloway had a patrol oFP-40s waiting, just in case, and they knocked down two, plus three probables, For no losses. The B-25s, meanwhile, diverted to Kweilin and returned ro Hengyang juSt beFore dusk ro be ready For the next day's mission. Five B-25s rook oFF From Hengyang at 0500 hI'S on 26 July ro attack Hankow airfield once again. Their escorts were P-40s From the 74th and 75th FSs, which had senr seven aeroplanes From Kunming earlier in the week ro bolster the eastern fighter Force_ After the B-25s had completed their bomb runs, a large Force of Ki-43s attacked them, and several bombers sustained damage beFore the P-40s could inrercede. A running fight ensued, in which Capt Elmer Richardson of the 75th FS claimed two destroyed and another Future ace, ILt Lynn F Jones of the 74th FS, got one confirmed plus two probables. Col Vincent sent his bombers and fighters ro strike Hong Kong harbour on 27 and28 July, with little opposition From the Japanese. The P-40s and P-38s went back ro Hong Kongon tile 29m, this time ro rendezvous witll 18 B-24s of me 308th BG flying From Kunming. Again, only a Few Japanese deFenders appeared, and the escorts easily held them oFF. Meanwhile, aJAAF Force attacked Hengyang. An aggressive attack led by Capt Bill Grosvenor of the 75th FS mrew oFF the bombers' aim, and no damage was done ro the airfield. The morningof30 July signalled the end of theJAAF's oFFensive against Chennault's eastern airfields. The 3rd Air Division sent two Formations From Hankow on different routes toward Hengyang, attempting to

Capt William B Hawkins flew P-40K-1 '24' (42-46252) during his tour with the 74th FS in 1942-43, gaining credit for three confirmed victories and one ship sunk whilst at the controls of the fighter. Note the aircraft's crude drop tank - almost certainly a Chinese-made item that was manufactured out of bamboo (Bill Hawkins)

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76th FS pilots and groundcrew pose with two P-40Ks at Hengyang in the summer of 1943. Capt Bob Costello, squadron commander, is fourth from right in the front row. CALVERT'S SPECIAL (left) was a 75th FS aircraft that had possibly been reassigned to the 76th. At right is Capt Marv lubner's OEM BUMS (Glen Beneda) Maj Norval Bonawitz assumed command of the 74th FS in June 1943 after Maj 'Moe' lombard was killed. Bonawitz shot down two Japanese bombers on 24 July 1943 at lingling, and was promoted to 23rd FG commander later that year when Col Holloway returned to the US (Bill Hawkinsj

66

confuse rhe defenders. Unforrunarely for rhe Japanese aircrews, rhe Chinese warning ner was able ro plor borh rracks accurarely, so when rhey joined norrh ofHengyang for rheir final run inro rhe rarger, rheAmerican pilors were in a perfecr posirion ro oppose rhem. Led by ILr Charlie Gordon of rhe 75rh FS, rhe P-40s feinred roward a flighr or'Oscar' escorrs, bur rhen cur sharply inro rhe bomber formarion. Four bombers wenr down, including one each credired ro Gordon, Capr Bill Grosvenor and 1Lr Ed Calverr of rhe 75rh FS, plus 1Lr Vernon Kramer of rhe 76rh FS. Lrs Carrel' 'Porky' Sorenson of rhe 16rh FS, Chrisropher 'Sully' Barrerr of rhe 75rh FS and Tom McMillan of rhe 76rh FS each claimed an 'Oscar' desrroyed. On rhe orher side of rhe ledger, rwo P-40s were shor down and one pilor, Lr W S Epperson of rhe 75rh FS, was killed. Ir is impossible ro derermine wherher heavy Japanese combar losses or rhe onser of bad wearher was more responsible for rhe rhree-week lull in air flghring rhar followed. Col Vincent rook rhe opporrunity ro rearrange his flghrer forces, placing rhe full complement of 449rh FS P-38s ar Lingling and moving rhe 76rh FS ro Hengyang, along wirh cwo flighrs from rhe 16rh FS The JAAF had a surprise in srore for rhe P-40s' pilors as well. Ir was beginning ro re-equip irs flghrer squadrons ar Hankow wirh rhe new Nakajima Ki-44 'Tojo'. This aircrafr would give rhe Japanese pilors a clear performance advanrage over rheir P-40-equipped adversaries. The 23rd FG's flrsr encounrer wirh rhe 'Tojos' came on 20 Augusr 1943, when Col Holloway and Maj Norval Bonawirz, commander of rhe 74rhFS, led 14 P-40s from Kweilin ro intercepr a raid coming in from Hankow. Whar rhey encounrered was a flghrer sweep by 20 Kj-44s flying ar 30,000 Fe or higher - well above rhe combar ceiling of rhe P-40s. The Warhawk pilors had no choice bur ro wair for rhe 'Tojos' ro iniriare barrie on rheir own renTIs. This rhey did by diving down on srraggling P-40s, raking a shor ar rhem, and rhen zooming back up our of range - precisely rhe racries preached by Chennaulr ro his P-40 pilors. Two Curriss flghrers and rheir pilors were losr, bur Capr Arr Cruikshank of rhe 74rh was able ro claim rwo 'Tojos' desrroyed.

The P-40s were in acrion again rhar afrernoon, knocking down four 'Oscars' over Tien Ho airfield ar Canron while esconing B-25s. Anorher Japanese arrack on Hengyang rhe nexr day nerred five more vicrories for rhe P-40s of rhe 76rh FS againsr one loss. Col Bruce Holloway scored his I Irh and 12rh kills on rhese rwo missions, and his 13rh, andlasr, vicrory came on 24 Augusr during an escorr mission. As he recorded in his diary, Holloway passed up rhe chance ro become rhe all-rime rop-scoring American P-40 ace rhar day; 'We came in wirh rhe B-25s and arracked rhe airfield ar Wuchang. The bombing was good. There were several Zeros sri II over rhe rown, bur all were worki ng si ngly. I made a head-on run wi rh one and shor him down _ 1could have gorren more bur we srucl< righr wirh rhe B-25s and kepr rhe Zeros off rhem so nobody gor hie. We srayed wirh rhem for 75 ro 100 miles somh. Ar rhis rime we ran across rhree B-24s up ro rhe lefr, and rhey kepr yelling abour a Zero above rhem. 1saw ir and kepr warching ir - finally ir dived down behind rhe B-24s, pulled up and srarred wese. I rurned around wirh my flighr and climbed up fasr behind him-a perfecr sirrer, so I held off andler my wingman (Lr Francis Beck of rhe 16rh FS) move in and ger him. We came on home and norhing else happened. All P-40s gor back okay, and we accounred for ren Zeros confirmed and rhree probables.' Two weeks larer, Col Holloway would be promored ro remporary commander of rhe Forward Echelon while Vincent rook leave in rhe US. This effecrively ended Holloway's combar flying in China, Lr Col Norval Bonawirz duly replacing him as CO of rhe 23rd FG. Of rhe ren vicrories reponed on 24 Augusr, cwo apiece were credired ro Capr Arr Cruikshank or rhe 74rh FS and 1LrJohn Srewarr of rhe 76rh FS, making borh men aces.

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Capt Arthur W Cruikshank Jr became the first ace of the 74th FS when he scored his fifth and sixth confirmed victories on 24 August 1943 while leading an escort for B-24s attacking Hankow. He would add two more victories during a short second tour in mid-1944, but was subsequently grounded after being shot down twice in quick succession by enemy ground fire on 15 and 26 June (Jack Cookj

67

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Chengkung, led by Maj Bob Liles, made flrsr conracr wirh rhe raiders. ILr Bill Evans, who was flying in rhe 'rail-end Charlie' slor, recalled rhe acrion; 'We immediarely dropped our exrernal belly ranks and made a diving pass againsr rhe bombers on rheir "one o'clock posirion". On our flrsr pass I almosr collided wirh a flaming Zero shor down by Liles rhar was going in rhe opposire direcrion. I could almosr see rhe expression on rheJap pilor's Face as he wenr by. He was leaning Forward as iFhe had been hir. We made rhree or Four passes, and aFrer our arrack we were immediarely jumped on by rhe Zeros. Then, shordy aFrer, we gor scarrered Fending oFF rhe arracking Zeros. I didn'r see rhe bomber rhar I was credired wirh shooring down, bur I do know rhar I gor some hirs. 'The bombers proceeded ra Kunming wirhour mosr of rheir escort, which ar rhar rime was keeping us busy, apparendy assuming rhar our sevenaircraFr Formarion was rhe only American opposirion. When rhey arrived over Kunming, however, rhey were hir hard by rhe 75rh FS.'

B-25s of the 11th BS raid the Kowloon docks on 2 September

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The 76rh FS added two more aces during a morning escort mission ro Canron on 26 Augusr, when Capr Marvin Lubner claimed one vicrory For a roral of five and 1Lr Willie Williams gor his flFrh and sixrh kills, plus a probable. The larrer pilor described his lasr vicrory, which occurred as he was arrem pring ro chase oFF an 'Oscar' rhar was arracki ng a barrie-damaged Warhawk; '[ [lIrned back, rolled over, and fired way ahead of rhe Zero. I knew [ was our of range bur hoped rhe Zero pilor would see my rracers. He did see rhem and pulled srraighr up. Climbing was rhe rhing For a Jap ro do, only rhis rime I had alrirude on him. When he gor ra rhe rap oFhis climb I was almosr in Formarion wirh him. All I had ro do was pull rhe rrigger and ler rhose six 0.50-cals do rhe resr. He rolled over wirh black smoke pouring our of rhe aeroplane and wenr inro rhe ground.' The Forvlard Echelon conrinued ro pound enemy rargers in easr Chi na rhroughour mid-Seprember, irs P-40 pilors recording 16 vicrories up ro rhe 15rh of rhar mondl. Japanese arracks on rhe easr Ch ina ai rbases had all bur ceased by rhis rime, alrhough rhe JAAF did nor oFficially call oFF irs aerial oFFensive unril8 Ocrober. By rhar rime, however, ir had suFFered yer anorher serious drubbing. On 20 Seprember, rhe warning ner derecred a Japanese Formarion approaching Kunming From [ndochina, and P-40s of rhe ] 6rh and 75rh FSs scrambled ro meer ir. This secror oFChina had been quier all summer, so rhe pilors were eager ro see some acrion. Seven P-40s of rhe 16rh FS ar

A confident-looking Maj Robert L Liles, commander of the 16th FS from July 1943 until well into 1944, scored five confirmed victories in China during one of the longest combat tours on record for a fighter pilot serving in the CBI (George Barnesl

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The 23rd FG instituted new markings in the autumn of 1943, as shown here on this P-40M of the 75th FS. The fighter has a white spinner front, its aircraft number has been moved to the rudder and national insignias, with bars and a red border, have been applied. This Warhawk was assigned to Lt C S 'Sully' Barrett (James L Leel

70

Capt Paul Bell was the regular pilot of GRAND SLAM, a 74th FS P-40M that was assigned to the squadron in April 1943. The aeroplane apparently never carried a sharksmouth, as photographs taken both early and late in its combat life show it without the signature P-40 marking of the 23rd FG. Bell assumed command of the 74th FS in October 1943 IBi/l Hawkins)

lndeed, the 75th FS did hit the bombers hard. Three Rights, led by Capts Charlie Gordon, Bill Grosvenor and Roger Pryor, attacked out of the sun and scattered the bombers. Gordon was cred ited wi th one bomber destroyed and Pryor with two, both achieving ace status with their FIfth vicrories. Their squadronmates shot down nine more, including lWO credited ro future ace Grosvenor (who would get his FIfth on I Ocrober over Haiphong). The few bombs that hit the airFIeld at Kunming caused minor damage and no casualties. ILt Lyndon R 'Deacon' Lewis was shot down, but he returned ro base unhurt FIve days later. While the 23rd FG was busy holding the line in eastern China, big changes were taking shape for the Fourteenth Air Force as the longawaited build-up picked up steam with the decision ro transfer the 51 st FG from the Tenth Air Force ro China. The move in early October 1943 added two full P-40 squadrons - the 25th and 26th - to Chennault's forces. At this point, the 16th FS was transferred back to the 51st FG, and the 449th was reassigned to the 51 St as well, ending the P-38 unit's short stint with the 23rd FG.

n late October 'Tex' Hill showed up in Kunming, rested, healthy and ready to go back into action. Now wearing the silver eagles of a full colonel, H ill had spent the past year as commander of the Proving Ground Group at Eglin Field, in Florida. At Eglin, he had taken the opportunity ro Ryall the latest models of USAAF FIghters, as well as the British SpitFIre and various bombers as well. The FIghter that impressed Hill most at Eglin was the orth American P-5\ Mustang. As far back as December 1942, when the 23rd FG's ex-AVG P-40s were on their last legs, Col Casey Vincent had written a memo ro Washington, D.C., listing the P-51 as his FIrst choice when it came to supplying a replacement FIghter for China. Hill's experience Aying Mustangs in Florida conFIrmed the wisdom of Vincent's request. He had Aown the P-5tA, which was powered by the same Allison engine as in the P-40, and had been impressed by its speed, handling characteristics and long range. Shortly before leaving for China, Hill also had a chance to Ay the new P-51 B, and he found it had all the attributes of the A-model plus much better straighrline speed and highaltitude performance. Perhaps by coincidence, the FIrst Mustangs began arriving in China at about the same time 'Tex' Hill returned. The pilots of the 76th FS were thrilled when they received word in early Ocrober that it would be the FIrst

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These well-worn P-51As were the first Mustangs to arrive in China, where they were assigned to the 76th FS following service with the 311th FBG in India. Their first mission was an uneventful bomber escort to Hankow from Suichuan flown on 23 November 1943 1Bob Colbertl

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[n the pring of 1940, as the air war began to h alUp over northern Europe, Great Britain sent a pe ial purcha ing commis ion to the nited tate t buy aircraft for the RAP. One of the commi ion's t p wa at the a1ifornia offices of a relatively new orth American Aviation aircraft manufacturer, ( AA). The British representatives wanted AA to build Curtiss P-40s for them under license, but J H 'Dutch' Kindelberger, pre ident of the company, had another idea. Knowing that a difference in production methods between Curtiss and AA would make the P-40 difficult to build, and believing that his company could u e the les ons learned in the opening months of the air war to de ign a fighter that would outperh rm the P-40, Kindelb rger counter-offered to build an all-new fighter for the RAF. The commis ion reluctantly agreed, and the AA design team went to work. They completed a preliminary design by late April, and the protOtype aircraft, designated the A-73, rolled out ju t four montlls later in the autumn of 1940. The NA-73 design incorporated everal key elements tllat would give the new aeroplane performance equal to or better tlWl tile Brio hand erman fighter of the period. The designers paid utmost attention to creating a very fast aircraft by giving it a laminar flow wing airfoil, srreanlljned fu elage lin created by the use of a new mathematical system known as tile development of econdary curves, and a ventral radiatOr system that actuaUy boosted forward thrust

via its ranl-air effect. For a powerplant, they cho e the m t powerful American inline engine then avaiJabletheAJli on V-I7l0-even though it was essentially tile ame as the engine being used in tile Bell P-39 and the urti s P-40. In flight tests during the winter of 1940-4] the A-73 produced the performance that Kindelberger had promi ed, and the RAP immediately ordered the aeroplane intO fuJI production as the Mu tang 1. On learning of tile new fighter' high Army bought two of the early performance, the production Mu tangs, rede ignated them XP-51 , and shipped them to Wright Field, Ohio, for te ting. When the XP-51s pas ed all their flight test, the Army issued an order to AA for 460 P-51 fighters and 500 A-36 dive-bomber vel' ion. With a tOp speed of387 mph, it wa faster than all other fighters of the period, including the Briti h Spitfire and the German Bf 109 E. The Mustang I went intO action over Europe in August 1942, supporting commando troop during their ill-fated raid on Dieppe, in France. By thi time, the RAF had recogni ed the aircraft's one weakness - lack of high altitude performance. The Allison engine had been de igned to produce maximum power at 15,000 ft, but the engine in Briti h and German fighter allowed them to fight at much higher altitudes. To rectify the ituation, Maj Tom Hitchcock, Army Air For e attache in London, proposed mating the Mu rang airframe with the powerful Roll -Royce Merlin engine. The Merlin,

unIt to re-equip with the new fighters to replace their ageing P-40s. Groundcrews were given maintenance manuals for the P-51 A to study, and the pilots sought out any information they could find about their new mounts. The first aeroplanes arrived in Kunming on 17 Oerober, and by the end of the week l5 of them were on hand. Although new to China, the P-51 As were not exactly new airFrames. The 31 1th Fighter-Bomber Group (FBG) had arrived in 1ndia recently with Four squadrons of P-51 As and A-36s (dive-bomber versions of the Mustang), and the decision was made to reorganise the group intO three squadrons so the excess P-51 As could be reassigned to China. As any prudent commander would do, the 0 of the 31 J th instructed his squadron commanders to make sure that they kept their best ustangs and sell( only the rejects to China. oon the surplus Mustangs were flown to Lingling, where a transition school of sorts was set up. Maintenance crews busied themselves painting

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with its tw - tage upet harger, was the same engine that gave the pitflre it high service eiling. When test of a Merlin-powered Mustang proved successful, U automobile manufacturer Packard wa brought on board to manufacture the Briti h engine under licen e in America for a new vel' ion of the A-73, de ignated tile P-51 B. Another important improvement built intO the B-model wa the addition of a fuel tank behind the pilot' eat. ow the M u tang was a world-beater, with peed, manoeuvrability, altitude and range e ond to none. Built by the thou and, Merlin-powered P-51 fought on virtually every front from late 1943

thr ugh t the end f rhe war. In 1 44, NAA rede ign d th fu elage with a treamlined bubble canopy to improve visibility from the cockpit and fitted a more powerful Merlin engine to produce the P-51D. The latter variant would be produ ed in grearer number than any orher model of the utang, with 6502 built in AA's Los Angele fa tOry and 1454 built in Dalla, Texas. similar vel' ion, the P-5lK, wa fitted with a different pr peller. In addition, ph to-re onnai an e vel' ion of variou models f the Mu tang were de ignated as F-6 . A lightweight vel' ion of the fighter (P-51 H) was introduced after the war had ended.

sharksmouths on the aeroplanes, although the smooth line of the P-51 A's lower cowling did not lend itself particularly well to the now-famous group marking. As time permitted, pilots of rhe 76th came From Hengyang and Suichuan (a Forward base south of Hengyang where a deta hmell( was stationed) to check out in their new fighters. The Mustangs were in short supply, and there was no assurance that replacements would be available any time soon. With this in mind, Col Vincent was leery oFbasing the new aeroplanes in Hengyang, where they would Face greate t exposure to enemy air attack. Instead, he instructed the 75th and 76th FSs to trade places so the P-51 As could be tationed at Kweilin - a little farther out of harm's way. The 75th FS flew its P-40s to Hengyang to join the 16th FS on 18 ovember, and the 76th FS joined the 74th F at Kweilin. Except for a detachment of eight P-40s based at Suichuan under the command of Capt John Stewart, the 76th turned

F-6C '599' of the 118th TRS displays the unit's distinctive black lightning markings to good ellect. Note the camera port in the lower rear of the fuselage. The squadron was initially assigned numbers '551-600', but it switched to '151-199' in 1945 (Henry Davis)

73

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over irs remaining P-40s ro rhe 16rh F . The Lighrnings of rhe 449rh FS srayed ar Lingling.

74

THANKSGIVING DAY RAID ON FORMOSA

Heavy dust at Kweilin was blamed

Col Hill had flown from Kunming ro Kweilin, now sire of rhe 23rd -G headquarrers, on 4 November 1943, where he assumed command of rhe group from Lr Col Bonawirz, who in rurn srayed on as group execurive officer. The (wo of rhem, along wirh Col Vincenr, soon cooked up a plan ro mounr a surprise arrack againsr Shinchiku airfield on rhe island of Formosa (now Taiwan), which Col Bruce Holloway had scoured several monrhs earlier in a daring solo reconnaissance mission.

for two accidents by the 74th FS on 4 November 1943. Three P-40s were destroyed in a take-off incident while scrambling for an air raid alert, and one more was wrecked when the aeroplanes came back in to land. 'The boys sure needed a bracer after this fiasco', the squadron historian noted (Leon Klesman)

H ill recalled years larer how rhe Shinchiku mission developed; 'I r was somerhing rhar was absolurely secrer. Bruce Holloway had done some recce over rhere. I saw Bruce when I was coming in, and he was on his way back ro rhe Srares. He rold me, "Man, 'Tex', rhey've gor a lor of aeroplanes over rhere if you can jusr ger ro rhem". Casey Vincenr and I dreamed up a way ro do ir wirh whar we had. We rook everyrhing in China ro make rhar rrip.' The Forward Echelon disparched an F-5A phoro-reconnaissance aircrafr from Suichuan on 24 November ro check our rhe Japanese airfield ar Shinchiku. When rhe aeroplane arrived over Formosa, irs pilor rurned onro his phoro run, rook his picrures and ran for home. The F-5s had been raking picrures over Formosa for several monrhs, bur rhis rrip was differenr. Vincenr and H ill had pur rogerher a S(I'ike force consisring of 14 B-25s, eighr P-38s and eighr P-5 J As. If rhe phoros showed sufFicienr enemy aircrafr on Shinchiku ro wan'anr an arrack, rhe mission would go rhe very nexr day - even ifir was Thanksgiving Day. The cameras in rhe F-5 were quickly unloaded afrer ir landed ar Suichuan, and rhe film was processed rhere. The phorographs revealed Japanese aircrafr by rhe dozens parked on rhe big airfield. In facr Hill recalled rhe counr of 100 bombers and I 12 fighrers parked all over rhe place. The mission was on. Ar Kweilin, eighr P-51 A pilors from rhe 76rh FS were alerred immediarely for a 1400 hI'S flighr ro Suichuan. They did nor know where rhey would be going from uichuan, bur rhey knew somerhing big was up when rhey were issued 'Mae Wesr' life preservers - rhe firsr rhey had seen since arriving in China. Col Hill led rhe Musrangs off ar 1415 hrs, and rhey arrived ar Suichuan 90 minures larer. Thar same afrernoon, P-38s from Lingling and B-25s from Kweilin also flew ro Suichuan. The pilors wenr ro bed early because reveille was scheduled for 0400 hI'S on Thanksgiving Day. The 76rh FS learned of irs rarger ar an exrensive briefing held ar 0830 hrs on Thanksgiving morning. The roure ro Shinchiku would rake rhe Musrang pilors 424 miles our and abour rhe same disrance back, plus wharever manoeuvring mighr be necessary during rhe arrack irself, when rhe likelihood of engagemenr by rhe JAAF was high. Nearly 100 miles each way would be over rhe warer of rhe Formosa So·air. Upon leaving Suichuan, rhe aeroplanes would rake an inirial heading norrheasr, as if rhey were going ro Hankow, and rhen rurn sourheasr roward rhe norrhern end of Formosa. They were ro approach rhe island ar low level ro avoid radar derecrion, climb ro 1000 fr jusr sourhwesr ofShinchiku and proceed wi rh rhe arrack from rhere. The P-38s would provide rop cover, wirh rhe Musrangs sraying close ro rhe B-25s. Six of rhe bombers were from rhe 2nd BS of rhe hineseAmerican Composire Wing, which had jusr arrived in China - rhis was rhe unir's firsr combar mission. The orher eighr B-25s were from rhe vereran I Irh BS. According ro rhe plan, rhe P-38s would escorr rhe B-25s direcdy ro rhe rarger, engage any inrerceprors, and rhen srrafe rhe airfield. The B-25 would follow rhem in and drop parachure-rerarded fragmenrarion bomb c1usrers on one side of rhe field, while P-51 s srrafed rhe orher side, as well as rhe dispersal areas. If any fighrers wenr down in rhe srrair on rhe way

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Six-victory ace Maj J M 'Willie' Williams commanded the 76th FS from October through to late

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home, the last B-25 was to circle back and drop a life raft to the pilot. The ai rmen also had the name of a missionary [Q contact in a coastal town south of Foochow should they go down over the Chinese mainland near the coast.

Capt John S Stewart, shown here in mid-1943, replaced Willie Williams as commander of the 76th FS and went on to become its top-scoring ace with nine confirmed victories by the time he left China in May 1944 after two years of overseas service IDick Templetonl

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Col Hill would be the mission leader, as well as the leader of the P-51 escorts. Capt John Stewart, Suichuan detachment commander, convinced junior P-51 pilot in the

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formation Lt Joe Hiner to give up his seat so Stewart could go. The other Mustang pilots involved in the mission were Capts J M 'Willie' Williams and Lee Manbeck, and Lts

Japanese bombers burn on the ramp at Shinchiku airfield, Formosa, on Thanksgiving Day 1943. Col Tex' Hill led the escorts on this long-range raid in a 76th FS P-51A, scoring an aerial victory and a ground kill whilst over Formosa IBob Colbert)

Donald Hedrick, Bob Colbert, Richard Olney and Dale Bell. Take-offs began at 0930 hI'S, and they had to be done in single file because of soggy field conditions. The last aeroplane was offby 1000 hI'S, and the pilots settled down for their long run [Q the target. Capt Manbeck had not gone far when he encoumered a problem with his hydraulic system and became the only pilot to abort the mission. The 29-aeroplane formation stuck closely to its flight plan, and the navigation was absolutely accurate. The Americans crossed the coast of Formosa at about noon and headed north toward thei I' target.

A few moments later someone called in a twin-engined enemy aircraft approaching down the coastline. Col H ill despatched a flight of the P-38s [Q go after it, and I Lt Robert Schultz quickly shot the aeroplane down. The Lighming flight was returning to its station when Hill spolled some enemy fighters taking offfrom the airfield ahead. A few seconds later, the P-38s found themselves in a fighter pilot's dream position when they saw a string of enemy bombers strung out low and slow in the landing pattern for their air base. A short but decisive battle ensued. The P-38s had a field day, destroying 11 Japanese bombers while the B-25s swept across Shinchiku. On the ground, Japanese crewmen ran for their lives as the B-25s dropped their deadly 'frag' bomb clusters. Meanwhile, Col Hill's Mustangs engaged a few Ki-43 'Oscars' that managed to get airborne. Hill shot down one that 'chandelled' in front of him while it tried to get on the tail of the last B-25. Lt Bell sent another fighter down in flames a few seconds later. Then Hill led his P-5ts in on a strafing run, and the flight destroyed several more aircraft on the ground. The B-25s and P-38s also did considerable damage to aircraft and facil ities on the ai rfield. Not a single USAAF aircraft was lost in return, although two of the P-51 pilots had frightening momems. Ironically, the first was Capt Stewart, who had never previously flown a Mustang prior to embarking on this mission. He dropped his external wing tanks just before going down on his strafing pass but forgot to turn on the switch to his internal

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fuel ranks. The Musrang's engine died immediarely, leaving ir ro glide silenrly across rhe airfield while Srcwarr scrambled franrically 1O find rhe fuel swirch. He gor rhe engine resrarred jusr in rime to rake aim ar a bomber parked on rhe field's edge and fire a bursr rhar blew ir up. 01 Hill had rhe second scare as he was pulling up from his strafing pass. He was jusr forming up for rhe flight home when an explosion rocked his Musrang. Hill's hearr jumped, and he shor a glance over his shoulder ro rry ro SpOt the enemy fighrer rhat must surely be behind him. othing was there, however, leaving him ro surmise rhat a round of ammunirion had cooked off in one of his hot wing guns. 0 harm was done, excepr perhaps ro his nerves, and Hill led rhe formarion back ro Suichuan wirhout furrher exciremenr. 'It was a risky operarion', 'Tex' Hill rold rhe aurhor many years later. 'We could have easily losr everybody. Insread, we pulled off a perfect miSSIOn'. A phoro-reconnaissance Lighrning arrived over Shinchiku ar high alrirude abour 15 minures afrer rhe arrackers had deparred and rook picrures of rhe carnage below. Those images, in addition ro some raken from the B-25s during rhe artack, helped ro confirm the following claims by the P-51 pilors - Hill, one confirmed in the air plus one confirmed and one probable on rhe ground; Williams, one confirmed and one damaged on the ground; Srewarr, one confirmed on rhe ground; Colberr, one confirmed on rhe ground; and Hedrick, one probable and one damaged on the ground. The only damage susrained by the Musrangs occurred when Lr Rick Olney made a rough landing at Suichuan and badly damaged rhe propeller on his aeroplane. The P-51 As returned ro Kweilin rhe nexr day. Accolades poured in ro Col Vincent's office in Kweilin over rhe nexr few days from as far away as India. The mission was deemed ro have been a complere success, for nor only had it inflicred specific damage on Japancsc

aircrafr and insrallarions ar Shinchiku, ir also had srraregic value. 0 longer could rhe Japanese assume rhar Formosa was our of reach from an enemy air arrack. The JAAF would have ro bolsrer irs air defences on rhe island, using aircrafr and men badly needed ro oppose Allied advances in rhe Sourh Pacific.

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Lt Lyndon R 'Deacon' Lewis of the 75th FS prepares for a mission in his P-40K '169' Deacon's SAD SACK. Lewis scored two confirmed aerial victories, one probable and two damaged in action from May through to December 1943. The significance of the cut-off drop tank is unknown (Lyndon Lewis)

P-51A '114' (43-6298) bellied in at Kweilin on 18 December 1943 with Lt John Celani at the controls, the pilot having clipped the wing of a wrecked B-25 while taking off on a practice flight. Note the mechanics removing the canopy. These were in short supply in China, and could be used as replacement items on another aeroplane (Tom Raleigh)

On 13 November, unirs of rhe Japanese 1I rh Army had moved out of rheir camps in rhe Hankow area and headed wesr roward the Chinese-held ciry of Changreh (Changde), on rhe far side of Tungring Lake. The primary goal of rhis manoeuvre was ro relieve Chinese farmers in rhe ricerich area of rheir rops, which were needed ro feed Japanese soldiers elsewhere. The 23rd FC squadrons in easr China responded ferociously, raining down a rorrenr ofbombs and bullcrs on rhe enemy advance, but by I December rhe Japanese had surrounded Changreh and held ir under siege. Ar this poinr rhe P-40 pilors convened rheir \'(farhawks inro rransporrs, filling belly ranks wirh ammunirion and food rhar rhey dropped ro rhe Chinese rroops defending rhe ciry. The firsr aerial barrie over hangreh rook place on 4 December, whcn pilors of rhe 74rh and 75rh F s foughr off Ki-44 'Tojos' arrempring 1O arrack rhe B-25s rhey were escorring. More clashes occurred as rhe monrh progressed, and on J 2 December rheJapanese struck back wirh a series of raids on Hcngyang. Afrer rhe firsr formarion of'Tojos' and 'Oscars' broke off an engagcmenr over Hengyang and headed for rheir base ar anchang rhar day, Capr Lyn n FJones of rhe 74 th FS gave chase ar rhe head ofa fresh flight of P-40s. Jones caughr rhe enemy formarion by surpri e near Nanchang and shor down an 'Oscar' for his fifrh vicrory. Also on 12 December a replacemenr pilot wirh rhe 75rh F recorded one of rhe more unusual aerial vicrories of rhe hina air war. Flying in a wingman slot, 2Lr Donald S Lopez losr sighr of his flighr leader in rhe haze

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machine gun in a pit at Kweilin. Here, Sgt Leon Klesman is seen getting used to the feel of the big gun, which was salvaged from a written-off P-40 (Leon Klesman)

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The 76th FS sent 16 P-40s and P-51s, along with P-40s from the 74th and 16th FSs, as escorts for 8-24s targeting Canton on 23 December 1943. Lt Richard Perkins made it back to Kweilin, but had to belly-land P-40K '102' there. Note the dark border (probably red) on the fighter's national insignia {Victor Gelhausenl

after their first pass at a formation of'Oscars'. Lopez rhen sporred a Ki-43 chasing another P-40 and began closing in on ir from behind. The 'Oscar' pilot sporred Lopez and whipped around in a right turn to make a headon pass. Both pilots opcned fire, and Lopez could see his bullers hirring home, but by then the twO aeroplanes were practically on top of each other. The Japanese pilot veered sharply to his right, but the left wings of the twO fighters struck each othcr. Lopez felt a jolt and looked back to see the wing of the 'Oscar' separate from the fuselage, sending it whirling down in a crazy dive. The P-40's wing was mangled but intact, and Lopez managed to land his aeroplane without incidcnt at Hengyang. Lopez's victory was the first of five he would score in China. In all, 23rd F pilots were credited with 16 confirmed vi tories on 12 December. The 76th FS, under newly appointed commanding officer CaptJohn S Stewart, moved its P-51 As from Kweilin to the forward base at Suichuan,

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on the Kan River in south Kiangsi Province, on 26 December 1943. Japanese intelligence was apparently very good in this area because the JAAF's 3rd Air Division launched an arrack on the base from Canton the very next morning. Seven P-5IAs and seven P-40s scrambled at 1130 hrs on word from the warning net that an attack was on the way. At about 1145 hrs, six Ki-48 'Lily' bombers made a bombing run over the base from south to north at 1500 ft, destroying a B-25 in a revetment plus the 76th FS alert shack. Meanwhile, Capt Stewart led his mixed formation in a bounce of the escorting Ki-43s of the I I th and 25th Sentais from above at J 2,000 ft over the base. A tremendous fight ensued, and all but one of Stewart's pilots would subsequently submit claims for the fight, including five Ki-43s destroyed. This was an unusually accurate tally, as the 25th Sentai 10 t three aircraft and the I I th Sentai lost one. Among the Japanese pilots killed was Capt Nakakazu Ozaki, commander of the 2nd Chutai/25th Sentai and a

19-victory ace. He cra hed about ten kilometres southwest of Suichuan. The only 76th aircraft lost was Lt Robert Schacffer's P-40K 0 I 12. He was shot up during the initial bounce but managed to belly-land his aeroplane nearby and was unhurt. 76th FS pilots claimed four more victories when Japanese fighters attacked Suichuan on 30 December, thus boosting thc 23rd FG's total for the month to a new group record of 41 confirmed kills during the coursc of962 sorties. This total did not include a victolY credited to 76th F crew chief Sgt George Spencer on 30 December. Spencer was manning a water-cooled O.50-calmachine gun in a pit at the southern end of the Suichuan airfield when a strafing Ki-4 3 flew over him and pulled up in a steep dive to reverse direction for another pass. Spencer got a good lead on the aeroplane and fired 125 rounds in two bursts before his gun jammed. Although he did not see his rounds inflict any damage on the fighter, a group of me hanics taking shel ter at the northern end of the field saw the 'Oscar' nose into the ground and blow up. SSgt Spencer was subsequently awarded a ilver Star for this action. One other notable event took place at the end of 1943 when the Fourteenth Air Force reorganised its combat forces geographically to operate under the command of individual wings. The 23rd FG and the 11th B were assigned to the 68th Composite Wing ( \XI), which would operate in eastern hina under the command of none other than Col Casey Vincent. 1944 starred quietly for the 23rd FG as bad weather shut down flying in eastern China for a week. Maintenance crews used the time to install new Bendix radio compasses in some of the unit's fighters. These devices were navigational aids that allowed pilots to take a 'fix' from a ground transmirrer to determine their location and the proper heading back to base. The compasses, like everything else in China, were in short supply, so initially they were fitted only to aeroplanes assigned to squadron

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I .111 r lid flight lOmmanders. Bendix radio compasses were installed in

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Tom Raleigh was a 'tech rep' from the Allison Division of General Motors, and he is seen here posing with Capt John Stewart's P-51A '122' 143-6303) in early 1944 at Suichuan. Named for Stewart's wife, Lynn, the aeroplane displays its pilot's full score of nine victory flags. It has also been fitted with a direction finding loop on the fuselage spine

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I till ttrCIlIJl .lIrl.raFI through to April, by which time ncw fightcrs had '1lI1l11 oIrrivc in :hina with compasses already fitted. IInth 'r m.lintcnancc issue concerned the ryres firred ro new P-40 s th.1l b 'g.ln arriving in-thearre in Dccember 1943. The gravel runways in .hllla were notoriously hard on ryres, and the Fourreenrh Air Force had worked hard ro build up a supply of replacement rubber For its Warhawks. Ilowever, the P-40N-5 and later models were firred with smaller wheels and ryres than the earlier P-40s in an eFFort ro reduce overall weight, and there were no replacement ryres available For them. [n some cases, crew chiefs backdated the landing gears of their P-40 s with bigger wheels salvaged from older fighters so they would be able ro replace the ryres when they wore our. Although the 23rd FG had by now become famous for its prowess in air-to-air combat, by 1944 the unit was primarily involved in fighterbomber operations aimed at harassing the enemy's long, and vulnerable, lines of communication. River, rail and highway traffic were common targets, along with japanese-held airfields, dock facilities, bridges and troop concentrations. The first mission of 1944 was a sweep by nine P-40s of the 75th FS on 9 january. Covering 50 miles of the Yangtze River From Hankow eastward ro Kiukiang, the pilots involved shot up six steamboats and numerous smaller craFt, causing an estimated 30 to 40 casualties. All of the' harks' returned safely ro Hengyang, thus completing the 75th's most successful mission of the month. The Mustangs at Suichuan were in action the following day when Capt Stewarr led eight 76th FS P-51 As to Kienchang to arrack a railway bridge. This first arrempt at dive-bombing with the Mustangs was disappointing,

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as two bombs hit the tracks south of the bridge, but not one of the 14 remaining bombs hit the bridge itselF. Soon, however, the 76th FS pilots would get the hang of dive-bombing with their new fighters, and the Mustang would ulti mately prove itselF to be as fine a dive-bom bel' as it was a fighter. Air-to-air combat was sporadic during the first two months of 1944, with the 23rd FG claiming nine japanese aircraFt shot down in seven encounters. The 23rd FG lost two P-40s and one P-5IA in aerial combat during this period, plus two more Warhawks that were shot down by enemy ground fire. The weather also proved a dangerous opponenr. On 18 january five pilots left: Kunming to ferry new P-40 s to Kweilin. Leading was apt Harlyn Vidovich, a highly experienced pilot in the 74th F with twO confirmed victories to his credir. one of the fighters arrived in Kweilin, and their Fate remained a mystery for more than a week beFore a survivor was located and rold his story. Apparently, the P-40 pilots had become trapped in the clouds and succumbed ro verrigo. Two managed to parachute to safery, but Capt Vidovich, 1Lt Lawrence W mith and 2Lt Walter C Washer were killed. It was a powerful rem inder of the hazards that th reatened figh tel' pil tS in China every time they left the ground. March brought two exciting developments, though only one would prove successful. fter a horr period of training at Kweilin, the 74th FS flew the fir t combat mission employing aerial M-9 rockets in China on 3 March. Carried in long bazooka-like tubes under the wings of a P-40, the early rockets packed a strong punch but were not considered parricularly accurate, plus the tubes were a tremendous d rag on the perFormance of the

P-40K '36' of the 74th FS, assigned to Lt Fred Meyer, came to rest in a ditch at Kweilin in early 1944. Note the squadron's red fuselage band and the pin-up artwork of a girl in a bathing suit wearing a big hat on the rudder. This artwork was applied to both sides of the rudder (Leon Klesman)

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The first Merlin-powered P-51B Mustangs, instantly recognisable by their four-bladed propellers, arrived in China in March 1944 as replacements for the tired P-51As of the 76th FS. Here, one of the new fighters makes a low pass over an airfield while on an early test hop (Ray Crowetn

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air rafr. J hn ,Whcclcr, a pilot in thc 74th FS during rhis pcriod, had th is ro say about rhc r kcts; '\Y/c rhoughr ir was rhc f1rsr rimc rockcrs had bccn uscd in combar by f1ghrcr plancs. Thcy wcrc rriplc rubcs, about six inchcs (in) diamcrcr, and wc carricd onc lusrcr undcr cach wing. Thcy madc a nicc cxplosion whcn rhcy hir, bur 1 nly u cd thcm on onc mission and thcy pcrcrcd our prcrry quickly. 1 think it was hard ro gcr an accuratc shor. Thcy wcrc an awful drag, roo, and wc scldom droppcd bclly ranks or bazooka rubcs cxccpr in cmcrgcncy bccausc cvcryrhing was roo hard ro rcplacc.' Aftcr this disappoinring srarr, rockcr usc would increase slowly as accuracy of the weapons improved and supplies became more reliable. A more posirive developmenr, at leasr for rhe 76th FS, was rhe arrival of the first five P-5\ Bs at Kunming. These new Merlin-powered Mustangs, which had a substantial performance edge over every other fighter type flying in the Far Easr at rhat rime, were delivered ro the 76rh FS ar Suichuan on \4 March aFrer having been modified by the air service group ar Kunming. Shorrages ofspare pam and rools would hamper rhe combar in rrod uction of the new Mustangs, but over rhe nexr eight monrhs rhey would displace the P-40 as rhe srandard f1ghrer of the 23rd FC. The arrival ofspri ng d id nOt bri ng an increase in operations, as the 23rd FC recorded jusr 59 offensive sorties and no enemy aircrafr claimed in the air or on the ground during April. This period of relarive quiet gave the unir a chance ro catch its brearh and build up irs strengrh; rhe number of aircrafr assigned ro rhe 23rd FC grew from jusr 53 ar rhe beginning of rhe year ro 75 in April. Thar was forrunare, because rhe 23rd FC would necd all rhe srrengrh ir could musrer in rhc monrhs ro come.

BATTLING ICHI-GO T he war in the Pacific was going badly for rhc Japancsc by rhe spring of 1944. In rhe CBI, long-ranging sweeps over rhe South hina Sca by Fourreenrh Air Force bombers, plus arracks by American submarines, were scriously disrupring Japanese shipmenrs of oil and ore from Sourhcasr Asia ro rhe homc islands. The besr unirs of rhe Chinese Army, meanwhile, were addingsrrengrh ro rhe Allicd ground campaign in norrhcrn Burma. Thc Japanese High Command decidcd irs besr course of acrion would be ro mounr a massive ground campaign rhar would conquer all of southern China and possibly forcc Chiang Kai-shek our of rhe war. Thc offensive, namcd !chi-Go ('Number One') was designed [Q caprure the Fourreenrh Air Force's pesky eastern airbascs and also ro provide thc Japancsc wirh a railway link for hauling war matcrials all the way from Indochina through Hankow and on ro Peking (Bcijing), Korca and Manchuria. Ir ncarly succccdcd. !chi-Go kicked off in April \944 wirh a drive sourh from the Yellow Rivcr inro Honan !)rovincc in an arrcmpr ro complete rhe railway connccrion bcrween Hankow and Pcking. The Fourreenrh Air Force respondcd by scnding rhc ncwly arrivcd 3rd FC of rhe Chincsc-Amcrican Combar Wing (CACW) norrh ro opposc rhcJapancsc advancc. Soon thc 5rh FC ACW would move ro hihkiang, lcaving rhe 23rd FC ro hold

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Col 'Tex' Hill, CO of the 23rd FG, took one of the first P-51Bs (43-124051 as his personal aircraft and named it BULLFROG I. Assigned for service to the 74th FS, it carried the tail number '11' and also sported a propeller spinner striped in red, white and blue. The identity of the crewman standing on the fighter's wing in this photograph is unknown (Leon Klesman)

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Maj Charles E Griffith, commander of the 76th FS (hence the squadron patch on his flight jacket), led his

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the line in the east. Th is phase of the advance had Iittle impact on the 23rd FG because the action was taking place several hundred miles north of its bases. The second phase of !chi-Co, expected to start at any time, would work its way down the Hsiang River valley from Hankow toward the 23rd FG bases. As soon as the enemy's barrie plan became apparent, Col Casey Vincent began planning how his 68th CW would react. After being delayed for severaJ days by bad weather, Vincent sent a force of 54 fighters and bombers to the Hankow area on 6 May 1944 with the intention of destroying Japanese supplies and equipment before they could be employed in the second phase of the advance. Col Tex Hill would lead the fighter escort, which consisted of 16 P-51 Bs from the 76th FS and P-38s of the 449th FS out of Lingling and P-40s of the 75th FS from Hengyang, which would join up en route to the target. The big formation managed to make its way toward Hankow, despite being hampered by heavy haze and scattered clouds. About ten minutes short ofthe target, which was a supply depot nearrhe main Hankow ai rfield, several Ki-4 3s popped out of the clouds and made a head-on pass on a fl ight of Mustangs led by Maj Charles E Griffith. The fighters tangled for a few moments and the P-51 s gOt the worSt of it, but they managed to keep the 'Oscars' away from the bombers, which hit the target successfully. Lt Glen Beneda of the 76th FS was shot down (the first combat loss of a P-51 Bin China), but he baled out successfully and returned to the squadron twO months later. The P-38s also engaged some Ki-43s, but the only kill credited to an American pilot went to Col H ill. This was the last victory of his illustrious combat career, giving him a total of 14.75 victories. This clearly made him the highest scoring ace among active Fourteenth Air Force pilots that were active at that ti me. Action picked up for the 23rd FG over the coming week, although the 74th FS at Kweilin had to wait until June to engage JAAF aircraft once again. TheJapanese sent several strong missions into the Suichuan area on I I and 12 May that were opposed by a detachment of the 76th FS flying P-40s and P-51s. By the afternoon of the 13th, only three P-51s were

squadron on a successful escort mission to Hankow on 6 May 1944. Griffith went on to score three aerial victories, but sadly was killed in a flying accident in December 1944 Patsy was a P-40N-1 of the 75th FS, and it is seen here riddled with holes from a fragmentation bomb following a night attack by the JAAF on Hengyang on 3 May 1944. Note also that the fighter's drop tank has been shattered and its tyres punctured IH L Kirkpatrick)

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airworthy enough to be scrambled when a big formation of enemy raiders again approached the base. Capt Lester Murray led the intercept, but juSt as he reached the Japanese bombers his engine began coughing white smoke from its exhausts. Thinking he had been hit, Murray dived out of the fight and made an emergency landing. Lt Charles Gibson also tried to close on the bombers, but the Ki-4 3 escorts cut him offand he spent a very busy few minutes before he was able to evade them. The only P-51 pilot who managed to attack the bombers was Lt Wendell toneham. He caught them flying north after they had made their bombing runs over the base, and he dived on the trailing flight offive Ki-48s. The bombers closed up in a right formation so their top gunners could oncentrate their rerum fire on the approaching Mustang, bur Stoneham ducked below their line ofsight and made a climbing pass from beneath the last bomber on the left. His first burst hit the aeroplane's left engine, and then he hit it in the fuselage. The Ki-48 quickly began to burn, and it fell our of formation trailing a long plume of smoke. When the bomber crashed, the smoke from its explosion could be seen from the airfield. Stoneham made two more arracks, setting a second bomber on fire (which he claimed as a probable) and damaging a third. By this time, however, the damage had been done at Suichuan. The Japanese bombs had destroyed three P-38s and damaged three B-25s and th ree P-4 Os. With the base's fuel supply nearly exhausted, Col Vincent had little choice but to pull his remaining B-25s out of there that same day. Bad weather then set in, and Suichuan remained quiet for the rest of May. At Hengyang, the 75th F flew I I offensive missions - ground attack and bomber escort - plus 15 local alerts during the first 13 days of the month. Now led by Maj Philip Loofbourrow, the 75th FS finally gOt a crack at the JAAF after almost twO months without a claim when the squadron flew an early morning escort mission to Yochow (Yueyang) on 14 May. Eight P-40s covered the B-25s as they made their bombing runs and then dropped down to strafe a long convoy of trucks, leaving them thoroughly riddled. While climbing ou t after his strafi ng pass, one of the Warhawk pilots called out 12 to 14 Ki-43s heading toward the P-40s. Loofbourrow turned his formation into the arrack, and a furious

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fight ensued. Lts James Vurgaropulos and James Folmar each scored si ngle confirmed kills, and probables were credited to Capt J oh n Long and Lt Francis Armstrong. Seven damaged claims also were filed. The only P-40 to suffer any damage was Maj Loofbourrow's, which was hit in the left: stabiliser and Fuselage. The major suffered superficial flesh wounds on an arm and leg but returned saFely to Hengyang with the rest of the 'Sharks'. 75th FS flight surgeon Maj Laughlin soon had Loofbourrow patched up, and the major led another mission that aFternoon. The 75th FS had another scrap three days later, scoring one vicrory, Four probables and seven damaged, while having two P-40s badly shot up. On that same day, the Japanese army completed its operation in I onan Province to link the Peking-Hankow railway line, and on 26 May the main phase of [chi-Go began. The Japanese Elevemh Army, with some 60,000 assault trOOps in a Force totalling near 250,000, crossed the Yangtze River near Yochow and headed south toward Changsha. Chinese resistance was light at first, but it stiFFened as the Japanese approached the city, where Cen Hsueh Yueh was in command of nearly 150,000 deFenders. The pace and profile of mis ions flown by the 23rd FG changed immediately. Now, in addition to deFending their bases and striking at enemy supply lines, the pilots would begin making attacks on the Japanese advance itselF. Using bombs, rockets and gunfire, they struck at troop concentrations, tanks and artillery at the From, as well as anything moving along the Japanese lines of communication and transport. Trucks, trains and riverboats were Favoured targets, along with bridges and marshalling yards. JAAF air activity was increasing as well, and the 75th F lost twO pilots killed during a dogfight over the enemy's Forward airfield at Kingmen on the first day of the ofFensive. In all, the 75th FS lost seven P-40s between 26 and 29 May, leaving Hengyang so short of fighter defence

that Col Vincent flew the 76th FS in From Suichuan on 3\ May to help bolster the badly shaken 75th. Phil Loofbourrow recalled this period in a letter to the author; 'The majorilY of our activity in the spring and summer of 1944 was against Japanese ground Forces, and Japanese inFantrymen shot down more of our aeroplanes than Japanese fighter pilots. For this type of activity, the P-40 probably did better than the P-51 Mustang because the rear-mounted radiator in the latter fighter gave the rifleman a vulnerable target going away From him. Anyone (lying to hit the radiator in the P-40 had to stand up and Face six 0.50-calmachine guns comi ng at him. Agai nst

P·51B '101' displays typical markings of the 76th FS in the spring-summer of 1944 as it has its guns boresighted at Suichuan. The spinner is light blue. The squadron soon stopped applying the sharksmouth to its Mustangs, as the nose shape did not suit the markings particularly well (Ivan Ball)

fighters, of course, the P-51 was superior because it had about a 100 mph advantage in speed.' Col Vincent continued shuffiing his fighter squadrons to keep his Freshest units in the fight. He moved the 74th FS up to Hengyang on 3 June and transFerred the P-5 \ Bs of the 76th FS to Lingl ing. By th is time the 75th was nearly our oFaircraFt, so it Followed the 76th to Lingling a Few days later. ow the 74th FS was on point at Hengyang, and it new commander, Maj Arthur Cruikshank, inrended to make the most of it. Cruikshank had been one of the original 74th F pilots, and he had become the squadron's first ace in August \943 prior to returning to the US. oW he was back in China For a second combat tour, and looking to run up h is score. By the end oFJ une he had scored twO more victories, been shot down twice and then pulled back our of combat. Chinese Forces held the ily oFChangsha For several weeks, but when it Fell Hengyang was left: exposed. Col Vincem ord red the 68th CW to abandon its Hengyang base on 16 June, leaving Lingling and Kweilin as the primary airfields available to the 23rd FG. On the plus side, the Chinese defence had stiffened again as the enemy approached Hengyang. At Hengshan, 25 miles north of the city, the deFenders held a strong position and were reFusing to yield.

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Lt Stephen J Bonner Jr, who was a five-victory ace with the 76th FS, poses in his P-51B (43-7028) in mid-

2Lt Don Lopez's P-40N '194' of the 75th FS got a mouthful of aluminium when a P-51 taxied into it at Yang Tong airfield, Kweilin, on 12 June 1944. The tough P-40 suffered only superficial damage to its cowling, which Lopez recalled was replaced with an unmarked 'bathtub', leaving him a 'toothless tiger' until it was painted several weeks later (Leon Klesman)

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From 17 through to 25 June, the 68th CW threw the full weight of its firepower into supporting the hinese at Heng han. The weather was awful, with a low overcast restricting visibility, but mission after mission went OLit anyway. The majority of these strikes were river sweeps designed to catch the Japanese moving men and supplies along the siang River to support their frontline troops. The pilots of the 23rd FG flew 538 sorties in nine days and lost just ne aircraft - Lt David Rust of the 75th FS experienced engine failure in his P-40 and had to make a belly landing ten miles north of Lingling. The bad weather was a factor in the 23rd FC's low loss rate because Japanese fighters at Hankow were having more trouble reaching the frontline area than the Americans were. And when they did make contact with the Warhawks and Mustangs, the Japanese usually suffered yet more losses. The 76th FS scored three victories without loss on 17 and 18 June. The next contact did not come until 25 June, when Maj Cruikshank led a mixed formation from the 74 th and 75th out of Lingling on an offensive sweep along the river north of Hengyang and scored two of the three victories claimed when the P-40s encountered a flight of Japanese dive-bombers with fighter escort.

Also in June 1944, a fourth squadron joined the 23rd FC at Kweilin in the form of the I 18th Tactical Reconnaissance Squadron (TRS), commanded by Maj Edward 0 McComas. The I 18th TRS initially flew P-40 s equipped with aerial cameras as well as guns. These would give way to P-51 BIDs and F-6 Mustangs later in the year. The 118th TR wa a pre-war ational Guard unit from Connecticut with highly trained pilots and an aggressive commander. It wasted no time in making their presence felt, flying 64 sorties by the end of June, and by October the unit would boast of its first ace, apt Oran S Watts.

The 118th TRS joined the 23rd FG in June 1944 at Kweilin. It initially flew P-40Ns equipped with aerial cameras as well as guns, and Lt Henry F Davis Jr was one of its most successful pilots, scoring three confirmed victories by October 1944 (Henry Davis)

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Wirh rhe addirion of rhe new squadron, rhe 23rd FG began July wirh 51 aircrafr, IS2 commissioned officers and 6S2 enlisred men. The group would lose four flghrers in aerial combarduring rhe monrh, plus 20 orhers ro ground fire, accidenrs and orher causes. One pilor, Lr Richard Mullineaux of rhe 74rh FS, was killed on a strafing mission and anorher was raken prisoner. On rhe posirive side of rhe ledger, rhe 23rd FG was credired wirh 27 aerial vicrories, of which LrJames Folmar of rhe 75rh FS claimed four. The group also claimed a roral of five aircrafr desrroyed on rhe ground roo. The 74rh FS began using Kanchow inrermirrendy in July, and ir would move rhere permanendy in early Seprember under rhe command of greyhaired Maj John C 'Pappy' Herbsr. Legend held rhar Herbsr had downed a German aeroplane over Europe while Rying wirh rhe Royal Canadian Air Force in 1941, and his performance since arriving in China in June seemed ro supporr ir. The group's most successful encounrer wirh enemy aircrafr came on 15 July when P-40Ns of rhe 74rh FS rook on Ki-43-lIs of the 4Srh Senrai and Ki-44s of rhe 9rh Senrai near rhe airfield ar Siangran. 74rh FS narrarive from Righr leaders involved in rhe anion read as follows; 'The 74rh FS senr seven P-40s led by Capr John C Herbsr, squadron commander, (from Kweilin) ro srage our of amyung againsr rhe Japanese supply line from Tungchang ro Tsyungyang. On 14 July rhey arracked several rruck columns and desrroyed more rhan 50 vehicles. Early rhe nexr morning rhey sraged our ofSuichuan ro arrack barracks and Rak posirions near Siangran. Aircrafr in rhe dive-bombing Righr, led by Capr Theodore A Adams, carried a 250-lb bomb under each wing. The trio of

The 11 8th TRS applied distinctive black lightning markings to its aircraft in the autumn of 1944. Here. a war-weary P-40N squadron hack shows its squadron colours I Victor Gelhausen)

rop cover, led by apr Herbsr, was loaded wirh parafrags. The Righrs approached Siangran wirh rhe rop cover ar SOOO ft and rhe dive-bombers ar 6000 fr. Capr Adams was ro lead cwo dive-bombers in on rhe barracks near rhe airfield, and Lr Virgil A Buder and his wingman were ro arrack Rak posirions near rhe railway tresde norrh of rhe city.' Capr Adams' narrarive; 'I had jusr locared rhe rarger and peeled off on my dive-bombing run when 1 noriced a silver aeroplane below and ro rhe righr. Ir had a high, square-ripped wing and a radial engine. I kepr an eye on rhe silver job because I figured I would come back afrer I bombed and ger ir. When Igor down ro abour 2000 fr I saw anorher Jap ro my left. I dropped my bombs and wenr afrer him. He was rurning across my nose, so I rurned in behind him. I had builr up so much speed in my dive rhar 1 closed in a hurry_ 1srarred shooring wirh a 30-degree deRecrion and closed so fasr 1 had ro duck under ro keep from hirring rheJap. He was a "Tojo" wirh elliprical wings and a big radial engine. 1saw smoke rrail our his engine and rhen he fell off and hir rhe ground. I was ar abour 1200 fr when 1pulled our. 'I saw a whole mass of Japs milling around rhe field ar abour 1000 fr. There were ar leasr 20 "Tojos" and "Oscars" in a big landing cir Ie going clockwise around rhe field. I did a sreep ISO and came back over rhe field. I blacked our in rhe rum and headed inro rhe Jap circle. One "Tojo" srarred ro pull srraighr up away from rhe circle. I srill had plenty ofexcess speed so I followed him up in a verrical climb. We were borh goingsrraighr up when I opened fire. I saw cwo big plumes of black smoke trail from his cowling and he sralled our. 1had ro duck again ro avoid a collision. I saw him go down smoking like a chimney. 'There was a squirrel cage formarion sourh of rhe field wirh eighr "Oscars" chasing rheir rails and edging away from rhe main flghr. My speed was srill up, so I broke inro rhe edge of rheir circle. One rried ro dive our so 1gave him a 30-degree bursr. 1missed, and all ofa sudden rhere were four orher "Oscars" coming in on me from behind. They were shooring, bur rheir deRecrion was off - all trailing. I dived a lirde and anorher P-40 came scooring by and scarrered rhe Japs. I came back over rhe field ar 500 fr and saw a "Tojo" going wesr. 1 overhauled him and rook a 5degree deRecrion shor and rhen cur ir down ro 20 degrees. 1saw pieces Ry offhis fuselage, bur he kepr on going. 'By rhis rime one of my coolanr lines had cracked and rhe Ruid wa boiling our. My gauge was clear over on rhe peg, so 1shoved rhe nose down and srarred for rhe Chinese side of rhe lines ro rhe sourhwesr. Two Japs chased me, and 1could see four orhers on rhe rail f anorher P-40. The Japs couldn'r gain on me, and rhe coolanr saw me home. 1found our larer rhar Lr Van Sickle (on derached duty from rhe SI sr FG ar Chengru) had shor an "Oscar" off my rail as 1rurned inro my flrsr "Tojo". 1 never even knew rhe Jap was rhere.' Lr Buder's narrarive; 'I was afrer some Rak posirions near rhe railway tresde norrh of rhe field. I made my bomb run and wenr afrer rhe silver, square-winged, Jap. All of a sudden I picked up rhree Japs on my rail. While 1 was diving and rwisring ro ger away from rhem, a "Tojo" loomed up ahead in my sighrs. He had his Raps and wheels down and was almo r dead ahead below me. I lowered my nose and rook a good long shor from squarely asrern. He

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Lt Frederick M Bear of the 74th FS flew P-40N '31' during the spring and summer of 1944. Barely visible over the exhausts is the fighter's fitting nickname, THE CUB, but the artwork applied to the aircraft's rudder is indistinguishable {Leon Klesmanl

looked as though someone had struck a match along his fuselage - juSt a long, growing flare of flame. He rolled over and crashed, still burning. I kept on diving down to the deck and cventually succeeded in getting away from the other three Japs.' Capt Herbst's narrative;

'I spotted an "Oscar" with his wheels down at about 600 fL I slowed down and came in directly behind him, and a little above. I gave him a two-second burst and he erupted in flames. I saw him crash. 'By that time I had picked up a "Tojo" on my tail, with an "Oscar" behind him. I also could see other smoke columns rising from crashed aeroplanes. The "Tojo" opened fire, but all his shots were trailing. I could out-turn him, but the moment I got ahead the "Oscar" would cut across the circle and cut me off. I flipped over and started turning in the opposite direction. The same thing happened. I was surprised that I could turn inside the "Tojo", but he seemed unwilling to make a tight turn at 500 fL Finally, I shoved the stick down and dived under the "Oscar" as he cur across to head me off. That cleared my tail, and I looked around. 'There was a P-40 south of the field with a "Tojo" on his tail at 800 fL The P-40 was diving and the "Tojo" turning into him to get a deflection shot ahead of him. I turned into the "Tojo" from high astern. My first burst was over him, and he saw the tracers. He flipped over and tried to dive out in the opposite direction. That brought him squarely into my sights for a no-deflection shot, and I gave him another burst that nearly burned out my guns. He went down in flames. I then climbed to 500 ft and came back across the field. There were only three Zeros left still circling the base. I went after them, along with about five other P-40s. We made a couple of passes and didn't hit anything. Leaving the field, I saw columns ofsmoke rising from the ground.' Herbst went on to score his fourth and fifth victories (both 'Oscars') on 6 August while leading his squadron in a strike against its former base at Hengyang. With the squadron's conversion to Mustangs in eptember,

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Lt John W Wheeler sits in the cockpit of his P-40N '41' during the 74th FS's spell at Kweilin in mid-1944. Wheeler scored his lone aerial victory on 22 November 1944 during a long-range strike against the enemy airfield at Anking (John Wheeler)

'I was leading the top cover at 8000 ft when I heard apt Adams call, "There is a Jap down here". At the same time I spottcd three black fighters coming in toward us. They must have been top cover for whatever was going on below. I turned into them and they turned away. I never did see them again. We dropped our frag bombs and belly tanks and started down. We picked up a terrific speed in that dive - enough to carry us all the way through the fight with an advantage. 'At 3000 ft I saw two black columns rising from two Jap aeroplanes that had already hit the deck. Then I spotted a lot of Japs at about 1000 fi: circling clockwise and a couple ofP-40s weaving in and out ofthc circle. There were two dust streamers rising along the runway where twO more Japs were taking off j counted at least 16 "Oscars" and "Tojos" all strung out in the circle apparently following their leader. They made no effort to get away - the J ap fighters just went around and around.

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'I started to cur inside the circle, bur I had so much speed- about 340 mph - that I had to weave in and out to gCt shots. It was a real slugging match. We had the speed and altitude on them, and at close range those six 0.50-cals tore them apart. I took a couple ofsnap shots and missed. The Japs just went round and round - none of their usual tricks, nOt even steep, tight turns. They seemed to be afraid to do any stunts at such a low altitude. Our boys had been flying on the deck for so long - strafing and dodging hills in bad weather - that nobody thought twice abour racking around in vertical banks ten feet off the deck. It was juSt our meaL

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ir operati ns of the 23rd FG continued ro intensify in August. The squadron pent rhe firsr week concentraring on enemy truck convoys rhar were upplying rhe siege forces ar Hengyang. Casey Vincent recorded in his diary rhar his aeroplanes had desrroyed or badly damaged nearly 300 trucks on rhe firsr day of rhe month alone. Air battles with Japanese fighters continued as well. The wear and rear on pilots and aircrafr during the summer of \944 was

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tremendous. Figures from rhe 75rh FS were typical. The squadron began April wirh 23 P-40s in combar condirion, bur by \ June rhar number was down ro 13, and irdropped ro 1\ on \ July, before risingslightly in Augusr and September. Likewise, the squadron lost eight pilots betv/een mid-

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aeroplane crashed near the runway at Hengyang while the 23rd FG's newest ace made good his getaway. Unfortunately, Quigley was hot down by ground fire five days later, and he spent the resr of the conflict as a PoW.

Future 75th FS ace I Lt Forrest F Parham claimed his first victory on

the enemy fighter and opened fire. Gerring hits, he followed it down ro 7000 ft, where he saw the pilot bale out. Parham well[ on ro score five confirmed vicrories wirh the 75th FS.

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5 August while flying a weather re onnaissance mission near Hengyang. First, he spotted six 'Oscars' in formation above him at J 2,000 ft. Seconds later he saw six more aeroplanes below him. Quigley climbed into the overcast and then dove through the rop cover ro attack a single-engined bomber in the lower formation. He blasted it from astern, and the

\9 August during an early morning sweep in the Changsha area. Parham, a former flighr insrrucror, was flying on Capt Joe Brown's \ ing when they encountered enemy aircraft abour 20 miles southeast of Yochow. Parham followed as Brown dove in behind a single-engined bomber and shot it down with a short burse. limbing back up, the P-40s were attacked by 'Oscars'. Brown got behind one of the Ki-43s and shor it down roo, while Parham climbed on up ro 12,000 fe. There, he saw what he identified as a 'Hamp' 2000 fr below him arracking a P-40. Parham dove onro the tail of

One of the 75th FS pilots in the thick of the action during the summer and autumn of 1944 was Lt Jesse B Gray. He scored one aerial victory, four probables and five aircraft damaged prior to being killed in a Jeep accident near Luliang in early 1945 while awaiting orders to return home (John Rosenbauml

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Mayand 1 Ocrober \944, compared ro just twO during the same period in \943. On the plus side, 75th FS pilots confirmed 35 aerial vicrories, plus dozens of probable and damaged claims during this period. The squadron commander, Maj Don Quigley, reached ace status on

Capt Forrest F 'Pappy' Parham had just scored his fourth confirmed victory when his crew chief, Sgt Bob Perrin, was photographed painting a new victory flag on Parham's P-51C '187' Little Jeep. Parham scored his fifth victory to become an ace on 12 November 1944 (Forrest Parham)

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A key element in the success of any fighter group is the dedication and skill of its groundcrews, and the 23rd FG was no exception. These armourers of the 75th FS at Chihkiang lived by the slogan painted above the door behind them - IF IT'S GOT WINGS, WE CAN MAKE IT FL Y. They are in the front row, from left to right, Boveer, Stivers, Gerber, Hyatt and Cohen, and in the back row, from left to right, Keller, Nash, Pzchozkie, Sutton, Lt Bowen, Taylor, Washburn and Sanders (Everett Hyatt)

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The hinese defenders held out at Hengyang for 44 days before the Japanese finally broke the siege on 8 August and took the city. Meanwhile, the long-exp led Japanese drive out of Canton had started in July when troops headed west toward Liuchow (Liuzhou), home of the 76th FS. When the latter unit had exhausted the supply of 500-lbs bombs at Liuchow in mid-August, the 76th FS moved to Erh Tong airfield at Kweilin to share space with the 118th TRS. From there, the squadrons could strike at the Japanese advance, which was now steadily bearing down on Lingling. The Mustangs of the 76th FS paid speciaJ attention to road and railway bridges aJong the line of the Japanese advance. The P-51 was well-suited for dive-bombing bridges because it was easy to trim in a dive, whereas the P-40 had a tendency to roll. Lt Harry Zavakos gained a reputation as the 76th's premier bridge-buster, and he proved to be so adept at this mission that whenever he flew a sortie his flight was given two targets- one for him and one for the three pilots flying with him l Despite the best efforts of the 23rd FG, Lingling fell on 7 eptember. This in turn forced the hasty evacuation of Kweilin two days later. From Indochina, other Japanese ground forces began moving northeast to link up with the advance, targeting new Fourteenth Air Force airfields at Nanning and Liuchow. With the loss of his Hsiang River VaJley air bases looming, Brig Gen hennault had to find new homes for his 68th CW squadrons. But instead of pulling all of them back toward Kunming and hungking, he looked east to a Chinese-held pocket of territory between Hankow and Canton. There, he had been stockpiling supplies at the Suichuan and Kanchow (Ganzhou) sites for months.

The bases were toO remOte to support the operation ofall four 23rd FG squadrons, however, so the 74th FS went to Kanchow and the J 18th TRS moved to Suichuan after a short stay at Liuchow. From Kweilin, the 75[h F went 140 miles north to Chihkiang, where it would share the base with the 5th FG CACW. The 76th FS first went south to Tanchuk and then pulled back to Liuchow several week later. By the end of the year, the Japanese had completed their transport link, but had fallen shon of their goal for !chi-Go because the railway was useless as long as it remained vulnerable to air attack. The Fourteenth Air Force, by maintaining air superiority, saw to it that the line never went into service. Nor were the Japanese able to use the airfields they had captured, except for staging occasional night missions.

A primary focus of 23rd FG operations in 1944 was the interdiction of enemy supply lines. Railway bridges, such as this one near Liuchow, became key targets for dive-bombing (Abner Hamm) Chinese army guards patrol the flightline at Kanchow in late 1944 as P-51 Bs of the 74th FS await their next mission. Unit markings at this time consisted of just a two-digit number on the rudder. Note that '29' is fitted with a fin extension (John Wheeler!

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aeroplanes from the cockpit forward, scalloped at the back and covering the entire nose. The 75th painted the entire tail black with an angled break across the rear of the fuselage and a parallel black stripe just forward of

LONG HAUL TO VICTORY T

the break. The 76th FS had already dropped the sharksmourh from its Mustangs and initially used only a blue propeller spinner to distinguish its Merlinpowered Mustangs. Later, the squadron went to a black-striped spinner and applied a large Indian chiefs head in profile - black on natural metal aircraft and white on olive drab machines - on the vertical tail in recognition of its call sign, 'Pontiac'. As the markings changed, so did the personnel in the squadrons. Pilots had racked up a lot of missions over the summer of 1944, and by October many were reaching the magic number 100, which earned them a ticket home. Even some pilots in the I 18th TRS, who had only been in China sinceJune, were completing their tours and returning to the S. This, combined with combat losses, made for a lot of new faces in the squadrons. Col 'Tex' Hill got orders sending him home on 15 October, ending one of the most legendary combat careers of all the American pilots who flew In hina during the war. He was replaced by Lt Col Phil Loofbourrow, former 75th FS commander, who in turn passed the baton to 01 Ed Rector at the end of the year. Rector had returned to China for a second tour after serving in the AVG and the 76th FS in 1941-42.

he autumn of 1944 was a time of transition for the 23rd FG. As the squadrons setrled in at their new bases after abandoning Kweilin, group headquarters was doing likewise at Luliang, a field about 50 miles east of Kunming that was intended for heavy bombers. Similarly, the group's familiar sharkmouthed P-40s were rapidly being replaced by new P-51 Bf Mustangs. The squadrons also were gaining strength in numbers. The 23rd FG grew from 48 aircraft assigned on 1 September to ] 05 on 1 October.

With the transition to Mustangs, the squadrons started comingup with new markings. The I 18th TRS adorned its aircraft with a distinctive black lightning bolt with yellow trim that ran nearly the length of the fuselage, plus a smaller version around the wing and tail tips and a black band around the propeller spinner, which in some cases was painted yellow. The details of these markings varied from one airframe to the next, but the 118th arguably flew the most attractively marked Mustangs in the whole of the BI. The older squadrons soon followed suit. The 74th and 75th FSs, having initially flown P-51s marked only with an individual squadron number on the tail, went with large areas of black paint. The 74th painted its

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The 75th FS has just started to apply black tail markings to its Mustangs when this photograph was taken at Chihkiang in late 1944 (EvereN HyaN)

Lt Robert L Schaeffer's JEANNE IV '103', sporting two victory flags, heads this line-up of blue-nosed 76th FS P-51s at Liuchow in the autumn of 1944. FA YE and JUDY are next in line (Don ScoN)

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and left us behind. 'We were right behind them as they were bombing and suafing the harbour, and by the time we overflew the harbour the AM was in full operation. It was quite a spectacular sight to see the coordinated attack as we were jinking through the flak. We finally caught up with the 8-25s again at about 10,000 ft. We were supposed to be their escort, but in reality I was yelling, "Wait for me - I am your leader"" Maj Ed McComas, leading the I 18th TRS, scored the only confirmed victory of the mission when he shot down a Ki-44 'Tojo' just north of Hong Kong island. This was the first of 14 aerial successes that he would

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claim between 16 October and 24 December 1944. The very next day (17 October), the 76th FS scored its last twO confirmed victories of the war. The squadron was attacking Tien Ho airfield, near Canton, at the time, and the kills were credited to Lts William Eldridge and Paul J Smith. It was the 75th F 's turn to shine in new commander in the form of Maj another pilot starting his second tour in with the 16th FS during the 23rd FG's The 76th FS and 118th TRS flew missions from liuchow until the Japanese ground advance made the base untenable in early November 1944. As had happened previously at Hengyang, Lingling and Kweilin, rail cars were loaded with supplies and equipment for removal to safety farther west before the air base was demolished (Lyman Martin)

ovember. 8y then the unit had a Iyde 8 Slocumb, who was yet China - he had previously flown formative period in 1942-43. At

Chinese cities, such as liuchow shown here, suffered terrible damage during the Japanese Ichi-Go advance of 1944-45 (Art Goodworth)

men to each room. My most vivid memory of that period was that even with the mosquito nets over our beds, we would be awakened when a rat would join us on the bed with only the mosquito net separating us. Our squadron was composed ofa great group ofyoung men who got along well and had a good time. I know that I thought I was uffering tremendous hardships at that time, but now I can only think of the good fellowship and fun.' Combat operations dropped off by nearly a third in aerobeI', due largely to the onset of bad weather at mid-month. The 74th FS was pursuing guerilla tactics at Kanchow, hitting enemy targets deeper in eastern China than ever before. The 76th and I 18th, at Liuchow, were busy battling Japanese troops advancing on the ba e from two directions. When Liuchow fell the following month, the Japanese had a clear path past the Fourteenth Air Force base at anning and on into Indochina. The 75th F spent a fairly quiet October in hihkiang. evertheless, losses remained high at 28 aircraft, including three P-51s and seven P-40 s of the 76th FS that went down between Liuchow and Luliang when their ferry flights became trapped in storms. On the plus side, 23rd F pilot accounted for 16 Japanese aircraft destroyed in the air and 13 more on the ground during the month.

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The biggest mission of the month - indeed one of the biggest missions flown by the Fourteenth Air Force to date - occurred on 16 aerobeI', when the 76th FS and l18th TRS provided e cort for a trike by 8-24s and 8-25s on Hong Kong. Flying that day was Lt H L Kirkpatrick, a 75th F pilot on temporary duty with the 76th. Thi is his account of the operation;

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0700 1m on I I November, 16 P-51 s of rhe 75rh t ok olTrrom hihkiang for a sweep along rhe Hsiang River Valley. ording £0 inrelligence reporrs, rhe japanese had moved numerous aircraFt in£O rhe Former Fourteenrh Air Force bases over rhe previous few days. The squadron's four flighrs flew £Ogerher as Far as Lingling, where rhey splir in£O twO formarions. Lt Don Lopez led eighr f1ghrers sourh £0 Kweilin, while Capr Sran Kelley £Ook rhe resr norrh £0 Hengyang. The reporrs were accurare, as rhe Japanese had been loading up rhe airfield ar Hengyang for a week or more. Having received warning of rhe approaching raid, Japanese f1ghrers were airborne, and rhey jumped Kelley's Musrangs From our of rhe clouds. Three P-51 s wenr down almosr immediarely, bur rhen rhe SAAF pilors began ro gain rhe upper hand. Lopez, meanwhile, heard abour rhe f1ghr over his radio and rurned his P-51 s £Oward Hengyang. \Xfhen rhey arrived on rhe scene a few minures larer, rhe ourcome was assured. Lr Mervin Beard was a member of Kelley's flighr rhar day, and he wrore rhis accounr upon his rerurn £0 Chihkiang; 'Ir was rhe first rime I had ever shor ar a real enemy aeroplane, and my f1rsr bursr surprised me, as we were in a righr rurn. My tracers looked as rhough rhey were curving £0 rhe ourside of rhe rurn - I could have sworn rhar rhe barrels of my guns were benr' Ir didn'r rake me long £0 figure ir our. He crossed in fronrofme, and rhis rime I used some lead and gora hir. Bur he didn'r go down. nless he blows up in Fronr of you, ir is hard £0 know whar happened when you are spending as much rime looking behind you as ahead. 'I pulled up £0 ger some aJrirude, and as 1 looked down 1 saw several aeroplanes go in£O rhe ground. 1couldn'r rell whose rhey were, bur rhey were silver in colour. 1didn'r have much rime £0 rhink abour ir, as rhere were rhree japs com ing in on my rail, so 1dove forrhe deck. Isaw 500 mph on my airspeed indica£Or, and ir was almosr impossible £0 move rhe srick, bur I finaJly gor rhe aeroplane going back up. Ir was a close one- rhe rrees were gerring prerry big. 'I had ourrun rhem, bur rhey were srill coming, so I rumed inro a bank of nearby clouds. As soon as 1 was sure rhey hadn'r followed me in£O rhe clouds, I rurned £0 330 degrees and headed For home. 1 was alone, and I began £0 wonder whar had happened £0 everybody. 1 soon had other rhings ro rhink abour, as my propeller was in high rpm, commonly known as "running away". I had no conrrol of rhe pirch, so 1slowed rhe aeroplane down £0 where I could jusr mainrain my alrirude, and prayed I would make it back. 'loon found a checkpoinrl recognised, and made rhe necessary correcrion £0 head in£O rhe field. When I arrempred £0 pur the wheels down 1 Found 1 had no hydraulics, so 1 had £0 pump rhe wheels down by hand. 1guess I landed wirh a reacup full of gas.' Lr Beard had been lucky, bur luck had nor been wirh rhe rhree P-5! pilors who wenr down. Lr Roberr P Miller was killed and Lr james Taylor raken prisoner. Lr jack Gadberry baled our saFely and evenrually rejoined rhe squadron. On rhe plus side, rhe 75rh FS was credired wirh eighr confirmed vic£Ories in rhe f1ghr, and twO pilors - Lr Lopez and Capr Forresr 'Pappy' Parham - had scored rheir fifrh kills £0 become rhe squadron's lasr two aces.

When rhe pilors gor back £0 Chihkiang and Maj Slocumb heard abour rhe fighr, hc immcdiarely pur £Ogerher anorher Hengyang mission £0 rry £0 carch rhe enemy aircrafr on rhe ground. Lr Lopez was assigned £0 lead rhe operarion, since he was familiar wirh rhe rerri£Ory, and Slocumb ragged along in a wingman slor. The Musrang pilors found jusr a few Ki-43s parked ar Hengyang, and Slocumb was credired wirh desrroying one of rhem. Bur rhe 75rh FS had done rhe job. Afrer rhe war, rhe japanese admirring pulling back rheir fighrers to Paliuchi, near Tungring Lake, aFrer rhe I I ovember acrion because rhe Hengyang field was £00 vulnerable £0 air arrack from Chihkiang.

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GUERILLA OPERATIONS

Lt Robert Bellman of the 75th FS was killed upon his return to Chihkiang from a mission on 7 December 1944 in P-51C-10 43-25027. Fragmentation bombs that had hung up on the wings exploded when Bellman tried to land, setting the aeroplane on fire. SSgt Holmes attempted to pull him from the burning wreck, but the pilot could not be saved (Everett Hyattl

Wirh rhe loss of Liuchow in mid-November, rwo squadrons needed new bases. The 76rh FS was senr ro Luliang, where bad wearher severely limired rhe squadron's operarions for rhe remainder of rhe year. The 118rh TRS gor a berrer deal. Maj McComas led his Musrangs £0 Suichuan, in rhe Chinese-held pocker betwecn Hankow and Can£On, where rhey would be able £0 carry our guerilla operarions jusr as rhe 74rh FS was doing ar Kanchow. As rhese two squadrons reached ever furrher in£O japanese-held rcrrirory during December and January, rheir pilors would have rhe opporruniry £0 run up impressive scores of enemy aircraft desrroyed borh in rhe air and on rhe ground. Maj 'Pappy' Herbsr of the 74rh FS made spccial plans for a mission on 8 December. Hoping £0 remind rhe japanese of rheir rurn offorrune since

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rhe Pearl Harbor raid rhree years earlier, he h rh former capiml of China, anking (Nanjing), as rhe rarger for his squadron's nexr longrange srrike. The ciry was farrher easr on rhe Yangrze River rhan rhe Musrangs had venrured before. More imporrandy, ir had subsmnrial shipping faciliries, and irs [WO airfields were believed [0 be packed wirh Japanese aircrafL Herbsr assigned Lr Ken LaTourelle [0 lead rhe mission. His 16 P-51 s flew from Kanchow [0 rhe remore field ar Nancheng on rhe morning of S December [0 refuel, and rhen proceeded norrh [0 \'V'uhu as a diversion before [lIrning norrheasr and following rhe river in[O anking. Eighr of rhe M usrangs were carrying bombs, and rhese aircrafr anacked a railway ferry on rhe river, as well as nearby dock faciliries. Four Ki-43s circled our from behind a mounrain as rhe sevenrh P-51 began irs bombing run. By rhis rime, rhe leading Musrangs had complered rheir arracks and were zooming back up [0 aJri[llde, so rhey were able [0 engage rhe oncoming 'Oscars' wirhour calling in rhe [Op cover flighL Capr Roben E Brown scored one confirmed desrroyed and one probable in rhis quick scrap. The form arion rhen proceeded [0 M ing Ku Kung and Tai Chao Chan airfields and found aeroplanes parked allover rhem. The [Op cover carne down [0 join rhe srraflng, and rhe pilors ser up irregular arrack panerns over borh bases so as [0 rhrow off rhe aim of rhe anri-aircrafr defences. In jusr a few minures rhe marauding M usrang pilors desrroyed no fewer rhan IS enemy aircrafr on rhe [WO ai rflelds. Lr LaTourelle [Ook [Op honors wirh rhree desrroyed and rwo damaged in four passes. In all, ar leasr II pilors desrroyed ar leasr one aircrafL

Lts Fred L Richardson lIeftl and Russell F 'Rusty' Packard (right) pose with Sgt Moyle, the crew chief of the 118th TRS P-51C-11 ('591' 44-11105 Martha) that they shared. Packard recalled, 'Moyle was one hell of a mechanic, and I was never kept on the ground because of mechanical trouble' ('Rusty' Packard!

Meanwhile, several Japanese flghrers arrempred [0 anack rhe srrafers, bur rhey soon found rhemselves under fire - two were downed by Lr John W Bolyard. His flrsr vicrim was idenrifled as a ](j-61 'Tony', which was a rype rarely seen in China. Bolyard anacked his opponenr from head-on ar 4000 fr, bur rhe 'Tony' scissored undernearh. The Japanese pi lor repeared rhis manoeuvre several rimes before finally being hir and crashing nonh of Tai Chao Chan. Bolyard climbed up over rhe airfield andnexr sporred a Ki-S4 'Frank' flying ourh. The performance of rhe larrer flghrer was considered roughly equal [0 rhar of rhe M usrang, bur rhar did nor corne in[O play in rhis case because rhe Japanese pi lor apparendy was nor paying arrenrion [0 his rail. Bolyard closed in righr behind his vicrim and opened fire ar close range. The 'Frank' bursr inro flames and spun in[O rhe ground. Bolyard would become an ace several weeks larer when he shor down a Ki-44 over Canron for hi flfrh, and lasr, vic[Ory. Addirional ingle aerial successe were confirmed for Lrs Hes[On 'Tony' ole and Wallace Cousins, and only one P-51 was 10sL Lr Frederick McGill's aeroplane was hir in rhe propeller by ground fire whilsr srraflng rhe ferry, and he nursed rhe aeroplane unril ir was 20 miles away from anking, whereupon he [Ook [0 his parachure. Daily operarions conrinued, bur rhe nexr big exciremenr carne on IS December when Brig Gen Chennaulr arranged an all-our arrack againsr Hankow rhar was de igned [0 hamper, if nor cripple, rhe Japanese offensive by knocking our rhis key supply cenrre. This long-soughr afrer mission would involve nor only flghrers and bombers of nearly all Founeenrh Air Force unirs, bur also Twenrierh Air Force B-29s based ar hengru rhar here[Ofore had been bombing Manchuria and Japan wirh limired success. Three of rhe 23rd FG squadrons [Ook parL The 75rh FS escorred B-24s of rhe 30Srh BG rhar were assigned [0 arrack an airfield. The bomber made clean runs over rhe rarger and plasrered Hankow wirhour encounrering any enemy opposirion - all rhe P-51s involved rerurned [0 Chihkiang. Ir was a differenr s[Ory for rhe [WO 'guerrilla' squadrons. The 74rh FS senr off IS P-51 s [0 escorr B-25s [0 Wuchang, wirh Maj Phil hapman leading and rhe new group commander, 01 Ed Rec[Or, ar rhe head of Red FlighL The B-25s anacked a sarellire airfield 30 minures afrer rhe B-29s had srruck rhe ciry, rheir bomb run being rimed [0 carch Japanese flghrers refuelling afrer rhe Superforrress arrack. Things did nor go [0 plan, however, as rhe Musrang pilors engaged a flighr of 'Oscars' direcdy overhead rhe field and claimed five desrroyed. Alrhough rhe 74rh FS had enjoyed success, rhere were few rargers on rhe ground for rhe B-25s' bombs. As rhe Mirchells headed for home, rhe P-51 s [LIrned easr [0 sweep rhe Yangrze River as far as Kiukiang. The 74rh FS pilors found a gold mine of parked aircrafr on rhe airfield ar Kiukiang Oiujiang), burning ren and damaging several more - Capr Floyd Finberg was credired wirh six desrroyed. Fellow Musrang pi lor Lr John Wheeler was hir by ground fire and had [0 bale our deep in ide enemy rerri[Ory sourheasr of Hankow. Forrunarely, he was found by a group of US guerrillas who were operaring an underground Chinese army. They helped him arrange rransporr back [0 his base ar Kanchow.

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a 118th TRS Mustang parked behind him. Older scored ten victories with

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Very clean P-51B '118' displays the 'Pontiac' Indian-head tail marking adopted by the 76th FS. Most of the squadron's Mustangs also carried the black-banded propeller spinner seen here on this aircraft (Art Flatt)

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deputy commander of the 23rd FG. This tally saw him tie with Lt Col

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John C 'Pappy' Herbst for the

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The I 18th TRS had a familiar guest along on its 18 December mission - Lt Col Charles Older, depmy commander of the 23rd Fe. Older was a former AVe ace who had recurned co China in the summer of 1944, and had since flown quite a few missions with the I 18th. On the 18th, recendy promoted Lt Col Ed McComas led J 7 Mustangs from Suichuan on a similar mission CO the 74th's, escorting B-25s attacking the main airfield at Wuchang. This time the timing strategy worked, and che Mitchells bombcd an airfield packed with cargets. The I 18th then cscorced them a safe distance coward home, before curning back CO strafe the enemy airfield. Four Ki-43s werc sponed in the air as the I 18th arrived co begin its strafing runs. Lt Col Older caught up with one of them and hit it with a telling burst in thc cockpit and wing root area. Older then overshot the carget, but his wingman, Lt Everson Pearsall, saw the 'Oscar' crash off the end of the airfield. A second confirmed kill was credited co Lt Carlcon Covey of the I 18th. With the sky now cleared of enemy ill[ercepwrs, the I 18th was free w thoroughly strafe the airfield. Seven more acroplanes were destroyed on the ground in the face of light ground fire, and all the P-51 s rCClJrned safely

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Lt Col Charles H Older rests on a bomb at Laohwangping with

w Suichuan. Lt Col Older would down three marc aircraft the following day when he I'ecurned w Wuchang on a solo reconnaissancc mission. The 23rd Fe had not played a ccmral role in the 18 Deccmber assault on Hankow. The bulk of the destruction had been caused by the B-29s and their incendiary bombs, which staned fires that burned au[ large sections of the city. But the group did receive credit for destroying 24 enemy aircraft, which was a good day's work on any war front.

At this time, an 'ace race' was heating up in the 23rd Fe. Maj 'Pappy' Herbst scored his 11th vicwry on 18 December afcer a cwo-month drought. Lt Col Mc onus scored his fifth and sixth viccories on 19 December w become his squadron's second ace, and he added twO more kills over Hong Kong on 21 December. Since recurning w China, Lt Col Older had added five vicwries w the ten he scored with the ve in 1941-42. Two days before Christmas, Lt Col McComas wok a big jump wward the scoring lead when the I 18th TRS sem 16 Mustangs w anack the Hankow-Wuchang ferry docks on the Yangtze River. The flight was incercepted by a strong force of Ki-43s, and the Muscang pilots claimed eight vicwries for the loss of one of their own. But what made the fight extraordinary was that five of the kills fell co McComas alone. I t was the highest wtal ever credited co one pilot for a single mission in the hiscory of the 23rd Fe. The following combat report described McComas' feat; 'McComas, leading the covcr flight, made several passes on che Wuchang airfield, probably destroying one "Lily" and damaging an "Oscar" on the ground. As he pulled up off these passe, he observed six "Oscars" above him. One "Oscar" cailed him and scored hits on his wing, but McComas dived away and then climbed co 7000 ft and tailed one "Oscar" from astern. He fired a long burst at this "Oscar" and saw hits

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Lt Col Ed McComas, seen here in his well-known Mustang '600', became a contender for top ace of the 23rd FG by scoring 14 confirmed victories in the last three months of 1944 while commanding the 118th TRS. The extra flags on the scoreboard may indicate ground kills (Ray Crowem

going into rhe wing roor. The jap pilor jerrisoned his canopy and baled our. One confirmed on rhis. 'Two more "Oscars" jumped McComas, who headed sourheasr toward Kiukiang. He passed over Erh Tao Kao and saw nine "Oscars" preparing to rake off. He circled and made a wesr-to-easr pass on rwo more "Oscars" jusr as rhey cleared rhe runway on rake-off. He fired a good bursr into one "Oscar", which flipped over and crashed into rhe orher, and borh crashed j usr easr of rhe field. Two confi rmed on rh is. 'McComas rhen mowred up behind rwo orher "Oscars" afrer rhey took off abreasr. McComas closed to wirhin 50 fr of rhem and fired a long bursr into each. He observed rhem borh to crash easr of rhe field. Two confirmed on rhis.' McComas scored once more rhe following day w bring his score to 14, - one ahead of Herbsr and jusr one behind Older. McComas scored no fUlTher kills, however, as his combar tour was coming to an end. Herbsr claimed rwo more victories on 27 December during a sweep of airfields ar Canron to rie Older wirh 15 kills apiece, and rhere rhe 'ace race' would srand as rhe 23rd FG enrered rhe new year, 1945.

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The wearher socked in on ew Year's Day in easrern China, which was bad news for rhe guerilla squadrons ar Kanchow and Suichuan. The japanese took rhe opporruniry to launch a ground advance aimed ar raking rhese pesky bases while rhe aircrafr rhere were grounded. The japanese drew closer and closer, bur neirher rhe 74rh FS nor rhe 118rh TRS could rurn a propeller unril13 january. By rhen ir was clear rhar borh

Above Capt Oran S Watts, centre, who assumed command of the 118th TRS in January 1945, and was its first ace, poses with his squadron leadership team at Sichuan. They are, from left to right, Frank Palmer (B Flight), Ray Crowell (A Flight), Melvin Scheer {assistant operations officerl, Watts, Carl Colleps (0 Flightl, Blanton Keller (operations officer I and Maurice Wells (C Flightl (Ray Crowem

Left Col Ed Rector (left) pins a medal on Lt Col John C 'Pappy' Herbst, whose 18 confirmed victories tied him with Chuck Older for top ace in the 23rd FG. Herbst, who had flown in the RCAF early in the war, was killed when his P-80A crashed during an airshow in San Diego, California, on 4 July 1946 (Leon Klesmanl

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bases would have to be abandoned sooner or later, bLil Col Ed Rector was determined to get in a few last licks at the enemy before then. He sent the 74th FS to hit Anking on 14 December, and the 118th TRS attacked

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Hong Kong and anton the following day. But the veteran Rector had saved the best for last.

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aeroplane brought back pictures showing a big build-up of enemy aircraft at the five airfields in and around Shanghai. Intelligence officers speculated that the Japanese had moved the aeroplanes to the great port city at the mouth of the Yangtze to save them from being destroyed or captured in the Philippines. Shanghai would be the farthest objective ever hit by the guerilla squadrons, but it was well within the range of their Mustangs. Rector gathered 20 P-51 s from both squadrons and sent them ro refuel at Nancheng on the morning of 17 January. They took off from there at 1050 hI'S for the 2 112-hour flight to Shanghai, with Lt Col Older leading eight aircraft of the 1 18th TRS and Maj Phil Chapman heading the assault flights of the 74th. Maj 'Pappy' Herbst tagged along with 'observer' status as part of the latter squadron's top cover. The formation circled past Shanghai and attacked from the east. Achieving complete surprise, Older's flight dived on Tachang airfield from 10,000 ft. Older was at 2000 ft on his first pass when he saw a Ki-51 'Sonia' flying in front of him. He gave the observation aeroplane a quick burst, and it crashed east of the field. He completed his strafing pass, then saw two more Japanese aircraft: flying low near the river. Quickly catching them up, Older fired at each one from behind and watched them both fall

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away to crash into the river. He then made several more strafing runs over the field, noting very light ground fire, and succeeded in setting at least three more aeroplanes on fire. Aside from these aerial successes, the total number of ground kills credited to the unit at Tachang was II, and all of the 118th's aircraft returned safely. The 74th FS struck Lungwha and Hungjao airfields with even greater success, tallying no fewer than 57 aircraft: destroyed on the ground - Maj Chapman and Lt Wade Terry of the 74th were credited with ten ground victories apiece. The 74th pilots (led by Lt Ira Binkley) who attacked Hungjao accounted for another 30 aeroplanes destroyed on

'Pappy' Herbst's P-51B '40' of the 74th FS taxis at Kanchow in January 1945. The aeroplane displays one swastika in addition to the Japanese flags on Herbst's scoreboard, but no documentation for this victory, which he claimed to have scored in Europe with the RCAF, has ever surfaced (Bernard Fudge)

the ground. 'Pappy' Herbst also enjoyed success, shooting down one of two Ki-44s that he spotted flying together. H is victory, and the three scored by Older, left them tied as the leadi ng aces in China wi th 18 vi tories apiece. Neither pilot would score again, nor would anyone else even approach their totals during the remaining months of the war in the CBI. The grand total for the 17 January mission was 73 Japanese aircraft destroyed on the ground and in the air, making it the most destructive single mission ever flown by the 23rd FG. Three days later, as preparations were being made to abandon the guerilla bases, the 23rd FG struck Shanghai once again. This time, the 118th would revisit the three airfields attacked previously, while the 74th hit Woosung and Kiangwan, which had not been targeted on 17 January. This time, however, poor visibility due to a heavy layer of smoke over Shanghai severely hampered the operation, and the results were

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A technician works in the cockpit of Lt Col Chuck Older's P-51D '129' 44-11276 YOKAHAMA YARDBIRD. It was named for a relative of Older who was being held as a prisoner of war in Japan (Art Flatt)

less impressive. During their run in to Lungwha (the 118th's primary target), the Mustang pilots, led by Lt Russ Williams, spotted several Japanese fighters flying in their vicinity. Williams peeled off to make a pass at an Imperial Japanese Naval Air Force A6M Zero-sen fighter that was in the landing pattern. He hit the aircraft and it exploded, but as Williams flew past his

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Lt Russell D Williams of the 118th

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Lt Alfred Griffy of the 74th FS was assigned to fly Rose's Raider after its previous pilot, Lt Ed Beethoven, completed his combat tour. Like many Mustangs of the 74th FS in 1945, this P-51 B has an all-black nose and carries a scoreboard denoting its pilot's combined air and ground victories - in this case six flags (AI Griffyl

vicrim rhe Musrang's lefr wing clipped rhe burning aeroplane, causing major damage ro rhe P-51. Neverrheless, rhe Zero-sen I'epresenred Williams' flfrh vicrory, rhus making him rhe very lasr pilor ro achieve ace sraws whilsr serving wirh rhe 23 I'd FG. He managed ro nurse his damaged Musrang (camouAaged P-51 B '597') back ro Suichuan and perform a safe landing. ow, wirh anorher spell of bad wearher closing in, Recror made rhe sad decision ro pull his squadrons our of Suichuan and Kanchow. The 118rh TRS Aew ro Luliang on 22 January, and rhe 74rh FS followed rhe nexr day. A skeleron crew wirh four Musrangs remained ar Kanchow unril

4 February, when Maj Phil Chapman finally ordered rhe base desrroyed prior ro leading his Aighr ro Luliang, some four hours Aying rime away.

THE HOME STRETCH

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Air-ro-air encounrers wirh rhe enemy became increasingly rare afrer January, for rhe Japanese had pulled whar few aircrafr remained in flghring condirion back ro rhe Shanghai-Nanking area ro provide air defence for rhese key ciries. Thar did nor mean rhe anion was over for rhe 23rd FG, however, as ground arrack missions of all kinds conrinued rhroughour rhe final six monrhs of rhe war. The 75rh FS remained ar Chihkiang rhrough rhe spring of 1945. The 76rh FS moved up ro a new base ar Laohwangping, nor far from Chihkiang, bur remained grounded by bad wearher unril spring. Ar Luliang, rhe 74rh FS and 1 18rh TRS were roo far from rhe fronr ro reach any meaningful rargers. Wirh rhe arrival ofberrer wearher in rhe spring, rhe 74rh FS moved ro a new base ar Tushan, abour 300 miles easr of Luliang. From rhere, rhe Musrangs were wirhin range of porenrial rargers in rhe Hsiang River Valley and ar Canron and Hong Kong. The 118rh TRS joined rhe 76rh FS ar Laohwangping afrer a sray ar Chengkung. Alrhough rhe Musrang pilors now had lirrle reason ro worry abour gerring shor down by enemy flghrers, ground fire srill posed a serious hazard. The P-51 's performance was well suired ro low-level work, as rhe aeroplane was plency fasr, manoeuvrable and capable of carrying a wide

Capt Ed Paine (left), intelligence officer of the 76th FS, briefs Lt Col Louis V Teeter and Maj David Whiddon prior to a mission in the spring of 1945. Whiddon assumed command of the 76th after Teeter was killed in action strafing Liuchow on 3 June 1945 (Burt Greenburgl

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When the Fourteenth Air Force's numbering system changed in the spring of 1945, the 118th TRS shifted to '150-199'. Here, battered P-51C '188' gets a lift after a rough landing at Laohwangping. Note that the fighter's lightning flash does not extend behind the national insignia (Ray CroweJn

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After a close call baling out of a P-51 B with a faulty canopy release, Col Ed Rector chose one of the first P-51Ds to arrive in China as his personal aircraft. The 23rd FG commander had the aeroplane decorated with the group badge and red/white/blue bands signifying the three original squadrons in the group (Russell Packarc!l

range of weapons. I[s Achilles heel - [he vulnerabilit:y of irs radia[Or [0 ground fire - remained, bur pilo[s accep[ed [hac as a fair [rade-off for [he Mus[ang's high performance. The 74[h FS gO[ a painful reminder of [he dangers of comba[ flying on 28 March when irs new commanding officer, Maj Philip G Chapman, led a raid agains[ Kai Tak airfield a[ Hong Kong. Chapman, a seven-vic[Ory ace, no[ed li[de rerum fire on his f1rs[ pass over [he field and decided [0 go back for ano[her shoe. This rime ill[ense AAA bracke[ed Chapman and his flighe. Two P-5Js well[ down, and Chapman's was badly hie. He nursed [he aeroplane [0 Chang[ing (a remo[e field in a Chinese-held pocke[ of

[erri[Ory ease of Kanchow), bur [he damaged lef[ wing of [he M us[ang s[alled during [he landing. The P-51 whipped in[O a spin and crashed [0 [he ground, killing Chapman ins[andy. Col Ed Rec[Or also had his eye on Chang[ing, and in la[e March he sell[ a P-51 [ask force drawn from [he 75[h and76[h FSs [here [0 see if [he base could suppor[ a resump[ion of guerilla opera[ions. Rec[Or led [he f1rs[ big mission from Chang[ing - a snike agains[ Hangchow, sou[h of Shanghai - on 30 March wi[h disappoin[ing resul[s. Then, on 2 April, Rec[Or was a[ [he head of a 32-aeroplane sO'ike agains[ [he Shanghai airfields. Al[hough a number of Mus[angs were los[ on [he mission, no pilo[s were killed. On

Five of the 75th FS pilots heavily engaged in the defence of Chihkiang were, from left to right, Ed Bollen, Bob Smith, Gordon Willis, Tom McDonough and Don King. Bollen scored the 23rd FG's last aerial victory of the war on 2 April 1945 when he shot down a Ki-44 'Tojo' over Lungwha airfield, Shanghai (Morton Sher)

Capt John 0 'Rosie' Rosenbaum of the 75th FS flew P-51D '71' Miss Kitty III during the final months of the war. He completed more than 75 missions before ending his combat tour in August 1945 (Art Goodworthl

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Maj Marvin Lubner, who was a sixvictory ace with the 76th FS in 1942-

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43, returned to China in June 1945 to command the 118th TRS. His P-51K

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Barfly 144-11773) carried the number '199'. Lubner claimed to have flown

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the 23rd FG's last combat mission a photo-reconnaissance sortie

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7 September 1945, five days after the Japanese surrender IMarv Lubner)

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With its new individual aircraft identification number '72' on the nose, P-51D NOK OUTof the 75th FS undertakes a training mission from Tsingchen in June 1945 IArt Goodworth)

Sgt Ruthermal (left) supervises as 75th FS armourers load five-inch aerial rockets on a P-51D at Liuchow in August 1945 (Everett Hyatt)

118

rhe plu side, Col Reccor and Lr Ed Bollen of rhe 75rh FS were credired wirh confirmed aerial vicrories - rhe lasr cwo of rhe war for rhe 23rd FG. Changring proved impracrical co keep operarional, and rhe P-51 s soon pulled back co rheir permanenr bases. Back ar hihkiang, rhe 75rh FS was involved in heavy f1ghrer-bomber operarions in April and Mayas irs pilors supporred Chinese rroops defending rhe base againsr rhe advancing Japanese. The enemy ulrimarely failed co rake rhe base, marking rhe Barrie of hihkiang as rhe high-warer mark of rhe !chi-Go campaign. Soon rhe Japanese began ro wirhdraw, realising rhar rhey were unable co hold rhe rerricory rhar rhey had foughr so hard co caprure. All four squadrons of rhe 23rd FG concinued co harass rhe rerrearing enemy for rhe resr of rhe summer uncil rhe Japanese surrendered in Augusr. Three monchs of drudgery followed VJ-Day as rhe 23rd FG and orher unirs in China closed up shop and rurned over rheir aircrafr co rhe CAF co use in rhe civil war againsr rhe Communisrs rhar everyone knew was com ing. Finally, on II December 1945, rhe men of rhe 23rd FG ser sail from Shanghai aboard rhe SS Alderamin, bound for home. They arrived in rhe harbour ar Tacoma, Washingcon, on 3 January 1946, and rhe unir was deacrivared. The 23rd FG's long war was over.

POSTSCRIPT The 23rd FG was reacrivared as a unir of rhe Fifrh Air Force on Guam on 10 Occober 1946, and ir became a f1ghrer wing rwo years larer. The wing moved co rhe Panama anal Zone in 1949 and rhen co Presque Isle Air Force Base, Maine, where ir was deacrivared again in 1952. The 23d Tacrical Fighrer Wing (TFW) was reacrivared ar McConnell AFB, Kansas, in 1964, and wenr back inca combar in Viernam rhe following year, flying F-I 05 Thunderchiefs. The 23rd TFW flew A-70s for much of rhe I970s, before receiving irs f1rsr A-I 0 Thunderbolrs in 1980. Flying A-I OAs, rhe 23rd logged more rhan 2700 com bar sanies and losr only rwo aircrafr in combar during Operarions Desert Shield and Desert Storm in 1990-91. In 2002, rhe 23rd FW became rhe f1rsr fixed-wing aircrafr unir srarioned inside Afghanisran - irs personnel operared simulraneously in supporr ofOperarions Enduring Freedom and Southern Watch for nearly six monchs. During rhis rime, rhe 23rd flew 2148 combar missions over Afghanisran and Iraq. Ar rhis wriring, rhe 23rd FW is srarioned ar Moody AFB, Georgia, where irs A-lOs srill proudly wear rhe sharksmourh marking rhar adorned irs P-40s and P-51 sin hina during World War 2.

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APPENDICES

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23rd FIGHTER GROUP WARTIME COMMANDING OFFICERS Squadron Commander

Robert Neale (civilian)

July 1942

76th FS

Col Robert L Scott

July 1942

Maj Edward FRector

Lt Col Bruce K Holloway Lt Col Norval C Bonawitz

January 1943

Col David L Hill

start date

Name

Aerial Victories

Notes

Maj John C Herbst

18

74th & 76th FS (possibly 1 kill with RCAF in ETD)

Lt Col Charles HOlder

18

23rd FG (includes 10 kills with AVG)

Col David L Hill

14.75

75th FS & 23rd FG (includes 9.25 kills with AVG)

Lt Col Edward D McComas

14

118th TRS

Capt John F Hampshire Jr

13

75th FS (KIA 2/5/43)

Col Bruce K Holloway

13

76th FS & 23rd FG

Robert H Neale (civilian)

13

23rd FG (all 13 kills with AVG)

July 1942

Col Robert L Scott Jr

10

23rd FG

Maj Bruce K Holloway

December 1942

Capt John S Stewart

9

76th FS

September 1943

Capt Grant M Mahony

January 1943

Maj Arthur W Cruikshank Jr

8

74th FS

November 1943

Capt Robert Costello

June 1943

Maj Elmer W Richardson

8

75th FS

Lt Col Philip C Loofbourrow

October 1944

Capt James M Williams

October 1943

Col Edward F Rector

7.75

76th FS & 23rd FG (includes 3.75 kills with AVG)

Col Edward FRector

December 1944

Capt John S Stewart

December 1943

Maj Philip G Chapman

7

74th FS (KIA 28/3/45)

Lt Col Clyde B Slocumb

December 1945 until

Maj Charles E Griffith

May 1944 (KIFA 18 December

Capt James W Little

7

75th FS (also had 1 kill in Korean War)

1944)

Maj John D Lombard

7

16th & 74th FSs (KIFA 30/6/43)

December 1944 (KIA 3 June

Lt Col John R Alison

6

16th & 75th FSs

1945)

Maj John G Bright

6

75th FS (includes 3 kills with AVG) 76th FS

decommissioning Maj Louis V Teeter Squadron Commander

start date

74th FS Maj Frank Schiel Jr

Maj David T Whiddon

June 1945 until war's end

118th TRS

1Lt Charles A DuBois

6

Maj Edmund R Goss

6

16th & 75th FSs

Capt Marvin Lubner

6

76th FS & 118th TRSs 23rd FG

July 1942 (KIFA 5 December

Maj Edward 0 McComas

September 1943 (in US)

Col Clinton D Vincent

6

1942)

Capt Oran S Watts

January 1945

Capt James M Williams

6

118th TRS

Maj Albert J Baumler

December 1942

Lt Col Charles C Simpson

May 1945

1Lt John W Bolyard

5

74th FS

Maj John D Lombard

February 1943 (KIFA 30 June

Capt Marvin Lubner

June 1945 until war's end

1Lt Stephen J Bonner Jr

5

76th FS

Maj John G Bright

5

75th FS (includes 3 kills with AVG and 1 in MTO)

Capt Dallas A Clinger

5

16th & 74th FSs

April 1941 (in US)

Capt Mathew M Gordon Jr

5

75th FS

1943) Maj Norval C Bonawitz

July 1943

16th FS

Capt William RCrooks

September 1943

1Lt Harry B Young

Capt Paul N Bell

October 1943

Maj George W Hazlett

September 1942

Capt William Grosvenor Jr

5

75th FS

Capt G Eugene Lundy

December 1943

Maj Harry M Pike

January 1943

Capt Lynn FJones

5

74th FS

Capt Robert L Liles

July 1943 until unit transferred

Maj Robert L Liles

5

16th FS (includes 1 kill with 51st FG)

to 51st FG

1Lt Donald S Lopez

5

75th FS

Maj Arthur W Cruikshank Jr

May 1944

Capt John C Herbst

June 1944

Maj Philip G Chapman

February 1945 (KIA 28 March 1945)

449th FS

Capt Floyd Finberg

March 1945

Capt Sam L Palmer

Maj Bruce C Downs

June 1945 until war's end

Capt Lewden M Enslen

75th FS

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APPENDIX 1

start date

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23rd FIGHTER GROUP ACES

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Group Commander

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APPENDIX 2

Capt Forrest F Parham

5

75th FS

Capt Roger C Pryor

5

75th FS

July 1943

Maj Donald L Quigley

5

75th FS (PoW 10/8/44)

September 1943 until unit

Capt Oran S Watts

5

118th TRS

transferred to 51st FG

1Lt Russell D Williams

5

118th TRS

Maj Albert J Baumler

4.5

74th & 75th FS (also had 4.5 kills in Spanish Civil War)

Maj David L Hill

July 1942

Capt Joseph H Griffin

3

75th FS (also had 4 kills with Ninth AF)

Maj John RAlison

December 1942

Maj Witold A Urbanowicz

2

75th FS (also had 17 kills with RAF)

Maj Edmund R Goss

May 1943

Lt Col Grant Mahony

1

76th FS (also had 4 kills with Fifth Air Force and 1 kill with 1st ACG,

Maj Elmer W Richardson

October 1943

Maj Philip C Loofbourrow

March 1944

Maj Donald L Quigley

June 1944 (PoW August 1944)

Maj A T House Jr

August 1944

Note

Maj Clyde RSlocumb

November 1944 until war's end

Some sources also list Capt Melvin B Kimball, Capt Wiltz P Segura and Maj Clyde B Slocumb Jr as aces

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KIA 3/1/45) Capt Tsang Hsi-Lan (CAF)

75th FS (also had 5 kills with CACW)

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COLOUR PLATES

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P-40E '106' of John E Petach Jr, attached to the 75th FS, Hengyang, China, July 1942 When the 23rd FG was formed, the ex-AVG P-40Es were assigned to the 75th FS at Hengyang and the 76th FS at Kweilin. The pilots in these squadrons were a combination of newly arrived USAAF officers and a contingent of battle-tested AVG veterans who agreed to stay on long enough to help the 23rd FG get on its feet. Ex-AVG pilot Petach, flying with the 75th FS, claimed one Ki-27 destroyed, plus a probable on 6 July 1942, but died four days later when he was shot down by ground fire while dive-bombing the town of Linchuan. It is not known if Petach was flying '106', which carries the blue fuselage band of the 2nd PS/AVG, on his final mission.

2 P-40E '104' of Majs Edward F Rector and Bruce K Holloway, 76th FS, Kweilin, China, summer 1942 Since recent findings suggest all of the AVG's P-40Es were finished in Olive Drab over Neutral Grey, the twocolour topside camouflage on '104' possibly indicates that it was one of the few replacement E-models that trickled into China for the 23rd FG before improved P-40Ks began to arrive in the autumn of 1942. This aeroplane was flown by two successive commanders of the 76th FS in Majs Ed Rector and Bruce Holloway in the latter half of 1942. The latter pilot once suggested to the author that '104' may have been repainted during its service with the 76th FS.

3 P-40B '46' of Lt Thomas R Smith, 74th FS, Kunming, China, September 1942 Smith, in the first contingent of USAAF pilots assigned to the 74th FS, recorded the squadron's first confirmed victory in this ex-AVG Tomahawk when he intercepted a twin-engined Japanese reconnaissance aeroplane over Kunming on 8 September 1942. Most of the 23rd FG's P-40Bs, as the USAAF designated the aircraft, were concentrated in the 74th FS, which served as a training unit while providing air defence for Kunming through to the end of 1942. The surviving P-40Bs were transferred to Karachi, then in India, in the spring of 1943 to be used as trainers.

transferred to 23rd FG headquarters. He was subsequently shot down on 15 September 1943 and spent the rest of the war as a PaW.

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5 P-43A '149' of the 76th FS, Kunming, China, late 1942 The 23rd FG was the only group in the USAAF to register any aerial combat claims in the P-43. A handful of these Republic Lancer fighters were acquired on loan from the Chinese Air Force and used primarily for reconnaissance work because of their high-altitude capability. Capt Jeffery Wellborn of the 76th FS was returning from a reconnaissance mission over Burma in a P-43 on 2 January 1943 when he encountered a twin-engined Japanese aircraft (almost certainly a Ki-46 'Dinah') and shot it down for the only confirmed Lancer victory of the war. The few photos of 23rd FG P-43s suggest that the aeroplanes retained their CAF roundels on the undersides of both wings, but with the uppersurfaces of their wings unmarked.

14

10

P-40K '14' of Capt Clyde Slocumb, 16th FS, Yunnanyi, China, summer 1943 By the summer of 1943, 'Flying Wall of China' badges were beginning to disappear from the fuselages of 16th FS Warhawks, including this one. The main landing gear hubcaps on '14' were white with a swirl pattern on them, likely in green. The one victory flag signifies Slocumb's first claim - a Japanese bomber shot down over Kweilin on 2 November 1942. After completing his combat tour with the 16th FS in 1943, Slocumb served in the US for about a year before returning to China and assuming command of the 75th FS, which he led for the remainder of the war.

15 6 P-40K T of Col Robert L Scott, 23rd FG, Kunming, China, December 1942 This P-40K was the replacement aircraft for Col Scott's original P-40E, which he called 'Old Exterminator' in his books. He flew this aeroplane in November-December 1942, just prior to returning to the US. Although Ts' scoreboard shows 12 victory flags, official records only exist for ten of Scott's victories. Col Casey Vincent, operations officer of the China Air Task Force, was the next pilot to fly this aeroplane with the 23rd FG, and he named it Peggy for his wife.

11

7 P-40K '23' of Lt Robert A O'Neill, 16th FS/23rd FG, Chanyi, China, February 1943 When the 16th FS re-equipped with new P-40Ks in early 1943, Lt O'Neill received '23'. The squadron's markings continued much as they had been on the P-40Es, including the application of a white star on blue shield on the main landing gear hubcaps. Some of these E-model Warhawks would remain in the frontline flying combat operations in China for more than a year, before finally being replaced by P-51s. O'Neill scored single victories over Japanese fighters on 27 November 1942, 28 December 1942 and 16 January 1943.

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8 P-40K '110' of Capt Jeffrey 0 Wellborn, 76th FS, Kunming, China, spring 1943 By the spring of 1943, the 76th FS had standardised its unit markings, settling on a blue fuselage band as its squadron designator. The tail numbers applied to 76th FS aircraft at this time ranged from '100' to '149'. Jeffrey Wellborn joined the squadron in mid-September 1942, and he was forced down near enemy lines just two weeks later - he managed to make his way safely back to base. The single victory flag beneath the windscreen of this aircraft denotes Wellborn's unique P-43 Lancer victory of 2 January 1943.

P-38G Ina number) of 2Lt Earl E Helms, 449th FS, Kweilin, China, late summer 1943 The 449th FS arrived in China in July 1943 and was attached to the 23rd FG for about three months prior to transferring to the 51st FG. Its P-38s were not initially welcomed by Brig Gen Chennault because of their high fuel consumption, but the fighters' speed, range and altitude performance soon proved useful. Lt Helms was one of the first pilots in the 449th to score in China, claiming a Zero-sen destroyed over Hong Kong on 29 July 1943. He later added two 'Tojos' destroyed and an 'Oscar' damaged to his score. During this period 449th P-38s did not carry a squadron identification number on their radiator housings, but the unit was subsequently assigned the numbers '300-349'. Note how the hot exhaust exiting from the turbocharger has obscured the serial number on the fighter's vertical tail.

16 P·40K '1' of Col Bruce Holloway, 23rd FG, Kweilin, China, S ptember 1943 Holloway arrived in China in May 1942 with an assignment to observe AVG operations, and he flew several uneventful missions with the group before it disbanded. When the 23rd FG was formed in July 1942, Holloway became executive officer, then served as 76th FS commander for a short time, before assuming command of the group when Col Scott departed in January 1943. By the time Holloway r ceived orders sending him back to the US in the autumn of 1943, his 13 confirmed victories ranked him as the leading active ace in the CBI. This P-40K was badly shot up while being flown by another pilot on 8 September 1943, and Holloway had left China before it was returned to operational status.

4 P-40E-l '22' of Maj Harry M Pike, 16th FS, Kweilin, China, October 1942 The P-40s of the 16th FS, which was attached to the 23rd FG from the 51st FG until the autumn of 1943, were immediately distinguishable from those of the other squadrons because they displayed USAAF stars on their fuselages. Most of the Warhawks, including '22', also had a 16th FS 'Flying Wall of China' emblem applied to their fuselages. Pike, who was credited with shooting down a Japanese bomber over Kweilin on 23 November 1942, served as commanding officer of the 16th FS from January through to July 1943, when he was replaced by Capt Robert Liles. Pike in turn

Lee scored two confirmed victories in April 1943, and had added two probables and one damaged to his score by year end. With the P-40M, Curtiss dropped the brown/green/sky grey camouflage scheme from the Warhawk line in favour of Olive Drab over Neutral Grey. Here again we see the 75th FS 'shark' badge on '179's' tail fin and the white fuselage band.

17

13 P-40M '179' of Lt Jam L ,7 th , Kunm n , China, late summer 1943 P-40Ms began to arriv in Chin in M y Jun 1943, and '179' was assigned to Lt J L 'Shorty' L of the 75th FS.

P·40K '36' of Lt Fred L Meyer, 74th FS, Kweilin, China, autumn 1943 Fred Meyer joined the 74th FS in mid-April 1943 at Yunnanyi as a replacement pilot, and he experienced the devastating Japanese bombing raid on the base later that

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month. On 9 September 1943 he was badly shot up in a scrap near Canton while flying Col Holloway's P-40. but managed to nurse the aeroplane back to base at Kweilin. Meyer did all of his scoring in December 1943. claiming one Ki-43 destroyed. one probable and three damaged in the course of two missions at Hengyang. Note the extended trim tab on the rudder of '36'. This aeroplane eventually came to grief in a belly landing at Kweilin in the spri ng of 1944.

18 P-40K '171' of Maj Elmer Richardson. 75th FS. Hengyang. China. late 1943 Richardson flew fighters in the Canal Zone before being sent to China in the autumn of 1942. where he used his flying experience to good effect when he entered combat. A year later. Richardson was both a six-victory ace and commanding officer of the 75th FS. as signified by the twin white stripes on the fuselage of his P-40K. In December 1943. after having transferred to 23rd FG headquarters. he scored twice more. and also added a ground victory. '171' displays the change in markings adopted by the 75th FS at this time. which included painting the forward section of the propeller spinner white and repositioning the individual aircraft number to the tail. The latter change would allow room for the star-and-bar national insignia to be applied to the fuselage. although that has not yet been done to this aircraft.

Art Cruikshank learned his lessons well by becoming the first ace to score all of his victories while serving in the squadron. He completed his first combat tour in June 1943 and returned to China the following May to assume command of his old squadron. Eager to add to his score of six confirmed kills. Cruikshank claimed two more victories on 25 June 1944. He was shot down the next day. but managed to evade capture and returned to his squadron in August. Cruikshank was sent home shortly thereafter. This P-40N. which was Cruikshank's penultimate mount, displays the 74th FS badge on its rudder.

22 P-40N '22' of Capt Charles E Cook Jr, 74th FS. Kweilin. China. summer 1944 'Smokey' Cook was a replacement pilot who arrived in China in late 1943 and quickly made his mark by damaging a Ki-43 during a fight near Hengyang on 10 December. By August 1944 he was a battle-tested veteran heavily involved in the air campaign over the Hsiang Valley with a score of two confirmed victories. two probables (signified by the half-flags on his scoreboard) and one damaged. '22' has a replacement cowling that lacks a 'sharksmouth' and a red propeller spinner. which the 74th FS used during this period as a squadron marking. This aeroplane was transferred to the CACW's 5th FG at Chihkiang after the 74th FS transitioned to P-51s.

23 19 P-40N '21' of Capt Harlyn Vidovich. 74th FS. Kweilin. China. December 1943 Vidovich. a full-blooded Paiute-Shoshone Indian. flew his first combat mission from Kweilin with the 74th FS in May 1943. Less than a month later he submitted his first claiman enemy fighter probably destroyed at Hengyang - and he added two confirmed victories to his tally by the end of the year. Vidovich was killed when his fighter crashed during bad weather on 18 January 1944. As one of the first P-40N-5s to arrive in China. '21' has been modified with the larger main landing gear wheels of the earlier Warhawk models. These were fitted because there was a supply of replacementtyres in China for the older wheels but not for the smaller 27-inch wheels of new model Warhawks.

20 P-51A '122' of Capt John S Stewart. 76th FS. Suichwan. China. February-March 1944 This aircraft was amongst the first Mustangs transferred from the 3111h FBG in India to China in the autumn of 1943 and concentrated within the 76th FS. The P-51As saw their first action in-theatre during the Thanksgiving Day 1943 raid on Formosa. '122' displays the final score of Capt John Stewart. the leading ace and commanding officer of the 76th FS who was credited with shooting down five Japanese fighters, three bombers and one transport aeroplane between 23 July 1943 and 12 February 1944. The aircraft carried the name of Stewart's wife on its nose. as did his earlier P-40s.

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P-40N '45' of Maj Arthur Cruikshank. 74th FS. Hengyang. China. June 1944 One of the original pilots of the 74th 'school' squadron.

P-51 B '11' of Col David L Hill. 23rd FG, Kweilin, China. summer 1944 The legendary 'Tex' Hill, veteran ace of the AVG and CATF. returned to China in November 1943 to assume command of the 23rd FG. He took this P-51 B-2 as his personal aircraft soon after the Merlin-powered Mustangs began arriving in March 1944 -the aeroplane was carried on the records of the 74th FS. It is likely that Hill scored his last confirmed victory in '11' while leading a bomber escort mission to Hankow on 6 May 1944. That brought his total to 14.75 destroyed. Hill continued flying the aeroplane throughout the summer. before eventually returning to the US in October 1944.

24 P-51C '103' of Lt Robert Schaeffer, 76th FS. Liuchow. China, autumn 1944 Bob Schaeffer had not been in China for long when he was shot down in a P-40 on 27 December 1943 near Suichuan in the combat that is depicted on the cover of this book. Back in action three days later. again over Suichuan. he evened the score by shooting down a Japanese fighter that he identified as a ·Zero·. but which was almost certainly a Ki-43. Schaeffer's second victory. over a Ki-44. came during a scrap east of Tungting Lake on 29 August 1944. JEANNE IV displays the standard 76th FS markings of the period - a blue propeller spinner and three-digit tail number.

25 P-51C '187' of Capt Forrest Parham. 75th FS. Chihkiang. China. November 1944 The last active ace of the 75th FS. 'Pappy' Parham did all of his scoring in roughly three months from August through to November 1944. He scored his fifth. and last. victory

aeroplane. baled out successfully nd v ded capture. Upon returning to the group. R Clor round d all the Mustangs in the 23rd FG untilth ir c nopi s could be checked. He also snapped up one of th first bubblecanopy P-51 Ds to arrive in China as his p rsonal aircraft. The three bands around the rear fus laga mark this as a P-51 assigned to a headquarters pilot. R ctor commanded the group through to the end of the w r.

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26 F-6C '600' of Maj Edwd(J lVI, China, November 1944 The very aggressive d M

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top aceinin-theatre. and htil I China mid-1944 with sidelined by an illne s durlr in action. he scored 14 C nhr October and 24 Decemb 1 • five victories on 23 D c m Air Force's only 'ace in '600' is better known. th this F-6C. Mustangs of th 11

variations on the squadron', 'bll.ell IlllflllM;!w 'iIi..'lJlC.scheme.

27 P-51B '40' of Maj John C H 'b'l January 1945 Starting in June 1944. 'Pappy' victories in seven months 0 become the top-scoring ac 0 He also claimed to have scor d with the Royal Canadian Air or war. which explains the sing I scoreboard on his '40' Must n aeroplane in honour of his youn return to the US. Herbst join d I the USAAF's first jet-equipp d unl the Shooting Star that he wa dl r l,yllt\(JCf'~MJii! airshow in San Diego on 4 July 1 .\

28 P-51B '48' of Lt Ira Binkley. 74th January 1945 Binkley's Mustang. like Herb t' , markings (consisting merely of that adorned 74th FS Mustan durh difference is that the scoreboard n pilot's credits for 11 ground kill aerial victory - standard practic nil TRS starting in late 1944. Binkl y cl on 17 January 1945 when he I d Shanghai's Hungjao airfield. Prol 1945. Binkley subsequently retu,n later.

29 P-51D (no numberl of Col Edward It I I"'. Luliang. China. spring 1945 AVG and CATF veteran Ed R CIO" on hlllm:Ofll(l tour in China. was nearly killed in I 184,httMln canopy jammed on his strick n P 1 take to his parachute. He eventu lIy

P-51D '125' of Lt Col Charles Older. 23rd FG HO. Luliang. China. spring 1945 Chuck Older was already a double ace, with len victories scored in the AVG. when he returned to China for a second tour in the summer of 1944 - Older served s group operations officer and deputy commander of the 23rd FG. He claimed eight more victories between 28 July 1944 and 17 January 1945 to tie with 'Pappy' Herbst as the leading American ace in the CBI. After the war. Older had a distinguished legal career. and in 1967 was appointed to the bench of the Los Angeles Superior Court. His most famous case was the Charles Manson murder trial. Note the misspelling of YOKAHAMA in name on the nose of the fighter.

31 P-51C '113' of Lt Donald L Scott, 76th FS, Laohwangping, China, spring 1945 Over the winter of 1944-45. the 76th FS adorned its P-51s w,th a Pontiac Indian head profile. which was chosen to match the squadron's radio call sign. The design was p inted white on Don Scott's aircraft, the last camouflaged Mustang in the squadron. Named for a girl Scott was d ting when he went overseas in mid-1944. the aeroplane was destroyed on 22 May 1945 after it was hit on the ground during a night bombing raid. Scott went on to omplete 28 combat missions prior to returning to the U in September 1945.

1C '591' of Lts Fred L Richardson Jr and Russell E k rd. 118th TRS, Cheng kung. China, spring 1945 II ty' Packard joined the 118th TRS in January 1945 and h d completed 12 combat missions by war's end. As pilot II ngth built up in the 118th during 1945. it became mmon practice to assign tw~j.unior pilots to a single r rllft. as was the case with '591'. Each pilot took one d of the fuselage for his personal markings. thus this r r ft carried on its starboard side the name Billie and IIrd's name below the cockpit. plus the sentiment Still, Who CMes with a small pin-up illustration below the hUlls. The aeroplane became '191' when the 118th's n ml rs changed in the spring of 1945.

1 '143' of Lt Benjamin R Thompson. 76th FS. w n ping, China. June 1945 11 hompson flew P-40s and P-51s during his tour with It 1 Ih FS, which ran from September 1944 through to J 1946. He recalled that fellow pilot Capt Bill Lillie, an , , t In civilian life. was the artist who not only n d Ihe squadron's tail marking but who also III d many of the P-51s with personal artwork such hompson's Bugs Bunny. The colours on the propeller

.,v

125

(I")

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spinner are unconfirmed - most pilots recall them as shown, but Thompson told the author they were dark insignia blue divided by a band of natural metal.

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34


P-51D '21' of Capt John C Conn, 74th FS, Tushan, China, summer 1945 After graduating from flight school in November 1943, John Conn did a stint as an instructor in the fighter replacement training unit at Venice, in Florida, before transferring to China in the autumn of 1944. Action came thick and fast when he joined the 74th FS at Kanchow, and soon the flight experience he gained as an instructor began to payoff. On 17 January 1945, Conn was credited with seven ground kills during that day's mass attacks on enemy airfields in Shanghai. His tally of ground victories had grown to nine by the time he was assigned this brand new P-51 D, which he duly named for his girlfriend and future wife.

35 P-51D '71' of Capt John D Rosenbaum, 75th FS, Liuchow, China, August 1945 'Rosie' Rosenbaum flew an eventful tour of more than 75 missions with the 75th FS between the summer of 1944 and August 1945. Early on, his P-40N was shot up during an air battle over Hengyang on 4 August 1944, but he managed to nurse it back to Kweilin. Rosenbaum was credited with two Japanese fighters damaged in air combats on 16 September and 11 November, and his last claim was for an enemy aircraft probably destroyed on the ground at Sintsiang on 20 December 1944. Miss Kitty III displays the late-war markings of the 75th FS, with its two-digit squadron number on the lower cowling.

2

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Col Ed Rector's P-51D 44-11293 is parked with 76th FS Mustangs at Shanghai in late 1945. The tail of the 76th FS's Vultee BT-13 hack can be seen to the right of the Mustang (Bud Biteman)

BARNUM, BURRALL, New York, 1944

COLOUR SECTION

126

Mustangs of the 75th FS/23rd FG are parked on the former Japanese airfield at Hangchow in October 1945. Note the P-47 Thunderbolts parked neatly behind the P-51s (Dwayne Tabatt)

-0 -0

m Z

0

o

ROSHOLT, MALCOLM, 0 House, Wisconsin, 1978

n m (I")

3 Lt Philip Dickey, armaments officer for the 118th TRS, poses with one of the first Mustangs in the squadron to be marked up with the 'black lightning' design. Dickey created this marking following a direct request from his CO, Lt Col Ed McComas. According to his nephew Maj Robert Bourfier, 'Lt Dickey was well liked and respected by the officers and men of the 118th, and he was well known as an artist. While in India, he was called upon by several pilots to add their names and some artwork to their P-40s. After the unit received their P-51B/Cs in China, he was again asked to paint some of the aeroplanes. During the summer of 1944, Lt Col McComas told Lt Dickey to design a distinctive squadron marking for the aeroplanes. Within a few days the "Black Lightning" marking had been produced and the first aeroplane (aircraft "599") painted up. After several flights Lt Col McComas felt that the lightning bolt did not stand out. There was some yellow paint available that was used for creating signs on base, and this was used to good effect to outline the new markings' (via Robert Bourlier)

4 This A-l0 Thunderbolt of the 75th FS flew in Operation Desert Storm and performed an aerobatics display for the 23rd FG reunion at Eglin Air Force Base, Florida, in October 1991 (Carl Molesworth)

BYRD, MARTHA, Chenn tI University of Alabama Pr

ROSHOLT, MALCOLM, 1910-1950. Rosholt Hou

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

,W'lCc)flt,ln.

CORNELIUS, WANDA, AND '.tI.·r America's Air War in Chin, , Co, Gretna, Louisiana, 1980

ry Hlltorical

DUMAS, JIM, Longburst and /I Press, Toll House, Californi ,

SAKAIDA, HENRY, Osprey Air r 1 Japanese Army Air Force Ae Publishing, Oxford, 1997

FRANCILLON, RENE, Japan Putnam, London, 1987

SCOTI, ROBERT L, God Is My Co ons, New York, 1943

GREEN, WILLIAM, AND SWANB Japanese Army Fighters, Part Tw New York, 1978

'v.""'.....""'"

lUll" .,,'

HEIFERMAN, RON, Flying Tigers Ballantine Books Inc, New York, 1 HILL, DAVID LEE 'TEX' WITH SCHA PI' Hill - Flying Tiger. The Honoribus Pr South Carolina, 2003

13 Y

HIBA, TAKEJIRO, Japanese Mon

NYDER, LOUIS L, The War - A Conel mon & Schuster, New York, 1960

HI tory 1

1945.

III

JOHNSEN, FREDERICK A, P-40 Warh '" Co, Osceola, Wisconsin, 1998 KISSICK, LUTHER C, Guerrilla One. Sunfl Press, Manhattan, Kansas, 1983

36 P-51K '199' of Maj Marvin Lubner, 118th TRS, Laohwangping, China, August 1945 When six-victory ace Marv Lubner returned to China in June 1945, he was assigned as commanding officer of the 118th TRS. By this time, the 23rd FG had realigned the number assignments for its squadrons, with the 118th getting the '150-199' sequence. It was possibly in '199' that Lubner flew what he considered to be the 23rd FG's final mission of World War 2 - a photo-reconnaissance of Hong Kong on 7 September 1945, some five days after Japan had formally surrendered in ceremonies that took place aboard the battleship USS Missouri as it was anchored in Tokyo Bay. He would fly photo-reconnaissance missions again during the Korean conflict.

:t>

L1TILE, WALLACE H, Tiger Sharks. Ca tl Memphis, Tennessee, 1985

RIODICALS " na, Oscar H, 'Japanese Air Power In Th S eond rid War - Its Strengths and Weakne " 01 II, ume 4.3, 1999

ass

IAL UNIT HISTORIES fS, 74th FS, 75th FS, 76th FS, 118th TRS, 44 th f G and China Air Task Force.

S,

LOPEZ, DONALD S, Into the Teeth of th Books Inc, New York, 1986 Hundreds of 23rd FG veterans and their families have supported my research over the past 30 years, and I deeply appreciate everyone of their contributions. However, one man stands out above all of them - the late Lt Col Donald S Lopez, USAF-retired - for the unwavering cooperation and encouragement he gave from the very beginning. I first met Don when he agreed to grant an interview to me, an unknown writer, for a magazine article that I wanted to write about his experiences as an ace in the 75th Fighter Squadron. From that day in 1978 until his death in 2008, Don provided me not only with material about the 23rd FG, but also the encouragement to keep digging for more. Thanks to him, I was able to gain access to all of those other great men who served in the group in China between 1942-45. In appreciation, I dedicate this book to Don Lopez, for without him, it could not have happened.

MCCLURE, GLENN E, Fire and Fall Back. B San Antonio, Texas, 1975 MOLESWORTH, CARL, Sharks Over China. Br Washington, D.C., 1994

I theater-5.home.comcast.net!roundup/ I phtml lheater,home.comcast.net!menu/cbi_home.html

MOLESWORTH, CARL, Osprey Aircraft of th P-40 Warhawk Aces of the CBI. Osprey Publi 2000

........,_.~_,cbi-history.com

MOLESWORTH, CARL, Duel 8 - P-40 Warhawk v 'Oscar' China 1944-45. Osprey Publishing, Oxford.

htIP~~,,*I~~ r"cguire.com

f1yingtiger.org

hU~;~"IIW1•• n st.l hwy.com/ln%20Service/lnService.html

MONDEY, DAVID, Axis Aircraft of World War II. Press, London, 1996 OLYNYK, FRANK J, USAAF Credits IChina-Burm In I Theater) For The Destruction of Enemy Aircraft in Air Combat World War II. Frank J Olynyk, Aurora, Ohio, 1 ' OLYNYK, FRANK J, Stars & Bars - A Tribute to th American Fighter Ace 1920-1973. Grub Street, London. I

hllfl/;llM_ p40warhawk.com htIPJ,IlM_"tlnoam,com ht1,pJIMfW,lllnlyairforces.com

127

x UJ

o Z

INDEX References to IllustratIons are shown In bold Colour Plates (pi Iand Colour SeollOn Ics 1,lIustralions are shown with page and caption locators In brackets

~;,\~t.:l ~.:~r~~Eiri~\2-33.

35. 41. 42. 45 Amellcan Volunteer Group 8.9.11.12-13.14-15.16.17. 18.21 Arnold. Gen HH'Hap' 39 Barrell. Lt Chllslopher S 'Sully' 66. 70 bases 23-24.30.40.45,64,89.92,98-99,105,114-115, Kanchow 101 102; Kunming 11,15,23,49, Kweilin 23,74 Baumler, Ma Alben J 'Alax' 6,13-14,15,18,24.25,26, 27,35, Baar, Lt Fredellck M 94 Beard, Lt MeMn 104 Beck, It FrancIS 67 Bell, It Dale 76, 77 Bell, Capt Paul 70 Bellman. It Roben 105 Berman, Lt Sam 34 Binkley, Capt Ira pi 28157, 1251. 113 Blac tone, Capt Holhs 41 Bollen. II Ed 117 11 B Bolyard,lt John 107 BonaWitz, Lt Col NOMI 66, 66, 67, 74 Bonner Jr, It Stephen J 49,91 Blight, Mal J Gilpin 'Gil' 17, lB, 26-27, 35 Brookfield, III Don 42 Brown, CaPI Joe 97 Brown, Pvt Marshall FF 17 Brown, CaPI Roben E 106 Butler, Lt Vllgll A 93-94 Calven, Ilt Ed 66 Celam,lt John 74,79 Chapman, Mal Phlhp G 107,112,113,115,116-117 Chennault,BllgGenClallel8,8,10-11.12.13.16-17. 20.22.23,28,30,31. 38, 39. 39. 4ll. 47, 49, 66, 98, 107 Chiang Kai·shek 10,85, Madame 18 Chma.warm lD-l1,alr-raldwarmngsystem 10,11,11,

14,29,66 Ch,nese·Amellcan CootpoSite Wing 2nd BS 75. Jrd and 5th FGs 85 ~::;: f;'t~ajI6,s7~ 24.27,27,34.35.38.46.46 Cole, It Heston 'Tooy' 107 Conn. Capt John C pi 34159. 126) Consohdated B·24D llberalor 43, 43-44, C87 liberator 49 Cook Jr. Capl Charles E pi 22156. 1241 Costello, Capt Bob 66 COUSIns, Lt Wallace 107 Covey.lt Carlton 108 Cruikshank Jr, Mal Anhur W 44, pi 21156, 1241.66.67,67. 89,90 Crysler,lt Charles 44.45.45 Cui benson, Mal Roben A 9, 15 Cunlss P-38IH 751 Hawk 14 CunlSs P-411 TomahawlclWarhaw 14.15.15.19,74. '49' 21. '59' 29. '152' 49. engine. Alhson V 1710 31 CunlSs P·4OA Tomahawk 14 Cunlss P-411B (Hawk 81-Al) 9, 14. 16.18. pi 3151. 1221 CunlSs P-4OC 14.18 CunlSs P·411E Warhawk 6,12.13.14,25,38, pi 1, 2(51, 122I,P-40E-119.20.4151.122) CUOISS P-40 4.19,31.33.44.50.66. '1' pi 16(54, 1231. T pi 6(52, 1221, '14' pi 14154, 1231. '23' 42, pi 7152. 1221; '38' pi 17155. 123-1241.83. '48' 46, '102' 80, 'IOJ 34. '110' 38. pi 8(52. 1221. '111' pll~53, 1231. '112' 4.81. '115' pi 11153. 1231: '161' pi 9(53. 1231; '169' 78. '171' pi 18(55, 1241, P-40K-l pl12(53, 1231. 65 CunlSs P40M pi 13{54. 1231.70 CunlSs P-40N pi 19(55. 1241. p121. 22(56,1241,82,86,90, 92,94.95, 124 Damels. It Patrick 28, 29, 30. 30 DavIS Jr, Lt Henry F 91 Dickey. II Philip cs 3163. 126) Douglas C-47 22. 23 Downs. Lt Col Bruce C 7 DuBoIS, III Charles 28, 30. 33. 35. 42 Eldlldge. II Wilham 103 Ehas. III Henry 27 Enslen. Ilt lewden M 50 Epperson. II W S 66 Evans. Ilt Bill 69 Fallchlld A 10 Thunderbolt cs 4163. 1261 Finberg. Capt Floyd 107 Folmar, Lt James 88.92 Formosa. ThanksglVlllg Day raid 74-79. 76 Fudge. CapI Barney 101-102

128

Gordon. Capt Charlie 66. 70 Goss, Mal Ed 24.27,32.35.41-42.45.49,49 Gray. It Jesse B 96

Gllffrn. Lt Joe 41. 42-43 Gllfflth, Mal Charles E 86.87 Gllffy.lt Alfred 114 Grosvenor. Capt Bill 65. 66. 70 groundcrew 12.13.29.38.38.43.66.85.92. 97. 98. 106. 118 guerrilla operallons 102,105-107 Hampshlle. Capt John F 32, 32. 35, 40, 41, 42, 43, pi 53. 1231 Hawkllls, Capt William B 44. pi 12(53, 1231,65 Hedllck. Lt Donald 76, 78 Helms, 211 Earl E pi 15(54. 1231 heraldry, unll 6,27,40,60-61,70,116 Herbst, Lt Col John C'Pappy' pi 27(57. 1251. 92. 93. 9496. 105-106,109,109.111,112.113,113 HIli, Col DaVid l'Tex' 6,17,18,19 ·21,26,27,32,35, pi 23156, 1241. 71. 74. 75, 76. 76. 77. 78. 85. 86.101 Hitchcock, Mal Tom 72 Holloway. Col Bruce K 13.14.26-29.32-34.35.40.43. 45,45-46,47,48,50, pl2151, 122J. pi 16(54. 1231. 65. 66,67,74,75 Hong Kong raids 31 -32. 68. 102-103 /chI-Go offenSive 85-118 India 10-12.15

Japanese Army 10. 11th Army 79. Il8 Japanese Army All Force (JAAF) 66. 68. 79. 3rd All D,VISion 4. 65-66. 80. 9th Sental 92,93-95. lllh Sental 4,80. 25th Sental 4,42.80-81. 33rd Sental 42. 48th Sental 92.93-95. 64th Sental 45.46. 90th Sental 38 Jones, Capt lynn F 44, 65, 79 Kawasaki KI-4B

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Klesman. Sgt leon 38, 81 Kramer. III Vernon 66 Kllppner, 2Lt Howard 30, 30 Kunmlng. China 16. Factory No 10 12. 15. see also bases LaTourelle, Lt Ken 106 lee. Lt James l pi 13154. 123) lewIS, III lyndon R'Deacon' 70, 78 lrIes, Mal Roben l 27. 36-37. 38. 69. 69 lillie, Capt James W 44, 44-45, 46 LJuchow 103. evacuallon by rail from 102. railway bndge 99 lockheed F-4 35. P-J8G lightning 48,48-49, pi 15(54. 1231 lombard, Mal John 0 'Moe' 24,27,35.35.39.46,47 loofbourrow.lt Col Phlhp C 87.88.88.89. 101 lOpel,lt Donald S 7!HlO, 90,104, 105 lubner, Mal Marvin 35.50. pi 11153. 1231. pi 36(59. 1261. 66.68.119

Mahony. Mal Grant 35-38.47, pi 10(53. 1231 Manbeok, Capllee 49, 76 Marks, 2Lt M 0 'T,m' 30, 30 McComas, Lt Col Ed pi 26(57, 1251, cs 3163. 1261,90,103, 105. 108. 1llS-ll0. 110 McMillan. II Tom 66 ~~r::.' ~~~~ tll1~55, 123 1241. 83 Milchell,lt Mack A 6.27,41,44 Mooney, It Bob 36-37 Moyle. Sgl 106 Mulhneaux.ll RIChard 92

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Nakallma KI-43 Hayabusa 'Oscar' 26. KI-44 'TOIO' 66. KI-43-11 'Oscar' 4 Neale. Sqn ldr Roben 9.43

~~~~'X~~~ca~4B2:5 Mitchell

28. 68 Nonh Ameflcan F-6C Mustang pi 26(57. 1251. 73, 73 Nonh Amellcan Mustang I 72 NOilh Amellcan P-51 Muslang csl(62, 1261. cs 3163.1261, 71.72-73, 89.115-116, Merlin engine 72-73 Nonh Amellcan P-51A 4, pi 20(55, 1241. 71, 71.72. 73, 74, 79.82 Nonh Amellcan P-51B 71.73.84,84.99.100.101.109, 114, '11' 123156.1241. 85, '40' pi 27157. 1251. 113, '48' pl2 57.1251. '101' 89. '118' 108.43-7028 91 Nonh Amellcan P-5IC pi 24156. 1241, pi 25(57. 124-1251, pl31, 32158,125),97,100.101.109,116. P-51C-1O 105. P-5IC-II 106 Nonh Amellcan P-51D 7. pi 29. ~58. 1251. pi 34. 35(59. 1261. cs 2(62.1261.73.112.116.117.118 Nonh Amellcan P-51K pi 33, 36(59.125-1261.73.119 Older.lt Col Charles H pi ~58, 1251. 96, 108,109.109. 110,112,112-113 Olney. II RIChard 76. 78 O·Nelli. It Roben A 42. pi 7(52. 122) Operations Desert Sh,eldlStorm 119. Endurmg Freedom 119. Southern Watch 119 Olakl, Capt Nakakazu 4.80-81 Packard, It Russell E'Rusly' pi 32(58, 1251,106 Paine, Capl Ed 115 Parham. CapI Forresl F'Pappy' pi 25(57, 124-1251. 97, 97, 104 Perkins. It RIChard 80 Petach Jr. John E 21, pi 1151. 1221

Pike. Mal Harry M 38.36,37.37.40. pi 4151. 1221 Pryor. Capt Roger 41.42. 70 OUlgley. Mal Don 97 Raleigh. Tom 82 Reolor. Col Edward F 14 15.17.18,21.30.30.35, pi 2(51 1221. pi 29(58, 1251. cs 2(62.1261.101.107.111,112. 114.116.117-118 Repubhc. P-43A lancer 15,43, pi 5(52, 1221, P47 Thunderbolt cs 1162. 1261 RIChardson. Mal Elmer pi 18(55, 1241.65 RIChardson Jr.ll Fred l pi 32158. 1251,106 Rosenbaum. Capt John 0 'RoSie' pi 35(59. 1261, 117 Royal Air Force 72. No 67 Sqn 8 Sanford. II Joshua 0 'Ch,ef' 88 Sawyer. Mal Charles Wesley 17, 17. 18. 21. 27 -28. 30, 35 Schaeffer.lt Roben l 4, pi 24156, 1241.81.101 Schiel, Mal Frank 17,18.35.35 Schuill. III Robert 77 Scon,ll Donald l pi 31158, 1251 Scott. Col Roben l 16.17.20.27.30.32.35.36.38. pi 6(52, 1221 Shambhn. Arnold 21 Sher.lt Monon 32 ships. US (USSI Alderamrn 117 BraZIl !HO. Ranger 15 SICkle. It Van 93 Slocumb, Mal Clyde B 32, pi 14{54, 1231. 103. 105 Smllh. Ilt lawrence W 83 Smith. It Paul J 103 Smllh.ll Thomas R 29 ·30, pi 3151. 1221 Sorenson.ll Caner 'Porky' 66 Spencer, SSgt George 38,81 Splltller. Capt Ray 42-43 Stewan. Capt John S 4,50. pi 20(55, 1241,67.73.74.76, 71. 77-78. 80, 82. 82 Sloneham. It Wendell B7 Slfickland, Mal Aubrey 40 Teeler.lt Col louIS V 115 Templelon, 211 DICk 50 Terry.ll Wade 113 Thompson, II Benlamlll R pi 33159. 125-126) USAAF 9th PAS 35 11th BS 19.20.22.28.44.68,81 161h FS151st FG 19. 19.20.24.26.27.28.38.38,38. 4ll. 41. 42. 44. 45. pi 4151. 1221. pi 7(52, 122), pi 14154. 1231. 6lHl9, 70 23rd FG (formerly PGI China. arrival In 16. HO seollon

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War- 2 to be formed in an active combat theater, the 23rd Fighter Group took over from the fabled American Volunteer Group 'Flying Tigers' in China in July 1942 and went on to score more victories (594 air and

Color aircraft profiles

nearly 400 ground) than any other USAAF unit in the CBI. Over the course of three years of relentless combat operations, no fewer than 47 pilots in the 23rd FG gained coveted ace status. Amongst the latter were David L 'Tex' Hill, Robert L 'Bob' Scott, Clinton D 'Casey' Vincent, John C 'Pappy' Herbst and Albert J 'Ajax' Baumler. The human cost was high, however, as 126 pilots lost their lives in China while Insignia

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