Strana 40
P-51D-20, 44-72218, Lt Col. John D. Landers, CO of 78th FG,
8th AF, Duxford, United Kingdom, March 1945
P-51D-15, 44-15041, Lt Col. John C. Meyer, CO of 352nd FG,
8th AF, Y-29 Asch, Belgium, December 1944
John Dave Landers was born on August 23, 1920,
in Joshua, Texas. He joined the Army Air Force
in April 1941. After completing the pilot training
in January 1942 he was assigned to the 9th FS in
Australia, a unit that flew P-40s. In the Pacific
theatre he scored six kills and was called back
to the States in January 1943. There, he served
as a flight instructor, but in April 1944, on his
own request, he was reassigned to a combat unit.
It was 38th FS based at Wormingford, operating
P-38s, which they changed for P-51s as of
July 1944. After being promoted to Lieutenant
Colonel, he assumed command of the 357th
FG, which he led from October to December
1944. After some downtime in the United States,
he returned to Great Britain and was named CO
of 78th FG, holding this post until the end of the
Second World War. In December 1945, he left the
military and worked in construction. He died on
September 12, 1989.
John Charles Meyer finished flight training
on July 26, 1940, at the age of 21, after which
he was assigned to the 33rd PS on Iceland,
a unit that was flying the P-40s. After his return
to the States, he was named the CO of the
newly formed 487th FS, which had undergone
conversion training onto the P-47 and in June
1943 was transferred to United Kingdom, from
where they performed escort missions for
bombers over continental Europe. In April of
1944, the unit was rearmed with the Mustangs,
and the number of kills attributed to Major
Meyer began to rise. In November 1944, he was
named Deputy Commander of the 352nd FG,
to which his own 487th FS was subordinate.
Under his command, the 352nd FG was
relocated to the forward base at Asch in Belgium.
On January 1, the Luftwaffe conducted a raid
on this base, and Meyer was able to get his
unit in the air to counter the raid, claiming
a pair of Fw 190s in the process. These would be
the last two kills that he would achieve during
the war, because on January 4, he suffered
a major fracture of his left leg, the treatment of
which required his return to the United States.
After the war, he saw combat in Korea, and in
Vietnam he led the Linebacker II campaign.
Over the course of the WWII, he shot down
24 enemies, and he added another two during
the Korean War. He retired a General as the head
of the Strategic Air Command. He passed away
as the result of a heart attack on December 2,
1975.
KITS 01/2025
INFO Eduard40
January 2025