to Cramer and told him that he need not
fret over his position, because he would
only take command of the squadron for
about three weeks, after which he would
take the reins of the Fighter Group. From
that, it is clear that Righetti’s position within the squadron was not an easy one,
despite his methods and especially ability
to make decisions in combat that made
him a formidable figure. After the first
two missions on the scene, he flew another ten ones in November, 1944, during
which he further displayed his talents. He
led the 338th Fighter Squadron into battle
on November 21st, three weeks after his
baptism of fire, and four days later was
named its CO. According to the most experienced pilot in the squadron, Darrell
Cramer, there was no doubt about the
capabilities of Righetti among the other
pilots. “By the time he became a squadron
commander,” said Cramer, “he had already established himself as a very capable
pilot and an aggressive combat leader. He
was the kind of leader whose attitude was
‘come follow me,’ and we were glad to follow him.”1)
Righetti was apparently more pleased
with being assigned his own aircraft than
having been given the command. He was
given P-51D, serial number 44-14223,
onto which he immediately had the name
“Katydid” painted, along with an attractive
rendering of a grasshopper. Later, this
Mustang was exchanged for 44-72227.
Both were coded CL-M, and both were decorated in much the same fashion. But the
drawing of the grasshopper differed. On
the first P-51, the drawing was in green,
while on the second it was a black silhouette with blue wings. Losses of pilots in
terms of combat missions was around
two percent, so it was generally considered that a pilot’s supply of good luck
was exhausted crossing the fifty-mission
threshold. Fifty missions seldom satisfied
the requirement for a combat tour of 270
hours. Righetti was well-aware of the possibility of not coming home, and from his
letters, it seems that he really even didn’t
count on it. Sgt. Millard “Doak” Easton, his
crew chief, noted that “Katydid” once re-
Photo: Family collection via Jay Stout
HISTORY
One of the photos showing the first P-51s christened Katydyd, on which wear and tear is already evident.
turned with a 20mm round. “He told me
the next one would be in the cockpit.”1)
His next kill would have to wait till Christmas Eve, on December 24th, when he
downed three Fw 190s and damaged a
further two. Aside from that, he flew several other combat sorties, and probably
the most interesting of them involved an
encounter with three Me 262s. He hit and
damaged one of them. “Tangled with 3 jets
and got one damaged. They’re a little too
fast to destroy but I took all the fight out
of him.”1)
Upside Down!
At the beginning of 1944, when the 8th AF
fell under Doolittle’s command, there was
a change in the tactics of American fighters. Besides protecting bombers, it was
decided that it was necessary to deprive
the Luftwaffe of all ability, leading to attacking airfields and other ground targets. To
this end, after the arrival of Righetti and
especially after his command assignment, the 55th FG became an elite unit. Its
aggressiveness and combat intensity led,
for example, to the destruction of 127 locomotives during February, 1945 alone.
Ground attack action usually came about
on the return trip after escorting bombers, as opportunity dictated. Some of the
fighters would stick with the bombers,
while others dropped down to see if there was anything that was worthy of some
Combat results
Kills
7,5
Probable Kills
1
Damaged Aircraft
2
Aircraft destroyed on ground
27
Numerous ground targets including locomotives
February 2023
attention. There were frequent encounters
with enemy aircraft as well. One of the
most curious of these for Righetti involved
a Mistel composite aircraft. This occurred
on February 3rd, 1945, not far from Boizenburg. He claimed the destruction of two of
three Mistels and a damaged Fw 190. This
event is the basis of the boxart for our kit
P-51D-10 (Catalog Number 84184) that offers markings for Righetti’s plane. These
two kills elevated him to the status of
“ace”, in terms of air-to-air victories. But
when it comes to ground targets, he led all
of the USAAF stats! He would account for
27 locomotives, several dozen trucks, destroyed aircraft on the ground, and other
items. In this regard, Righetti had no equal,
and his men followed him.
On February 22nd, 1945, he took command
of the 55th FG, replacing Col. George Crowell, and continued to add to the legend
status of his Group. He would not be able
to make his mark among the most successful aces, something for which he arrived
on the scene too late to do, and at a time
when Luftwaffe activity was greatly declining. Nevertheless, his results and exemplary command led to many high-level
awards (see table). For his promotion to
Group Commander he was grateful, and he
noted so in a letter from February 25: “The
new job is the best by far I’ve ever had.
Lots of responsibility I know, but really satisfying. Now I’m really slapping Jerry with
my own outfit and knocking chunks out of
him too. We got 14 enemy aircraft today—7
jets—and although I didn’t personally score, they’re all my boys now that I have the
group.” 1
The Fateful Day
It is not possible to describe the combat
exploits of “Eager El” and his 55th FG in
proper detail in the pages of a magazine
type article. After many dangerous situations while escorting bombers and during
ground target attacks, Righetti’s thirtieth
birthday came on April 17, 1945. His plan
was to crack open a bottle of bubbly on
INFO Eduard
13