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Adapted from “Clean Sweep: Adapted from “Clean Sweep:
VIII Fighter Command Against VIII Fighter Command Against
the Luftwaffe 1942-45"the Luftwaffe 1942-45" Thomas McKelvey Cleaver
Major James A. Goodson (in cockpit), CO of 336th Fighter Squadron was known in the spring of 1944 as “King of the Strafers,” credited with 15 aerial and 15 ground victories.
(USAF Official)
GAME CHANGERGAME CHANGER
During September, 1943, rumors abounded
among the pilots in the fighter groups regarding
things to come. When Chesley Peterson returned
to take command of the 4th Fighter Group,
he told the pilots that there was a new airplane
in the works. Steve Pisanos recalled him saying,
“They’re coming up with a new fighter that will
be far superior to he P-38 and P-47, a kite that
can be used for long-range escort.” That rumor
became reality on September 26, 1943, when
Pisanos returned from escorting B-17s to Les
Andeleys in northern France. “I taxied into the
dispersal area only to find a P-51 Mustang with
a four-bladed propeller parked on the grass
across from my stall.” Pisanos was familiar
with the Allison-powered RAF Mustang I, having
flown one for 40 hours in OTU training and then
another 40 operational hours with 268 Squadron
before transferring to 71 Eagle Squadron. He met
the pilot, Captain Jack Miller from VIII Fighter
Command staff, who had flown the new Mustang
to Debden in the squadron operations office.
“He told me it was equipped with a Merlin engine
and that it was on loan to our group for the pilots
to fly and evaluate it.”
A week later, the Mustang was released for
flying. Pisanos recalled, “I was more familiar
with the Mustang than anyone else in the group.
When Captain Miller saw I had 80 Mustang hours
in my logbook, he turned it over to me.”
Pisanos found the new airplane to be
“everything I hoped it would be.” After checking
himself out for 15 minutes, “I dropped down
on the deck and decided to make a pass over
Debden, clocking some 450 miles per hour.
As I passed over, I zoomed up and rolled left and
right. Then I did a loop, after which I buzzed the
runway a few more times.”
Everyone was interested in the new fighter.
Over the next two weeks Don Blakeslee flew it
several times, as did Don Gentile, Jim Goodson,
Deacon Hively and Duane Beeson. All were
effusive in their praise of the flying qualities of the
new Mustang. Steve Pisanos recalled, “Everyone
was paying attention to the P-51. When I was in
268 Squadron, flying Allison-powered Mustangs,
those of us with experience in Spitfires talked
about how wonderful the airplane would be with
a Merlin up front.”
While U.S. Air Attache Thomas Hitchcock
worked with Rolls-Royce in early 1943 to mate
the Merlin and the Mustang, Edgar Schmued and
his team at North American also began planning
such a powerplant upgrade. Hitchock’s report
on the performance of Rolls-Royce’s Merlin-
powered Mustang X test bed, which gave an
80 mph speed increase and a doubling of effective
combat altitude, provided North American with
all the evidence it needed to convince the Air
Force to support the work. Word of the first flight
of the P-51B in Los Angeles spread through the
world of Air Force fighter pilots like wildfire. The
pilots of the Fourth had been unanimous in their
verdict it was the best fighter any had flown.
On October 8, 1943, the 354th Fighter Group
was declared operational and boarded the train
for the five day trip from California to New Jersey.
October 20 the men were went aboard the troop
transport HMS Athlone Castle. Ten “fortunately
uneventful days” later they arrived in Liverpool
on November 1. After three days at ancho waiting
for the fog to lift, the ship docked and the 354th
went ashore in England. Once ashore, they were
trucked to Greenham Common. The morning of
November 11, 1943, the first four P-51B Mustangs
were flown in. The 354th would be the first
fighter group anywhere to fly North American’s
new fighter.
356th Squadron commander Major James
O. Howard later remembered, “On November
13 we were sent to our new base at Boxted,
near Colchester. At first, it looked like we were
going to be very comfortable in this English
countryside setting. However, we were no
more settled in than the rains came, and the
whole base became a giant quagmire. The
conditions were so bad it made it difficult to
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