Page 42
BOXART STORY
Strong winds brush the surface of the sea, and
the tops of the waves are decorated with white
foam. But not even the elements can compete with
the thousands of vessels heading for the Normandy
shores that morning. The sound of aircraft engines
makes the men on board look up. As many of them
plead with God to protect them, the hundreds of
planes heading for the coast will try to do the same...
The D
-
Day, the Allied landings in France,
represented the deployment of an enormous force.
This included the 352nd Fighter Group and its three
squadrons the 328th FS, 486th FS and 487th FS.
Their Mustangs, which the entire group had only two
months earlier re-equipped to, were adorned with
blue bows. They have been nicknamed the "Blue-
nosed Bastards of Bodney" for them and the base
from which they operated.
Midnight briefing
Early in the morning of June 5, 1944, it is clear that
something is going to happen. Missions are planned
and then cancelled, flight operations are scarce, and
by 3:30 in the afternoon the entire base is closed.
The enlisted men are ordered to guard the perimeter
and man the anti-aircraft guns.
Several aircraft return from a mission over
mainland Europe in the early afternoon, and the
pilots learn immediately upon landing, from their
mechanics, that there is an order to paint white and
black stripes on all aircraft. So, cans of paint are
distributed on individual stands and everybody able
to pick up a paintbrush starts the work. This is about
ninety Mustangs so the ground staff must do their
part. In contrast, the pilots are told to rest during
the day and get as much sleep as possible because
a very early morning mission is planned. Rice
pudding, among other things, is served for dinner.
It turns out it is contaminated with salmonella, and
soon several pilots and mechanics find themselves
in a somewhat unusable state ...
The briefing takes place at midnight and the
pilots learn what they had more or less suspected.
The invasion is here! It’s obvious that it’s going to be
a busy day, as evidenced by the base surgeon’s words,
he tells the pilots that he’s tasked with keeping them
in the air until the beaches are fully secured. Even
at the cost of having to give them some “pep pills”
(amphetamine). In the end, that won’t be necessary,
even though the pilots will spend up to 16 hours in
the cockpits of their Mustangs. The adrenaline and
the knowledge of the importance of what they’re
doing will help. Watching hundreds of landing craft
below them is an unforgettable and highly emotional
experience. They are well aware that it is up to
them to protect the 160,000 men on board from the
deadly attacks of the Luftwaffe, and that they must
destroy as much enemy equipment and manpower
as possible.
You can get an idea of what it must have looked
like during the flyover of the landing zone from
Piotr Forkasiewicz’s boxart for Limited kit No. 11181.
It shows the aircraft of Capt. Henry White of the 328th
FS and Lt. Carlton Fuhrman of the 466th FS.
Fire at anything that moves!
First combat mission of the entire 352nd FG
is scheduled for 02:00 and the 486th Squadron is
the first to take to the air. The next two will follow
30 minutes apart. Thus, at 2 a.m., four mustangs line
up on the runway, wing to wing, with experienced
pilots in cockpits taking deep breaths and moving
the throttles forward. The darkness is cut by the
roar of Merlins driven up to maximum revs and
the first flight takes off into the night sky. Just half
a minute later, the second flight is ready to take
off. The darkness, to which daytime fighters are
not accustomed, makes orientation difficult and
they deviate from the runway centerline to the right.
Lt. Bob Frascotti suddenly sees the silhouette of the
newly constructed control tower in front of him. It is
the last thing he ever sees, for in the next second his
Mustang shatters against it and explodes. It is the
first aerial casualty of the entire Operation Overlord.
The resulting fire then eases the takeoff orientation
for the others at the cost of this tragedy.
Most pilots fly three missions during D
-
Day. On the
first, they fly to an area about 50 miles south of the
beaches, where they join hundreds of other Allied
fighters. The goal is to create an impenetrable barrier
from ground level to more than 9,000 feet, preventing
German aircraft to reach the landing beaches.
Then, during the second and third missions, the
“Bodney Bastards” scurry at low altitudes over land
with a clear mission: Fire on anything that moves and
heads for the beaches. The Mustangs destroy trucks,
buses, carriages hauling guns and enemy manpower.
The French Resistance has told people in the area to
stay indoors all day if possible and not to go out at all,
and especially not to go on the roads to minimize the
risk of civilian casualties.
The fighting on the beaches continues, but the
work of the daytime fighters ends at dusk. Many
more casualties will be needed, but nothing can stop
the Allied forces. And the “Bodney Bastards” will
return to their usual business of escorting bomber
formations over Germany. In less than a year, it will
all be over...
Illustration: Piotr Forkasiewicz
A challenging day
Text: Richard Plos
#11181
INFO Eduard42
May 2024