Capt. Donald Willis of the 335th FS, 4th FG, before the unit‘s conversion to Thunderbolts. Willis was serving in the air forces of Finland,

Norway and England before the RAF‘s No. 121 Squadron was absorbed into the Army Air Forces. Willis served as the 335th Operations

Officer before transferring to the VIII. Fighter Command Headquarters. On April 10, 1944 he crashed his 20th FG P-38 in The Netherlands

and evaded the capture (Photo: US National Archives, Fold3).

Dieppe/Operation Jubilee

The American squadrons never merged

into any larger unit. They operated independently or within the British wings. The

only operation where all three squadrons

participated in was the Operation Jubilee,

Dieppe landing. Not even in this case they

were deployed under one command. No.

71 Squadron flew to Dieppe out of RAF airbase Gravesend and No. 133 Squadron relocated to Lympne. During this operation,

the American squadrons shot down eight

enemy aircraft and lost six Spitfires. One

pilot was killed, and one became POW.

In total until September 29, 1942, when

they were transferred under the USAAF

command, all three squadrons shot down

73.5 enemy aircraft. No. 71 Squadron

claimed 41 kills, No. 121 Squadron 18 kills

and No. 133 Squadron 14.5 kills. The price

paid for this success were lives of 77 American and five British personnel.

An abandoned British Daimler Dingo scout

car on the Dieppe beach after the unsuccessful raid of August 19th, 1942 (Photo:

Bundesarchiv).

INFO Eduard - August 2021

eduard

13