Building the USAAF. The 31st Fighter Group

After the WWII outbreak in Europe, it became clear to the American

government and President Roosevelt that the USA will need the

equally powerful, and ideally stronger armed forces which are at

the disposal of their potential enemies, Japan, and Germany above

all. Major General Arnold, Chief of Staff of the United States Army

Air Corps was commissioned to strengthen and modernize up until

now relatively small air forces and bring them up to the competitive level. Before the WWII outbreak and in its beginning, the USAAC

had only one fighter group, the 1st Pursuit Group. Its personnel

formed the base of the 31st Pursuit Group established at Selfridge

Field airbase in Michigan.

The group equipment was initially represented by obsolete aircraft,

P-26, and P-35. Only in the middle of 1939 the unit was re-equipped with the new P-39 Airacobra. In the upcoming period, the 31st

PG underwent rather complicated evolution when it changed several bases, in particular in the South of the USA. After the attack on

Pearl Harbor in December 1941, the unit was ordered to the West

Coast, Payne Field airbase north of Seattle in Washington state. In

January 1942, a new group, 35th PG, was built on its base utilizing

its aircraft and already trained personnel. The rest of the 31st PG

moved to New Orleans. It was equipped with P-40B aircraft, and

the unit was rebuilt. At that time, the USAAC was already renamed

to the US Army Air Force and since May 1942 the fighter groups

continued to be designated as Fighter Group and fighter squadrons

as Fighter Squadron. In New Orleans, now known as 31st Fighter

Group, it was re-equipped with Airacobras. The Group was now

formed by three squadrons: 307th FS, 308th FS and 309th FS and in

May it was ready for deployment in the Great Britain.

The 52nd Fighter Group

Jochen Müncheberg & Ted Sweetland

Major Joachim Müncheberg was one of the Luftwaffe‘s most outstanding fighter commanders. He was born on December 31, 1918,

in Friedrichsdorf, Pomerania (now Darskowo, Poland). He joined

the armed forces in 1936 and was accepted into the Luftwaffe two

years later. He served for a number of years with JG 26 „Schlageter“ and in September 1941 became commander of its II. Gruppe.

In the summer of 1942, he served on the Eastern Front in command

of JG 51 and in October 1942 he became Kommodore of JG 77 fighting in Africa on Messerschmitts Bf 109G. He achieved a total of

135 victories and was awarded the Knight‘s Cross with Oak Leaves

and Swords. His last kill Müncheberg achieved on March 23, 1943,

during his 500th combat flight, which proved fatal.

In the morning hours Müncheberg took off with his Adjutant Lt.

Strasen from La Fauconnerie airfield in Tunisia to reconnoiter the

situation over the front in the Sened/El Guettar area. At an altitude of 10,000 to 13,000 ft they spotted several Spitfires and Curtisses. The two German pilots attacked a pair of American Spitfires

from the 2nd FS, 52nd FG at 0950 from above and rear. Müncheberg

fired at his opponent at point blank range and, according to Strasen‘s report, the Spitfire broke apart. The American pilot, in Strasen‘s opinion, failed to notice the attack. Müncheberg, however,

flew into the debris of the enemy aircraft and failed to jump from

his damaged machine. Two minutes later, Strasen shot down the

other Spitfire. All three aircraft crashed in the vicinity of the 82nd

kilometer of the Gabes-Gafsa road.

The Spitfire shot down by Strasen was piloted by Capt. Hugh L.

Williamson, who was captured and later reported that his leader

had deliberately crashed his damaged Spitfire into Müncheberg‘s

Messerschmitt. The leader was Capt. Theodore Reilly Sweetland,

who was born in New Jersey on June 27, 1919. As his name suggests, he was of Irish descent on his mother‘s side. After three

years of study at Williams College in Berkeley, CA, and work as a

photographer for Oakland Tribune, he joined the Air Force in California in April 1941. He received the Purple Heart, Silver Star and

Air Medal for his service. His name is recorded in the missing in action section of the North African American Cemetery and Memorial

in Carthage, Tunisia.

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The 52nd Fighter Group had similar genesis, established as the 52nd

Pursuit Group based on 1st and 31st PG personnel on January 15,

1941. The new unit was composed of the staff squadron and typically three combat squadrons: 2nd PS, 4th PS and 5th PS. The equipment was again initially represented by obsolete aircraft, P-35,

P-36, and P-43. The basic training was conducted on PT-17 Kaydet

biplanes. Not even 52nd FG avoided the personnel transfer and

transfers among the airports during which it met 31st PG on the

regular basis. After the Pearl Harbor attack, the unit was re-equipped with P-39 Airacobra with which it participated in the large

military exercises starting on January 1, 1942. During that time,

2nd PS was based in New York, 4th PS in Norfolk, Virginia and 5th PS

at nearby airbase Langley Field at Hampton, Virginia. On January

15, all three squadrons moved back to Selfridge but as early as

February 18 they moved again to various bases in South and North

Carolina. In May, now 52nd FG, was ordered to deploy to the Great

Britain and on May 11 it transferred to the Northeast to get ready

for crossing the Atlantic.

Deployment to Britain

While establishing VIII. Fighter Command of the USAAF 8th Air Force, the USAAF headquarters anticipated that P-39 Airacobra will be

suitable for the European theater of operations. It was one of the

factors why 31st and 52nd FGs were selected first to build up the

adequate fighter force of the 8th AF. While searching for the solution how to transfer the fighter groups to Britain, the flight across

the Atlantic was considered. Owing to the distance, complicated

weather and navigational conditions as well as insufficient pilots‘

training in the instrument flying it was assumed, they’ll fly in the

groups led by a B-17 bomber which will provide navigation for the

whole group. The route was plotted via Newfoundland, Greenland,

Iceland, and Ireland to England. Both units were transferred to

Grenier Field airbase and together with B-17 were training for the

long-distance flights. In April however, the majority of the involved

B-17s was deployed to Pacific in the preparation to counter the

anticipated Japanese assault on the Aleutians. At the same time,

two 52nd FG pilots crashed and were killed during the training. But

above all, the USAAF headquarters, based on the evaluation of the

combat reports from the ETO, simultaneously arrived at the conclusion that Airacobra will not be a match for German fighters and

opted for another solution which was a transport of both groups

by ships equipped with battle proven Spitfires. It is interesting to

notice how little attention was paid to the naval transport of both

the personnel and aircraft which was later became a standard means of transporting more units from the USA to Britain. The 31st

FG, in two contingents, ground and aviation, was first transferred

by train to Fort Dix base in New Jersey, boarded on the ship and

INFO Eduard - August 2021