Strana 32
P-51B-10-NA, s/n 43-6934, Capt. Henry White, 328
th
FS, 352
nd
FG, 8
th
AF,
Bodney, United Kingdom, June 1944
P-51B-15-NA, s/n 42-106839, Lt. Robert Eckfeldt, 374
th
FS, 361
st
FG, 8
th
AF,
Bottisham, United Kingdom, June–July 1944
The 352
nd
Fighter Group was formed on
September 29, 1942 and activated three days
later on October 1. Its first commander was
Lt. Col. Edwin M. Ramage. The 328
th
, 486
th
, and
487
th
Fighter Squadrons, all initially flying P-47s
before rearming to P-51B, were part of the
group. During June and July, the group moved
from the USA to the UK. The first commander
of the 328
th
Fighter Squadron was Capt. J. H.
Posten, the most famous of the commanders
was Maj. G. E. Preddy, the most successful
American P-51 fighter pilot with 26.83 confirmed
kills. Capt. Henry White flew a total of 89
operational sorties with the unit, recording two
kills. He achieved the first on May 28, 1944, and
the second on July 18. The entire squadron
scored 143 kills, 14 were destroyed probably and
35 damaged by its pilots on the ground during the
war. Captain White’s P-51B bore the distinctive
livery of “Blue-nosed Bastards of Bodney”,
as the 352
nd
FG was nicknamed after the blue
noses of its aircraft. On the left side forward of
the cockpit, a painting of a girl in a red bikini and
the name “Dallas Darling” adorned the nose. Full
invasion stripes are portrayed here.
The 361
st
FG was established on February 10,
1943 and its pilots retrained on the P-47. They
moved to England to the Bottisham base in No-
vember that year. The pilots of the 361
st
FG flew
their first combat mission on January 21, 1944.
By May, the unit had already re-equipped to
the P-51s and moved to Little Walden Air Force
Base on September 26, 1944. From early Februa-
ry until May 1945, the group operated out of
Chièvres, Belgium, and its pilots destroyed 222
enemy aircraft in the air, probably destroyed
11 and damaged 67 during the combat deploy-
ment. Among the group’s aces was Lt. Robert
Eckfeldt, who scored three aerial victories
and destroyed four more enemy aircraft on the
ground. This is matched by the seven symbols
under the cockpit of his aircraft named “Bald
Eagle”, a nickname for the 22-year-old pilot,
referring to his thinning hair despite his youth.
“Eggie,” as his colleagues also called him, was
the son of an Army major general and hailed
from Belmont, Massachusetts.
KITS 08/2026
INFO Eduard32
August 2026