HISTORY
Přesun do Thelepte
In early February 1943, the 31st FG received
an order from the American XII Air Support
Command to transfer to the front. The move
was needed because the Curtiss P-40-equipped 33rd FG had suffered tremendous losses and had to be relieved of its duties. Prior
to the transfer, 31st FG pilots were sent back
to Gibraltar to collect new Spitfire Mk. Vs. The
long-awaited action was about to become
reality, and this caused a great deal of excitement for the men in the unit, and no doubt
some anxiety as well. Pilot Merritt C. Wolfe of
the 308th FS/31st FG wrote on 5 February:
“Word came that we are to go to the front in
the morning. Exactly where we don’t know,
but it is where there’ll be plenty of the long-awaited action. [The] 309th is going too. … At
a meeting this afternoon we learned we were
going to Thelepte in Tunisia, practically in Jerry’s backyard. Everyone is pretty eager, we’ve sat around so damn long that people are
champing at the bit.”
Due to the long distances involved and the
poor transport routes and means available, the transfer of all 31st FG pilots, aircraft,
ground personnel, vehicles and equipment
was not a smooth process. Instead, the unit
arrived at Thelepte in dribs and drabs starting
on 6 February, with the ground echelon travelling part of the way in Douglas C-47 transports, and part of the way in trucks and jeeps through some spectacular, mountainous
countryside. Several elements of the Group
were bombed and strafed during the journey
by German Focke-Wulf 190 fighter-bombers
of III./Schnellkampfgeschwader 10, an obvious sign that they were approaching the front.
Most of the pilots flew in to Thelepte No. 1 on
6 February, and the Group prepared itself for
operations the next day.
After their time based in southern England,
and then near cities in Algeria and Morocco,
the village of Thelepte and it surrounds was
At Thelepte the 31st FG pilots and ground personnel had to live underground, so the first task after arrival was digging.
The primitive living conditions experienced by the 31st FG at Thelepte – dugouts in a hill.
a stark contrast. Mechanic Thomas Stieglitz
later wrote: “the area our Squadron occupied
was big enough for the whole squadron of
planes to take off side-by-side, you never saw
such a big flat plateau in your life.” It is located
on a plateau high above sea level, and it was
a very wide-open space with two airfields,
Thelepte No. 1 and No. 2. The location crea-
Charles C. ‘Chuck’ Kenworthy of the 309th FS/31st FG was an exceptional pilot, who had breezed through his flying training.
He had also been responsible for shooting down one of the Vichy French fighters over Algeria on 8 November 1942.
INFO Eduard - September 2021
ted lasting impressions on the 31st FG men,
and one member of the ground personnel reflected many years later: “Thelepte was such
a miserable place. I don’t think anything lives
there except sand fleas and scorpions”!
The previous occupants were in a hurry to
leave, and 31st FG personnel were a little
shocked at the state of the men from the 33rd
FG. Frank A. Hill of the 308th FS/31st FG remarked on how “staring-off-into-space” they
seemed to be, and another 31st FG pilot confided in his diary: “Talked to one of the 33rd
pilots whom we’re relieving. He looked like
hell and says it’s rough. They’ve been pretty
well shot up and are ready to leave.” The 33rd
FG had certainly been on the receiving end of
some harsh treatment, not only in aerial combat with the German aces of II./Jagdgeschwader 2 and II./Jagdgeschwader 51, but on the
ground, because Thelepte had been regularly targeted by German bomber and fighter-bomber raids in the previous month. There
was no radar, so the Luftwaffe sneak attacks
came out of nowhere. 31st FG personnel were
very concerned that they would be targeted by
similar raids, and one aircraft mechanic later
recalled:
“… we had to get our planes serviced and ready to fly while it was still dark. None of us
wanted to be in the cockpit doing a pre-flight
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