The 357th Fighter Group was an air combat unit of the United States Army Air Forces during the Second World War. The 357th operated P-51 Mustang aircraft as part of the U.S. Eighth Air Force and its members were known unofficially as the Yoxford Boys after the village of Yoxford near their base in the UK. (Group tradition holds that the name was the invention of Lord Haw-Haw in a broadcast greeting the night of its arrival at RAF Leiston.)Olmsted 1994, p. 23. Its victory totals in air-to-air combat are the most of any P-51 group in the Eighth Air Force and third among all groups fighting in Europe.USAF Historical Study 85: USAF Credits for Destruction of Enemy Aircraft, World War II. Office of Air Force History, AFHRA, 624, 629, 631, 633. Retrieved 14 October 2006.
The 357th flew 313 combat missions between 11 February 1944 and 25 April 1945. It is officially credited by the U.S. Air Force with having destroyed 595.5 German airplanes in the air and 106.5 on the ground. The 357th as such existed as a USAAF unit only during World War II; postwar, the group became an Ohio Air National Guard group which is a direct descendant of the 357th FG.
History
Lineage Constituted as 357th Fighter Group on 1 December 1942 and activated the same day. Inactivated in Germany on 20 August 1946 Redesignated 121st Fighter Group. Allotted to the National Guard on 21 August 1946
Assignments IV Fighter Command, 1 December 1942 72d Fighter Wing, 7 October – 9 November 1943 66th Fighter Wing, 31 January 1944 Attached to: 1st Bombardment (later Air) Division, 15 September 1943 – 8 July 1945 XII Fighter Command, 21 July 1945 – 20 August 1946
Components 362d Fighter Squadron: (G4) 1 December 1942 – 20 August 1946 363d Fighter Squadron: (B6) 1 December 1942 – 20 August 1946 364th Fighter Squadron: (C5) 1 December 1942 – 20 August 1946
Stations Hamilton Field, California, 1 December 1942 Tonopah Army Airfield, Nevada, 4 March 1943 Santa Rosa Army Airfield, California, 3 June 1943 Oroville Army Airfield, California, 18 August 1943 Casper Army Airfield, Wyoming, 7 October – 9 November 1943 RAF Raydon (USAAF Station 157), England, 30 November 1943 RAF Leiston (USAAF Station 373), England, 31 January 1944 – 8 July 1945 Fliegerhorst Neubiberg (ALG R-85), Germany, 21 July 1945 – 20 August 1946.
Aircraft P-39 Airacobra, 1942–1943 P-51B/C/D/K Mustang, 1943–1945
357th FG command staff Group Commanders Dates of command Casualty Status Lt.Col. Loring G. Stetson, Jr. 16 December 1942 – 7 July 1943 Lt.Col. Edwin S. Chickering7 July 1943 – 17 February 1944 Col. Henry R. Spicer 17 February 1944 – 5 March 1944 Prisoner of war Col. Donald W. Graham 7 March 1944 – 11 October 1944 Lt.Col. John D. Landers12 October 1944 – 2 December 1944 Lt.Col. Irwin H. Dregne2 December 1944 – 21 July 1945 Lt.Col. Andrew J. Evans 21 July 1945 – 20 November 1945 Lt.Col. Wayne E. Rhynard 20 November 1945 – 1 April 1946 Col. Barton M. Russell 1 April 1946 – 20 August 1946Deputy Group Commanders Dates of service Casualty Status unknown 16 December 1942 – 27 September 1943 Lt.Col. Donald W. Graham 27 September 1943 – 7 March 1944 Lt.Col. Hubert I. Egnes 7 March 1944 – 28 March 1944 Killed in action Lt.Col. Thomas L. Hayes 28 March 1944–unknown Lt.Col. John D. Landersunknown–12 October 1944 Lt.Col. Irwin H. Dregne12 October 1944 – 2 December 1944 Lt.Col. Andrew J. Evans 2 December 1944 – 21 July 1945 Operations Officers (S-3s)Dates of service Casualty Status Major Donald W. Graham 16 December 1942 – 27 September 1943 unknown 27 September 1943– Lt.Col. Thomas L. Hayes, Jr. 14 August 1944–
Squadron commanders Three fighter squadrons were constituted 16 December 1942, and assigned to the group.
362d Fighter Squadron Dates of commandCasualty Status Lt.Col. Hubert I. Egnes 16 December 1942 – 10 March 1944 Killed in action Major Joseph E. Broadhead 10 March 1944 – 25 August 1944 Major John B. England 25 August 1944 – 8 April 1945 Major Leonard K. Carson 8 April 1945 – 1 November 1945 Captain Robert D. Brown 1 November 1945– 363d Fighter Squadron Dates of command Casualty Status Capt. Stuart R. Lauler 8 January 1943 – 20 May 1943 Capt. Clay R. Davis 20 May 1943 – 7 July 1943 Killed in training accident Major Donald W. Graham −27 September 1943 1st Lt. Wesley S. Mink 27 September 1943 – November 1943 Capt. Joseph H. Giltner, Jr. Nov 1943–25 January 1944 Prisoner of war Major Montgomery H. Throop, Jr. 25 January 1944 – June 1944 Major Edwin W. Hiro Jun 1944–20 September 1944 Killed in action Lt.Col. Guernsey I. Carlisle 20 September 1944 – January 1945 Major Donald C. McGee January 1945 – February 1945 Major Donald H. Bochkay Feb 1945– 364th Fighter Squadron Dates of command Casualty Status Capt. Varian K. White 16 December 1942 – 18 May 1943 Killed in training accident Major Thomas L. Hayes, Jr. 22 May 1943 – 14 August 1944 Major John A. Storch 14 August 1944 – May 1945 Major Donald C. McGee May 1945– Major Richard A. Peterson 14 August 1944 – 8 April 1945
Non-component support organizations 50th Service Group headquarters and detachment 469th Service Squadron 70th Station Complement 1177th Quartermaster Company (detachment) 1076th Signal Company (detachment) 1260th Military Police Company (platoon) 1600th Ordnance Company (detachment) 18th Weather Squadron (detachment) 2121st Engineering Firefighting Platoon
SOURCES: Commanders, AFHRA website and Maurer Maurer; other staff and support units, Olmsted
Training history and movement overseas
The 357th remained at Hamilton Field, while its squadrons were activated and personnel and equipment acquired. Cadre for the new group were drawn from the 328th Fighter Group, already at Hamilton. Two of the three designated squadron commanders had served in the Philippines during the first days of the war, Major Hubert Egnes with the 17th Pursuit Squadron, and Captain Varian White with the 20th Pursuit Squadron, and both had air-to-air victories over Japanese aircraft.Olmsted 1994, p. 7.
On 3 March 1943, the group moved by rail to Tonopah, Nevada, where it remained until 3 June. At Tonopah the members lived in and worked under primitive conditions, described as "tar-paper shacks", and without enclosed hangar maintenance facilities.Yeager and Janos 1985, p. 14.Olmsted 1994, p. 9. They inherited much-used P-39 Airacobra fighters from the 354th Fighter Group, training at Tonopah preceding them, and immediately began a regimen of six-day work weeks with six sorties a dayYeager and Janos 1985, p. 15. practicing air-to-air combat, bombing, and strafing maneuvers. While adequately powered at low altitudes and suited for close support operations, the P-39 was prone to stalls at higher altitudes. Three pilots and a flight surgeon died in training accidents while at Tonopah, including Captain White, who was replaced by Major Thomas Hayes, another veteran of the early Pacific campaign.Olmsted 1994, p. 141.
In June the group entered its next training phase, changing stations to Santa Rosa Army Air Field, California (the 362 FS was based at nearby Hayward). There the group continued training on P-39s, flying bomber escort and coastal patrol practice missions. On 7 July 1943, a mid-air collision occurred between two P-39s, killing both pilots including Captain Clay Davis, commander of the 363 FS. On the same date the group commander, Lt.Col. Stetson, relinquished command, and sources who were present at the time are contradictory about a possible connection: Olmsted states that Stetson was sent overseas to command a fighter group;Olmsted 1994, p. 13. He did in fact command the 33rd FG in October 1943 and later the 507th FG. Chuck Yeager said he was relieved of command for the high death rate in training. Thirteen pilots and a flight surgeon died in P-39 training accidents in the United States, and numerous aircraft were lost or heavily damaged in non-fatal accidents.
The 357th received an influx of 60 new pilots and moved again, to bases at Oroville and Marysville, California in August 1943. It entered its final phase of training on 28 September with the squadrons redeploying to Second Air Force bases at Pocatello, Idaho; Casper, Wyoming; and Ainsworth, Nebraska, respectively, where they engaged in large-formation mock interceptor missions against bomber groups in training. On 24 October after a final tactical inspection, the group was declared ready for overseas deployment. Beginning 3 November, the 357th turned in its P-39s and entrained for Camp Shanks, New York, where the entire group staged for embarkation aboard the , departing New York City on 23 November 1943. Debarking at Greenock, Scotland, on 29 November, the group immediately moved by train to its base in Suffolk.
Combat operations and tactics All mission dates, targets, and details from Roger Freeman, Mighty Eighth War Diary, by date of mission. German unit identifications are from Merle Olmsted.
Ninth Air Force The 357th had been allocated to the Ninth Air Force as a P-51 tactical air support unit. It moved into its base at RAF Raydon on 30 November 1943. It had no aircraft until 19 December, when the it received a former Mustang III of RAF Fighter Command, hastily repainted in U.S. olive drab. By the end of the year the 357th received 15 Mustangs, severely restricting conversion training for the pilots, and some made the transition by ferrying in new aircraft. All but a handful gained flying experience in the new aircraft only by flying combat operations.
This handful, consisting of group and squadron commanders and proposed flight leaders, made approximately a dozen sorties on escort missions with the 354th Fighter Group, which had been flying combat only since 1 December. Pilots from both units learned that the P-51s still had maintenance flaws to be worked out, primarily in guns that jammed in maneuvering and engines that overheated from loss of coolant, and the commanding officer of the 363 FS was shot down on a mission while flying with the 354th Fighter Group on 25 January 1944.
The need for a long-range escort fighter had resulted in a decision to give the Eighth Air Force a priority for the Mustang, reversing the earlier allocation of these groups to the Ninth for tactical support of Allied ground operations in France. The 357th was reassigned to VIII Fighter Command in exchange for a P-47 group that had already begun combat operations, and at the end of January, changed bases with the 358th Fighter Group, moving to its permanent base at RAF Leiston on 31 January.
VIII Fighter Command, Eighth Air Force Initial operations Assigned to the 66th Fighter Wing, the 357th was the first P-51 Mustang Group of the Eighth Air Force. Between its move to Leiston and 11 February, when it flew its first combat mission, the group received a full inventory of P-51B fighters. On 8 February six pilots flew a final mission with the 354th, a deep penetration bomber escort to Frankfurt, Germany, and lost a pilot killed in action.
The first group mission, led by Medal of Honor-recipient Major James H. Howard of the 354th FG, was an escort mission for B-24's bombing V-1 sites in the Pas de Calais. The new commander of the 4th Fighter Group, Lt.Col. Don Blakeslee, led two similar missions on 12 and 13 February, with the first combat loss occurring on 13 February. The 357th changed commanders on 17 February, its former commander Col. Chickering moving up to a staff position in the Ninth Air Force, and its new CO Col. Spicer the former executive officer of the 66th Fighter Wing.