The 82nd Fighter
Group was organized and trained in Southern California
during the spring
and summer of 1942. It was very unique because the
majority of the
original pilots were enlisted men ( Staff Sergeants - Class -
42C ), who were
subsequently commissioned before they entered combat.
The 82nd FG shipped
out to Great Britian from New York aboard the Queen
Mary in late September,
1942. After further training in Northen Ireland, its
pilots flew their
P-38's from England to Algeria, North Africa, just before
Christmas. En
route they scored the unit's first two victories and suffered
their first combat
loss when part of the formation was attacked by JU-88's
over the Bay of
Biscay.
The P-38 was particularly successful
in the Mediterranean Theater of
Operations, where it saw continuous
action for nearly two and a half years.
The 82nd Fighter Group, comprised
of Hq, 95th, 96th, and 97th Fighter
Squadrons did more than its
share in establishing the Lightning's great
combat record. As part of the
12th Air Force, the 82nd was heavily involved in
the hard fought Tunisian Campaign,
winning its spurs on the infamous "Gabes
meat Run". Although losses
were heavy initially, its pilots more than held
their own as they quickly gained
experience, first to survive and then to help
defeat the Axis Forces, both
Air and Ground.
The 82nd FG was one of the
first units to arrive there, but by early March of
1943 it was amazingly, the
highest scoring US Army Air Corps Fighter Group
in North Africa! it was to
maintain this position in the MTO to the wars end.
The Group cemented its lead
on April 11, 1943, when its pilots claimed 32
enemy planes destroyed. These
were airplanes attempting to supply the
Africa Korps in Tunisia. By
the end of the North African Campaign in May, the
Group had 199 confirmed "kills".
The Group then began adding to its score
during the Sicilian Campaign.
In July, 1st Lt. William J. "Dixie" Sloan of the
96th Sq. became the leading
Ace in the MTO with 12 victories. After Sicily was
secured in August, the Allies'
next objective was the invasion of the Italian
mainland. As a preliminary
to the operation, 140 P-38's of the 1st and 82nd
Fighter Groups flew a low level
straffing mission against airfields in the Foggia
area on August 25, resulting
in the destruction and damage to nearly 150
Axis aircraft. This mission
was planned and lead by the 82nd's Commander,
Lt. Col. George MacNicol,
and won the Group its first, Distinguished Unit
Citation.
A second, Distinguished Unit
Citation, was earned just eight days later, during
an escort mission of B-25's
to the Naples area on September 2, 1943. As the
American formation left the
target it was attacked by about 70 enemy
fighters, which were continually
reinforced during a ferocious air battle that
continued over the sea for
about 100 miles. The 82nd FG pilots claimed 23
enemy aircraft destroyed and
many more damaged in this action. Not a
single American bomber was
lost.
The Group's main task during
1943 was to escort the 12th AF's medium
bomber groups, but they also
flew many dive bombing and skip bombing,
strafing, and weather reconnaissance
missions. After flying from a number of
North African bases in Algeria
and Tunisia, and on occasion from Libya and
Sicily, the 82nd FG moved to
the Italian Penninsula in October, 1943. During
January 1944, they settled
into Foggia #11/Vincenzo. This base was home
for the remainder of the war.
In October of 1943, the Group
flew their first long-range, heavy bomber
escort mission, over Europe,
from Italy. Then on November 1, they became
part of the new strategic,
15th Air Force. The primary duty then was escorting
the 15th's B-17 and B-24 groups
to targets throughout Southern and Central
Europe. The 82nd FG continued
to fly other types of missions as well. These
included level bombing with
the aid of unarmed "Droop Snoot" Lightnings
which carried a bombardier
in the nose.
By the end of March 1944, the
82nd Fighter Group's score of enemy aircraft
destroyed in the air passed
the 400 mark, and in early July, it reached 500.
On June 10, 1944, it flew a
spectacular and successful, though costly, dive
bombing mission to the, Romano
American Oil refinery at Ploesti, Rumania.
For this the Group was awarded
a third, Distinguished Unit Citation. During
July and August the 82nd FG
participated in shuttle missions to Russia, and
proceeded to rack up more aerial
victories and did considerable damage to
the enemy ground targets. From
then on, few enemy planes were met in the
air by the Group's pilots,
but they continued to contribute heavily to the
destruction of the Axis war
machine in other ways. Its last air to air victories
were scored in March 1945,
bringing its total to 549 confirmed and placed it
among the USAAF's ten top scoring
fighter groups. Twenty- four of its pilots
were Aces. The 82nd Fighter
Groupscored more aerial victories than any
other P-38 group in the MTO.
In addition to the three, Distinguished
Unit Citations, the heroic and gallant
action, of the men of the 82nd
Fighter Group is attested to, by the fact they
were among the most heavily
decorated in WW II.
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