8th Air Force
Eighth Air Force Bomber Command became the Eighth Air Force on February 1944, it oversaw bombardment of strategic targets in Europe until 1945.
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42-106841
P-51 Mustang
Assigned to 369FS, 359FG, 8AF USAAF. Failed to Return (FTR) escort mission, released to strafe flew over Versaille, downed 2 x Fw190's and hit by flak going for the third Fw190. Lt Leroy D Hess Jr bellied in and was captured. Prisoner of War (POW) 12-Jun-44 MACR 5536.
Service
Units
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359th Fighter Group
Group
The 359th Fighter Group flew 346 missions from East Wretham between December 1943 and April 1945. In the main these missions were escorting bombers flying over occupied Europe. The Group, soon after converting from Thunderbolts to Mustangs, were... -
369th Fighter Squadron
Squadron
People
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Leroy Hess
Military | Second Lieutenant | Fighter pilot | 359th Fighter Group
Assigned to 369FS, 359FG, 8AF USAAF. Failed to Return (FTR) escort mission in P-51 42-106841, released to strafe flew over Versailles, downed 2 x Fw190's and hit by flak going for the third Fw190. Bellied in and pilot Lt Leroy D Hess Jr captured.... -
Robert Thomson
Military | Major | Fighter pilot | 359th Fighter Group
Assigned to 369FS, 359FG, 8AF USAAF. 123 missions, 540 hours. Credited 4 x kills [Air] and 2 x damaged [Grd]. End Tour of Duty (ETD). [P-47D 42-75085, P-51B 42-106841, P-51D 44-15242, P-51D 44-14432, P-51D 44-72780] Awards: WWII Victory, EAME.
Missions
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8th Air Force Field Order 383
12 June 1944
Places
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East Wretham
Military site : airfield
East Wretham was not improved to Class A standard. It retained its shorter runways, although eventually pierced-steel planking was laid to make take offs and landings easier for the Thunderbolt, and then Mustang, pilots. Steel matting was also laid to...
Events
| Event | Location | Date |
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| Manufactured | Inglewood, CA, USA | 1944 |
| Delivered | Edwards AFB, CA, USA | 1944 |
| Assigned | Wretham, Thetford IP24, UK | 1944 |
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Assigned to 369FS, 359FG, 8AF USAAF. |
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| E/A Destroyed [2] | Place d'Armes, 78000 Versailles, France | 12 June 1944 |
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2 x Fw190's destroyed in Versaille area. |
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| Crashed | Place d'Armes, 78000 Versailles, France | 12 June 1944 |
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Failed to Return (FTR) escort mission, released to strafe flew over Versaille and hit by flak Lt Leroy D Hess Jr POW MACR 5536. |
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Revisions
| Date | Contributor | Update |
|---|---|---|
| 29 December 2017 17:29:19 | Al_Skiff | Changes to person associations |
| Sources | ||
http://littlefriends.co.uk/search.php?searchString=42-106841&Submit=Search |
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| Date | Contributor | Update |
| 29 December 2017 17:28:30 | Al_Skiff | Changes to production block number, nicknames, markings, description, events, unit associations, place associations and mission associations |
| Sources | ||
http://littlefriends.co.uk/search.php?searchString=42-106841&Submit=Search |
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| Date | Contributor | Update |
| 27 September 2014 18:40:14 | AAM | AAM ingest |
| Sources | ||
MACR 5596 / Paul Andrews, Project Bits and Pieces, 8th Air Force Roll of Honor database |
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