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P-51 Mustangs (VF-4) [42-106894] of the 4th Fighter Group, (CV-Q) of the 359th Fighter Group, (LC-D) of the 20th Fighter Group, (LH-V) of the 353rd Fighter group and (C5-Q) of the 357th Fighter Group, with a F-5E (P-38 Lightning) at Debden. Taken on 23 March 1945 by Edward Richie. Information from Mark Richie: "The 65th Fighter Wing had a meeting of all Group COs at Debden about the up coming Rhine River crossing operations. Pretty neat shots. Roger [Freeman] and I puzzled over the NMF C model with the Malcolm hood. D models were in all groups by then so finding a "new" C model with and Malcolm hood is kind of odd. No serial numbers show in rear view. Possible it is a photo recon kite. Tower logs for the day do not inventory individual a/c that attended. Pretty day . . ." And "FRE 5305 also shows another two seat P-51 converted by the shops. Back seat has a Malcolm Hood. The P-38 at the end is actually an F-5E of the 7th Photo Recon Group. It would be the mount of group CO at the time. Note the red stripe on the side of the engine - identifier for the 7th PRG." Handwritten on slide:" Line of P51s E. Richie"
This contains information written on the back of the original print and some of it may be inaccurate.
P-51 Mustangs (VF-4) of the 4th Fighter Group, (CV-Q) of the 359th Fighter Group, (LC-D) of the 20th Fighter Group, (LH-V) of the 353rd Fighter group and (C5-Q) of the 357th Fighter Group, with a P-38 Lightning at Debden. Handwritten on slide:" Line of P51s E. Richie"
Group
In August 1943, the 20th Fighter Group arrived in Clyde, Scotland, before travelling to Kings Cliffe, Northamptonshire, which was to be their base for the rest of the war. The Group flew 312 missions before their last mission on 25 April 1945. The...
Group
The 357th Fighter Group was the first P-51 Mustang Group in the Eighth Air Force, training with them from November 1943 at Raydon, England and entering combat with them in the February of the following year from their new base at Leiston. The Group was...
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...
Group
Some of the pilots of the 4th Fighter Group had seen many hours of combat by the time they joined the 4th Fighter Group as they had volunteered with the Royal Canadian Air Force and the Royal Air Force. The three 'Eagle Squadrons' of RAF Fighter...
Military | Warrant Officer | Shop Superintendent (Aviation)
Edward Richie took many of the colour photographs of the 4th Fighter Group that are in the American Air Museum's Roger Freeman Collection.
P-51 Mustang
P-51 Mustang
Assigned to 370FS, 359FG, 8AF USAAF. Named for Ray Wetmore's daughter Diane. Transferred to 336FS, 4FG, 8AF USAAF as war weary, converted to 2 seat configuration. Crashed Debden 1-Apr-45 pilot Lt Fred Glover RTD.
P-51 Mustang
Assigned to 368FS, 359FG, 8AF USAAF. Personal A/C of Lt Col Niven K Cranfill. Re-assigned to Lt Col James W Parsons.
Military site : airfield
RAF Debden, construction of which began in 1935, is perhaps most famous as a Battle of Britain fighter airfield, partly responsible for the defence of London in 1940. In 1942 it was also home to three RAF 'Eagle Squadrons’ of volunteer American pilots...
| Date | Contributor | Update |
|---|---|---|
| 08 January 2016 15:38:17 | Al_Skiff | Changes to caption and aircraft associations |
| Sources | ||
| Date | Contributor | Update |
| 03 November 2014 16:45:24 | Lucy May | Changes to caption |
| Sources | ||
Added information to the caption as received by Ed Richie's son Mark Richie, VP, Association of the 4th Fighter group WWII http://www.4thfightergroupassociation.org/ |
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| Date | Contributor | Update |
| 08 September 2014 15:29:04 | AAM | AAM ingest |
| Sources | ||
IWM, Roger Freeman Collection |
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