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Assigned to the 368th Fighter Squadron on 16 June 1944, Lt. Cornelius J. Cavanaugh flew 67 combat missions for 272:05 hours. Aircraft included P-51C CV-Y 42-103197 "Sweet Jean Marie". Crew chief: S/Sgt. Herbert Blumberg. Lt. Cavanaugh completed his combat tour of duty with the 359th Fighter Group on 18 January 1945 and returned home to Royal Oak, MI.
On August 8th [1944] this squadron furnished ramrod area support to the 3rd and 4th Force, 3rd Bomb Division. We began patrol of our area at 1250 and broke off when Mohair called in bandits SE of our area. A formation of 25 FW 190s were encountered at 17,000 feet with a top cover of 30 FW 190s at 25,000 feet. These E/A were engaged resulting in claims of one FW 190 destroyed, one FW 190 probably destroyed and two FW 190s damaged by Lt’s John S. Keesey and one FW 190 damaged by Lt. Cornelius J. Cavanaugh. Lt. John C. Allen and Lt. Willis J. Cherry failed to return from this mission. Lt. Allen was last seen in the vicinity of Dreux and Lt. Cherry was last seen in the vicinity of Poix. In a strafing attack on ground targets, two trucks were damaged by Lt’s Hatter, Britton, Barth and Boyd. ~ Excerpt from the August 1944 368th Fighter Squadron History.
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...
Squadron
Distinguished Unit Citation: Germany, 11 September 1944.
Military | First Lieutenant | Fighter pilot
Assigned to 368FS, 359FG, 8AF USAAF. 67 x missions, 272+ hours, Credited 1 x damaged Fw190. Baled Out of P-51D 44-13598 due to engine failure Earls Colne, Colchester 1-Aug-44. RTD.
Awards: WWII Victory, EAME, Korean and UN medals.
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...
| Date | Contributor | Update |
|---|---|---|
| 03 June 2019 16:25:04 | Janet Fogg | Created entry with collection, caption, unit associations, person associations and place associations |
| Sources | ||
Photo courtesy Anthony Chardella. |
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