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6th Fighter Wing

Wing

  • 2nd Lt John Woods [O-795010] 551st FTS, 495FTG, 8th AF, killed in flying accident [KIFA, DNB] when Spitfire AD564 stalled and nosed in at Atcham/Sta 342, England. 26-5-43. Pictured here, possibly at Napier Field, Dothan, AL, USA, where he was awarded his wings and commissioned Dec 42.

    2nd Lt John Woods [O-795010] 551st FTS, 495FTG, 8th AF, killed in flying accident [KIFA, DNB] when Spitfire AD564 stalled and nosed in at Atcham/Sta 342, England. 26-5-43. Pictured here, possibly at Napier Field, Dothan, AL, USA, where he was awarded his wings and commissioned Dec 42.

    Show caption About this image
  • 2nd Lt John Woods [O-795010] 551st FTS, 495FTG, 8th AF, killed in flying accident [KIFA, DNB] when Spitfire AD564 stalled and nosed in at Atcham/Sta 342, England. 26-5-43. Pictured here, possibly at Napier Field, Dothan, AL, USA, where he was awarded his wings and commissioned Dec 42.

    2nd Lt John Woods [O-795010] 551st FTS, 495FTG, 8th AF, killed in flying accident [KIFA, DNB] when Spitfire AD564 stalled and nosed in at Atcham/Sta 342, England. 26-5-43. Pictured here, possibly at Napier Field, Dothan, AL, USA, where he was awarded his wings and commissioned Dec 42.

    Show caption About this image
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US Air Force Combat Units of World War II Description

Constituted as 6th Pursuit Wing on 19 Oct 1940. Activated on 18 Dec 1940. Inactivated on 7 Dec 1941. Redesignated 6th Fighter Wing. Activated on 7 Jun 1942. No combat groups were assigned. Moved to England in Aug 1942 for duty with Eighth AF. Trained replacement pilots for fighter organizations. Disbanded in England in 13 Sep 1943.

Commanding officers

  • John Ranson

    Military | Lieutenant Colonel | 79th Service Group

  • Ross Hoyt

    Military | Brigadier General | Commanding Officer
    Hoyt was an experienced flier who had served as a command pilot, combat observer, balloon observer and technical server during the First World War, and prior to the Secodn World War. ...

Structure

Part of
  • Headquarters (8th Air Force)

    Headquarters (8th Air Force)


    8th Air Force Headquarters opened in London under the command of General Carl A Spaatz on 19 June 1942. It oversaw all Commands, Wings and Groups engaged in the Strategic Bombing Campaign until February 1944, when it became US Strategic Air Forces in...

  • VIII Fighter Command

    VIII Fighter Command

    Command
    VIII Fighter Command was established as VIII Interceptor Command at Selfridge Field on 2 February 1942.

Encompassing
  • 14th Fighter Group

    14th Fighter Group

    Group
    The 14th Fighter Group (USAAF) was a P-38 Lightning Group that fought in Tunisia and the Italian campaign, as well as providing bomber escorts for attacks across southern Europe. ...

  • 1st Fighter Group

    1st Fighter Group

    Group
    The 1st Fighter Group were initially deployed to Britain in the summer of 1942 as part of Operation Bolero. After shuttling through a number of different bases in the UK, the Group was reassigned to the Twelfth Air Force in September 1942 and supported...

  • 31st Fighter Group

    31st Fighter Group

    Group
    The 31st Fighter Group only flew missions from England between June and September 1942 but during this period they supported the Dieppe raid, the assault on occupied Europe, predominantly by the Canadian army. The attack was forced into early retreat...

  • 495th Fighter Training Group

    495th Fighter Training Group

    Group
    The 495th Fighter Training Group, which operated in England from December 1943, trained P-47 Thunderbolt pilots. These pilots, who had received the basic training in the USA would be assigned to a training group to practise ETO operational procedures...

  • 52nd Fighter Group

    52nd Fighter Group

    Group
    Two of the Squadrons of the 52nd Fighter Group flew Spitfires with RAF Fighter Command in August and early September 1942 from northern Ireland. After these preparatory missions, the Group joined the Twelfth and then Fifteenth Air Force in the...

Previously was
Not yet known
Became
Not yet known

Stations

Station Location Date
Established 7 June 1942
Based Bushey Hall 16 August 1942
Based Atcham 24 August 1942 – 13 September 1943
Disbanded 13 September 1943

Connections

People

  • Richard Altschuler

    Military | First Lieutenant | Fighter Pilot | 56th Fighter Group
    Assigned to 62FS, 56FG, 8AF USAAF. Transferred to 6th Fighter Wing. Transferred to 61FS, 56FG 8AF USAAF. August 31, 1943 on a routine training flight in P-47 42-7917, vibration in the engine grew for an hour until the engine tore loose. Bailed out,...

  • Henry Asselin

    Military | Major | Pilot
    Killed on test flight in Spitfire VB AA924 which collided with RAF Mosquito HJ634.

  • Andrew Barba

    Military | First Lieutenant | Fighter Pilot | 495th Fighter Training Group
    Assigned to 84FS, 78FG, 8AF USAAF. Transferred to 6th Fighter Wing. Transferred to 84FS, 78FG, 8AF USAAF. Transferred to 495FTG. EOW. Awards: WWII Victory, EAME.

  • William Brite

    Military | Second Lieutenant | Pilot
    Joined RAFVR, service pilot training in US, shipped overseas to ETO, operational training at OTU, assigned to 71[Eagle] Sqn RAF, transferred to 334FS 4FG 8AF USAAF, Transferred to 6th Fighter Wing 12-42 Fighter instructor, 27 APR 43 MIA/ FOD .

  • Shelby Buck

    Military | Flight Officer | Pilot
    Killed on a high altitude flight in P47 42-7964, a vertical dive at 35,000 resulted in plane breaking up in air.

  • Robert Eble

    Military | Flight Officer | Pilot
    KNO. With the 6th fighter wing in P47-427953 on a training flight. Crashed at Shropshire.

  • Harry Engman

    Military | Flight Officer

  • Arvil Foster

    Military | Second Lieutenant | Pilot
    Killed in P-47#42-7955 on training flight.

  • Morris Howitz

    Military | Second Lieutenant | Pilot
    Killed on a high altitude flight in P47 42-7932, a vertical dive at 35,000 resulted in plane breaking up in air. KNO

  • Franklin Hupe

    Military | Flight Officer

Show more

Aircraft

  • P7965

    Spitfire
    Supermarine Spitfire P7965 Mk IIa, Castle Bromwich Aircraft Factory. ...

  • V9741

    Lysander
    Westland Lysander V9741, assigned to 2025th Gunnery Flight, 6th Fighter Wing, 8AF USAAF. Ditched Engine Failure, crashed 15M SW Barmouth, Wales. 27-Mar-43. ...

  • DK963

    Master
    Miles Master DK963, assigned to 6th Fighter Wing 8th AF USAAF.

  • DL679

    Master
    Miles Master DL679, assigned to 6th Fighter Wing, 8th AF USAAF. Transferred to 376th Fighter Squadron.

  • X4669 'Kaffraria II'

    Spitfire
    Supermarine Spitfire X4669 Mk Va Const #1647, Built at Eastleigh. ...

  • P8095 'Halifax II'

    Spitfire
    Supermarine Spitfire P8095 Mk IIa, Built at Castle Bromwich Aircraft Factory. ...

  • 41-6356

    P-47 Thunderbolt
    Assigned to 335FS, 4FG, 8AF USAAF. Transferred to HQ Sqn 6th Fighter Wing.

  • 41-6620 'Powers Girl'

    P-47 Thunderbolt
    Assigned to 61st Fighter Squadron, 56th Fighter Group, 8AF USAAF. Transferred to 1 Gunnery Target Flight, 6th Fighter Wing 8AF. Transferred to 552FTS, 495FTG, 8AF USAAF. Killed in crash due to explosion Gerwyn Farm, Eynton Cat 5 damage, pilot Lt James...

Citations

None

Air Force
8th
Type
Combat
Type category
Fighter
Nicknames
Not yet known
Motto
N/A
Insignia
N/A

Revisions

Date Contributor Update
05 September 2019 10:01:44 Emily Changes to motto, insignia, us air force combat units of world war ii description, commanding officers associations and stations
Sources

Air Force Combat Units of World War II
Date Contributor Update
11 May 2017 19:19:50 tcwoods Changes to media associations
Sources

tcwoods
Date Contributor Update
27 September 2014 18:42:44 AAM AAM ingest
Sources

Drawn from the records of the National Museum of the Mighty Eighth Air Force, Savannah, Georgia

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