John Ranson
Military | Lieutenant Colonel | 79th Service Group
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Wing
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.
Military | Lieutenant Colonel | 79th Service Group
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.
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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...
Command
VIII Fighter Command was established as VIII Interceptor Command at Selfridge Field on 2 February 1942.
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.
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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...
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...
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...
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...
Station | Location | Date |
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Established | 7 June 1942 | |
Based | Bushey Hall | 16 August 1942 |
Based | Atcham | 24 August 1942 – 13 September 1943 |
Disbanded | 13 September 1943 |
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,...
Military | Major | Pilot
Killed on test flight in Spitfire VB AA924 which collided with RAF Mosquito HJ634.
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.
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 .
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.
Military | Flight Officer | Pilot
KNO. With the 6th fighter wing in P47-427953 on a training flight. Crashed at Shropshire.
Military | Flight Officer
Military | Second Lieutenant | Pilot
Killed in P-47#42-7955 on training flight.
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
Military | Flight Officer
Spitfire
Supermarine Spitfire P7965 Mk IIa, Castle Bromwich Aircraft Factory.
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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.
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Master
Miles Master DK963, assigned to 6th Fighter Wing 8th AF USAAF.
Master
Miles Master DL679, assigned to 6th Fighter Wing, 8th AF USAAF. Transferred to 376th Fighter Squadron.
Spitfire
Supermarine Spitfire X4669 Mk Va Const #1647, Built at Eastleigh.
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Spitfire
Supermarine Spitfire P8095 Mk IIa, Built at Castle Bromwich Aircraft Factory.
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P-47 Thunderbolt
Assigned to 335FS, 4FG, 8AF USAAF. Transferred to HQ Sqn 6th Fighter Wing.
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...
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Date | Contributor | Update |
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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 |
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Date | Contributor | Update |
11 May 2017 19:19:50 | tcwoods | Changes to media associations |
Sources | ||
tcwoods |
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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 |