475th Fighter Group

HERALDRY

INTRODUCTION

There were two clearly crack P-38 Lightning fighter groups in World War 2, namely the 82nd FG in the Mediterranean and the 475th FG in the Southwest Pacific. Both were credited with more than 500 confirmed aerial victories apiece in a remarkably short period of time, and both were staffed with an impressive cadre of highly trained and motivated pilots who transcended the difficulties inherent in their particular operational conditions to create outstanding combat records by war’s end.

In the case of the 475th FG, the key to making it an elite combat unit was the personality of Maj Gen George Churchill Kenney, Commander-in-Chief of the USAAF’s Fifth Air Force. His dynamic personality and vision for conducting the air war in the Southwest Pacific were responsible for creating a unit that was despised and feared by the Japanese and despised and envied by other USAAF units within V Fighter Command.

The hatred towards the group in Allied ranks came about because Maj Gen Kenney insisted on taking the best personnel from other units, which were in the throes of austere staffing themselves, and creating a cadre of instant fighting elite aviators and groundcrews. Just as Maj Gen Claire Chennault had hastily gathered a group of professional and experienced pilots to become the famed ‘Flying Tigers’ of the American Volunteer Group in China, Kenney brought together a tough body of men who guaranteed that a whirlwind would be hurled against the enemy once they entered combat.

The list of distinguished accomplishments garnered by the 475th FG is impressive, with perhaps the speed at which its pilots scored aerial victories being the most notable of them all. Averaging about 20 victories a month during the 23 months that it was on operations, the 475th was the fastest scoring fighter group in the Pacific, and among the top ten in the USAAF by war’s end. Both of America’s leading aces scored at least some of their victories with the group, and, indeed, the two most successful pilots in the Southwest Pacific claimed all of their kills with the 475th.

Throughout its brief combat history the 475th was feared by the enemy, and envied by fellow fighter units for its pick of crews and new equipment in the Fifth Air Force. Many of the best fighter leaders were transferred in to the group from hard-pressed squadrons, in addition to the allocation of the precious few factory-fresh P-38s that made it to the Southwest Pacific. Other units in turn had to be satisfied with combat-weary Lightnings, or other fighter types that were thoroughly obsolescent by 1944. Rivalries with other P-38 groups ensued, but in the end the record of the 475th justified every sacrifice made on its behalf by V Fighter Command.

John Stanaway

Zanesville, Ohio

October 2006

BE JOYFUL IN BATTLE

If circumstances had taken their normal course, the 475th FG would have been activated in the middle of 1943, equipped with the P-40N Warhawk and left to become an ordinary line unit without being given the chance to write the distinguished military history that it eventually did. As it happened, the combination of a firebrand commanding general (Maj Gen George C Kenney) conferring with an equally resourceful US Army Head-of-General Staff (Gen George C Marshall), along with an unusually talented group of combat pilots and crews, would severely challenge the enemy and write a remarkable page of history in the Southwest Pacific air war.

The 475th was activated by special authority granted to the Fifth Air Force on 14 May 1943, one day before the group was constituted within the auspices of the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF). Maj Gen Kenney had his work cut out when it came to staffing his new fighter unit since he had to find the pilots and groundcrews from within V Fighter Command. In addition to seeking out good people for the unit, he had to locate pilots who could fly ultra-long range escort missions, which would be the norm from then on in the Southwest Pacific. Few aviators had the training or experience to conduct such 300+ mile flights, whilst still defending the bombers against very potent Japanese defences.

There were three essential sources for the first cadre of 475th aircrew. The core of the new unit would come from the already painfully understaffed groups of V Fighter Command. Five or six pilots would have to be sliced from the lean flesh of each of the nine hard-pressed operational squadrons within the command at the time, and Kenney had specified that none of the choices could be sub-par material. The first groans of displeasure were soon heard from harried squadron commanders who were required to part with men that they felt were the lifeblood of their units.

Another avenue explored by Kenney was the relatively dormant Seventh Air Force based in Hawaii. Following its action during the Pearl Harbor attack on 7 December 1941, the 15th FG had been less than fully utilised from an operational standpoint. Kenney had already benefitted from the Seventh Air Force in the late summer of 1942, when he brought in future aces 1Lt Harry Brown, who had claimed a ‘Val’ dive-bomber during the Pearl Harbor attack and scored further kills with the 49th and 475th FGs, and 1Lt Verl Jett, who initially joined the 8th FG and would eventually command the 475th FG’s 431st FS.

A number of pilots transferred directly from the 15th FG to the 475th in July 1943, including 1Lts John Cohn, John Knox and Paul Morriss, who went into the 431st, 1Lts Billy Gresham and Howard Hedrick, who joined the 432nd, and 1Lts Ralph Cleague and Robert Tomberg who were assigned to the 433rd. These pilots were not given any details about their new assignment, but the tacit promise of action appealed to them more than the scant opportunities to fight the enemy in the quiet sector of the middle Pacific.

Ex-15th FG pilot 1Lt Howard Hedrick was amongst the first recruits for the 431st FS, and he is seen here at Amberly Field soon after the arrival of his P-38H-1 (Krane)

Others transferring into the Fifth Air Force were 1Lt Martin Low, who would briefly serve with the 40th FS/35th FG before taking command of the 433rd FS/475th FG, and 1Lt Joe McKeon, who scored a victory in the P-39-equipped 35th FS/8th FG, before becoming an ace with the 433rd.

Despite bringing in these pilots from the combat ‘backwaters’, V Fighter Command primarily relied on the sacrifices made by existing squadrons in-theatre when it came to staffing the 475th FG. The 8th FG’s 39th FS contributed six pilots, in addition to veteran groundcrews and its own commander, Lt Col George Prentice, who was made CO of the 475th on 21 May 1943. The 431st FS was a direct beneficiary of this infusion of talent from the 49th FG, with its first commanding officer being Maj Franklin A Nichols, late of the 7th FS. 1Lts David Allen, Harry Brown, Jack Mankin and Arthur Wenige, who all joined from the 49th at this time, duly made their mark by achieving ace status with the 475th.

Frank Nichols already had four aerial victories to his name following his service with the 7th FS’s piquantly named flight, ‘Nick Nichols’ Nip Nippers’. Nichols was perfectly suited to the spirit of the new 475th FG, and his exuberance and tenacity eventually saw him become a full general in the postwar USAF. His dynamic personality and whirlwind nature served the 431st FS well during its first days in action, and many of the remarkable records set by the 475th in its first actions were largely made possible because of Nichols’ energy at the head of his squadron. Indeed, he was only slightly fatigued when he handed the reins of the unit over to Maj Verl Jett in November 1943.

Equally talented personnel came to the 432nd FS between May and July 1943, with Maj Frank Tompkins, Capt James Ince and 1Lt Noel Lundy being transferred in from the 80th FS/8th FG. Tompkins was the 432nd’s first CO, and Ince served as interim commander for a time too. Future 432nd FS CO 1Lt John Loisel joined from the 36th FS/8th FG at this time too, and he would subsequently rise through the ranks to become the 475th FG’s final wartime commander.

Lt Col George W Prentice was the first CO of the newly-formed 475th FG, having been posted in from the 8th FG’s 39th FS. Although a fearless fighter pilot, Prentice was not a natural when it came to engaging the enemy, so he left leadership of group combat formations to his more capable squadron COs. Prentice’s organisational skills on the ground were second to none, however, and he proved a boon to the group once it arrived in New Guinea in August 1943 (Cooper)

Loisel was a tall and lean officer with a taciturn, but genial, manner. He was, in fact, a signal leader in the orientation and training of pilots into service with the P-38. With brisk aplomb, Loisel was largely responsible for assuring that pilots assigned to the new group were indoctrinated in the efficient operation of the Lockheed fighter, as well as the unusual air discipline needed for aerial combat tactics. His stewardship ensured, for example, that pilots knew how to use the emergency features of the P-38, like single-engine operation and the manual employment of hydraulically-operated functions, as well as the importance of maintaining flight integrity and radio discipline in the combat area.

Naturally, the formation of a new offensive fighter force was heavily wrapped in secrecy, so those selected for the unit were unaware of the specific reason for their transfer. It was theatre policy to weed out pilots who had been involved in more than one aircraft crash, or who had shown undisciplined behaviour in operational conditions. Some of the men selected for the 475th were therefore convinced that they had made some indiscretion which marked them for banishment. Only when large groups of highly qualified pilots and other personnel were gathered at air depots for transportation to Australia did the exciting rumour spread that exceptional crews were being assembled for a special assignment.

Maj Al Schinz, who had seen combat in P-39s and P-400s in New Guinea with the 41st FS/35th FG in 1942-43, became the 475th FG’s first executive officer (Cooper)

One of the mechanics involved was Sgt Carl A King, formerly of the 9th FS, where he had worked on both P-38 and P-40 engines, before he and the others selected from his unit were packed off to Australia on 29 June 1943;

‘We took off from Port Moresby and landed at Seven-Mile aerodrome at about 0815 hrs, and then went to Ward’s aerodrome to get an aeroplane to Townsville, in Queensland. By 1128 hrs we were in the air once again in a C-47 headed out to sea – at Ward’s, we saw four of the new four-engined Douglas C-54 transports. We landed at Garbutt Field, in Townsville, at 1600 hrs, ate and then got a train south at 2200 hrs that same night. We stayed on the train for two days and two nights, and at 0630 hrs on Thursday, 1 July 1943, we pulled into Brisbane. There were trucks there to take us to Amberly Field, and by 0730 hrs we were at our new home, which was cold as hell.’

Sgt King would soon find himself working on one of the 75 brand new P-38Hs assigned to the 475th, which would arrive at Amberly Field in gradual increments over coming weeks.

If the remaining squadrons of the Fifth Air Force had reason to resent the preferential treatment given to the new group, then there would have been justification for open revolt from other USAAF commands had they got wind of the deployment of scarce P-38s to the Pacific. Three groups in the Mediterranean, with two more scheduled to relieve the long range bomber escort shortage in England, had to be content with what they could scrounge from the meagre stocks of available P-38s. The formation and equipping of the 475th had to be kept secret from the USAAF’s overseas commands, as well as the enemy!

At unit level, Sgt King was assigned to ‘B Flight’ in the 431st FS, and he saw his charge for the first time on 8 July 1943. He and his fellow groundcrew immediately began working on the P-38, which gave them ‘holy trouble’ until the 432nd FS borrowed it and reported no trouble.

The latter squadron received its first Lightning – a combat-weary P-38G-5 presumably from a service unit that repaired worn and damaged aircraft and assigned them to different units – which was charged to the care of the squadron’s engineering section on 23 June. By the end of that month the 432nd had taken delivery of an additional six P-38Hs.

The squadron’s personnel strength was also increased with the addition of Capt Danny Roberts as operations officer, Capt Arsenio Fernandez as adjutant and Capt Ronald Malloch as intelligence officer. Roberts had already enjoyed success with the 80th FS, scoring two kills with the P-39 and two with the P-38 before his old unit reluctantly gave him up to the 475th FG. Roberts would go on to attain legendary status with the 432nd FS, claiming three more victories before joining the 433 rd FS as its CO in October 1943. He downed a further seven Japanese fighters with his new unit prior to being killed in a mid-air collision with another P-38H shortly after securing his 14th victory on 9 November 1943.

Things were not quite as felicitous in the formation of the 433rd, however. A perfectly sound line pilot who had little in the way of administrative experience was selected to command the new squadron, newly-promoted Capt Martin Low, formerly of the 40th FS/35th FG, making some immediately unpopular decisions, not the least of which was an unfortunate choice for First Sergeant. The new top enlisted man in the squadron showed an immediate disdain for subordinates, and his treatment of the enlisted grades made him greatly disliked, subsequently causing morale on the line to drop precipitously.

The disfavour extended, justly or unjustly, to the squadron commander himself, who had a reputation as a fairly good combat formation leader, but was forced to take increasingly tougher measures on the ground in order to retain some semblance of control of his unit. One of Low’s most hated orders was the removal of names from the promotion lists unless the individual concerned was shown to be well-deserving.

Veteran pilots from the 433rd generally saw Capt Low in a more kindly light, and the latter eventually went home on rotation in early October 1943 and subsequently saw further combat as CO of the Eighth Air Force’s P-38-equipped 55th FS/20th FG in 1944, during which time he won a Silver Star. The First Sergeant has remained nameless over the decades, enlisted 433rd veterans being reluctant to mention him.

This overhead view of Amberly Field was taken in early July 1943, and it shows the 475th FG’s camp in the background and all six of the group’s P-38Hs in the foreground. A further 69 Lightnings had arrived at the base by month-end (Cooper)

The squadron’s early combat results suffered because of the generally low spirit of the 433rd, but things would dramatically improve once Capt Danny Roberts took charge on 3 October 1943.

TRAINING AND FIRST COMBAT

Although events at Amberly slowly began to evolve into some sort of military order as July 1943 progressed,