Osprey - Aviation Elite Units 02 - 56th Fighter Group.pdf

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SERIES EDITOR: TONY HOLMES
OSPREY AVIATION
ELITE •
2
56th·Fighter Group
Roger
A
~reeman
I
OSPREY
AVIATION
r-ro
n~
cover
tlr
t
publl
11eo
m
reac
nrmun
m
.woo
oy
usprey l'u'bllsnmg
xford, OX2 9LP
In
late February 1944 a high
pressure
period
gave·
clear
s.kies over much
of
r
Germany, and
allowed
the
USAAF
to
carry out an
intensive
serfos
of
bombing raids against the
Germ~n
]ms: Court, Chapel Way,
Bodey,
©
2000 Osprey Publishing
Limited
All rights
reserved.
Apart &om
any
fuir dealing for the
purpose
of
private
study,
research,
criticism
or
review,
as
permicted
under
the Copyright,
De
ign
and
Patenr.~
Act
1988,
no
pare
of
chis
publicacion
may
be
reproduced,
rared
in
a.
retrieval
sy
tern, or u-an
mjcted
in
any
form or
by
any
means
ele
uonic,
electrical.
chemical.
mechanical,
optical.
photocopying,
re
ording or ocherw.i
e,
wi:rhout
prior
written
permission. All. enquiries
should
be addressed co rhe publisher.
I B
1841760471
aircraft industry. Popularly
1
n·o
w
as
k
'Big
Week'. the strong
enemy
opposition enoountered resulted
in
high
claims for Vllll Fighter
Command
escort
·f
ighters.
For
example~
on the
24th.
when the· bombers went to
Schweinfun, Gotha and other
targets
deep
in
Germany,.
a tout of
60
Luftwaffe
fighters were
credited
as shot down
by
P-47s, P-38s
and
P-51s
-
th·e 56th FG's contribution
wa.s eight. An A group of 38 P-47s
a.nd a B group of 3:4 were despatched
by
the 56th
to
afford
penetration
support
for
the bombers. The A
Group
encountered
Fw
190s near
Kassel, and Maj
James
C Stewart..
Edited
by
Tony Holmes
Page
de.s
·
gn
by
Mark
Holt
Cover
Artwork
by
Jim Lauder
Aircraft:
Pcofiles
by
Cbri
Davey
leading the 61st FS formation a.s
the
unit's
CO,
downed one and clai.. ed
another
as a probable.
Origination
by
Gra.smc:re DigicaJ Imaging,
Leeds,
UK
Prin ed through ookbuilder, Hong Kong
Based on
t'he
experiences of
Stewart
durlng
this
sortie,
Jim
laurier•s
spec~ally-co
mmissioned
cover
artwork shows
the
auxUiary
fuel
tank of a fodce-Wulf fighter
exploding
after being
hit
by
the
major's
fire.
At this time the three
squadrons
that made up the 56th FG
-
tihe 61
st,
62nd and 63rd
-
carl'ied
red,
yeHow and blue
nose
recognition
bands,
respectively. on
their
Thunderbo~ts.
A
blue-nosed
1
00 01 02 03 04
EDITORS
OTE
10 9 8
7
6
5
4 3 2 l
To make thi ne\v series as
aurhoricadve
as
possible,
chc
Edim.r
would
be
intere ted in
heari ng
from any individual who
may
have
rdevam
phorogrnphs,
63rd FS aircraft is the other P-470
depicted
i•
this
wintry
scene.
n
Jim Stewart was an
original
combat
member
·o
f tlhe 61st FS. and
was
'c
redited with
a
total
·Of
10.5
aerial victories,
one probable
and
three damaged.
From
a flight leader,
documentation or
first-hand
expedences
relating to aj
rcrew
,
and
their
aj
rcraft,
of the various thea
tre:.s of
war.
Any
material
u
ed
w
j
L1 be
credited
to
it
original
source.
Please
write
to
Tony
Holmes at
10
Prospect
Road,
evenoaks, Kent,
TN
13 3UA,
Great
Britain,
or
by
e-mail
at
cony
.holrnes@o
prey-jecs.
free.serve
.co.
uk
he rose
to
command the
squadron
from
13
January
to 13. A,pril 1944,
when
h·e
completed
his
operational
tour and was transfer1red to VIII
Fighter Command HQ
Back
cover
The &1st FS's 2U Steve Gerick poses
with his
crew cMef,
Sgt Paul
Blanford, on
'their'
P-470
Thunderbolt,
42-2602.4/HV-O. Tihis
photograph was almo$l
certainly
1aken
near
the end
0
f
Gerick's
tour
with
the
56th FG (he transferred out
1
1
For derails of
all
Osprey Publishing
rides
please
coruact
us
ar:
Osprey Direct
m<,
P
.0.
Box 14<» W
ellin.gborough~
E~
mail:
in.fo@ospreydirect.co.uk
onbants
84ZA,
K
USA
on 27June1944). for
it
shows
ten
k
ms painted
beneath lhe
cockpit
of
the aircraft. The pilot's final
tally
was
five
aerial
kms,
nine damaged and
two destroyed on
the
grot.1nd
Osprey Direct
USA,
P.O.
Box
130,
S·rerUng Heights,
MI
E-ma
i
I:
info@ospn:ydirectu.sa.com
Or
vbit
our website:
www.osprcypublis.hing.com
48311~0130,
CONTENTS
CHAPTER ONE
FORMATION AND 'TRAINING 6
CHAPTER TWO
KING'S CLIFFE AND HORSHAM 10
CHAPTER
THREE
HALESWORTH 24
CHAPTER.
FOUR
THE
'WOLFPACK'
48
CHAPTER
FIVE
BOXTED AND D-DAY 58
CHAPTER
SIX
MARKET
AND THE 'BULGE' 98
CHAPTER SEVEN
P-47Ms,AND LUFTWAFFE JEJS, 101
CHAPTER
EIGHT
FINAL DAYS IN ENGLAND 116
APPENDICE. 121
S
COLO UR PLATES COMM
EN TA
RY 121
UNIT HERALDRY 127
INDEX 128

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