80th Pursuit Group (Interceptor)
The 80th Pursuit Group (Interceptor) ( German 80th Jagdgruppe (interceptor) ) was part of the 80th Flying Training Wing of the United States Army Air Forces . It was assembled on January 13, 1942, and put into service the following month. In May of that year it was renamed the 80th Fighter Group .
After the Japanese incursion into Burma during World War II, the Kampfgruppe was the first Allied unit to be stationed in Burma again. During the two years that she was employed there, the nickname “Burma Banshees” became common . Their main task was to provide air support for Allied operations, such as escorting the transport flights to Yunnan in western China (→ The Hump ), protecting supply routes for the construction of the Ledo Strait and attacks against Japanese blockades with the far-reaching aim of targeting the Japanese from northern Burma to evict. Ground forces supported by them were the Chindits and Merrill's Marauders . Due to these main areas of application, the group adopted the motto “Angels on our Wings” .
The hunting party was divided into three squadrons. The 88th , 89th, and 90th Fighter Training Squadron . After being put together, they first trained with P-47 Thunderbolts and P-40 Warhawks at Farmingdale and Mitchel Field in New York . Initially their intended area of operation was the European theater of war , but then the group was moved to Karachi in India . It was stationed in the Assam Valley in mid-1943 . From there they flew the first escort flights over the Himalayas with the transport machines of the 10th Air Force and later the Air Transport Command (ATC).
In October 1943 a fourth squadron was formed, the 459th Fighter Squadron , also called "Twin Dragons" . It was equipped with P-38H Lightnings and stationed in the Chittagong area near Calcutta . Their main area of application was southern Burma. After their machines had been equipped with larger, detachable auxiliary tanks and thus had a greater range, the 459th Fighter Squadron flew air support from March 5, 1944 for Operation Thursday carried out by the Chindits .
From October 1944, the 80th Fighter Group's operations in Northern Burma concentrated on destroying the Burma Railway routes . A squadron could finally be relocated to Shingbwiyang at the beginning of 1944 and was thus in the immediate vicinity of Ledo Street, which was under construction. The squadron flew many sorties against advancing Japanese forces and was instrumental in the capture of Myitkyina . Napalm bombs were also used , some of them very close to the company's own lines.
On March 27, 1944, there was a large-scale Japanese air raid on an oil refinery near Ledo in Assam, in which the 80th Fighter Group was deployed as a defender and was able to successfully repel the attack. They shot down 18 enemy machines without losing their own.
After the capture of Myitkyina and the nearby airfield on May 17, 1944, parts of the 80th Fighter Group moved to this location. During the heavy fighting for Kohima and Imphal , the British troops deployed there requested air support and the 80th Fighter Group successfully thwarted the Japanese advance.
In the further course of the missions in Burma, the pilots of the 80th Fighter Group destroyed more than 200 bridges held by the Japanese and shot down around 80 Japanese planes with their modified P-40s, which were equipped with a 1,000 pound bomb.
The 80th Pursuit Group's mission ended in May 1945.
credentials
- ^ A b Robin Adair: The Burma Banshees - CBI Theater, the Forgotton War, the Silent Generation. pbase.com, accessed June 27, 2010 .
- ^ John Stanaway Concludes the Story of the 459th Fighter Squadron's P-38 Lightning Operations in Burma. cbi-history.com, accessed June 27, 2010 .
- ↑ Carl Molesworth: P-40 Warhawk Aces of the CBI (= Osprey Aircraft of the Aces . No. 35 ). Osprey Publishing (UK), Oxford 2000, ISBN 1-84176-079-X , pp. 58 (English).