348th Fighter Group
Encyclopedia
The 348th Fighter Group is an inactive unit of the United States Air Force
. Its last assignment was with V Fighter Command
, stationed at Itami Air Base, Japan. It was inactivated on 10 May 1946.
During World War II
, the group operated primarily in the Southwest Pacific Theater. It was the most successful P-47 Thunderbolt
unit in the Pacific War. The Group's commander, Colonel Neel Kearby ran up 20+ kills including a 6 kills-in-1-mission for which he was awarded the Medal of Honor
. The Group scored 396 kills, over half of all the kills credited to Fifth Air Force
P-47s, and won two United States Distinguished Unit Citations. The Group had 20 P-47 aces including Bob Rowland, Lawrence O'Neill, Bill Banks, Bill Dunham, Walt Benz, Sam Blair and George Davis
, who would later be awarded the Medal of Honor flying F-86s during the Korean War.
On 24 May 1946, the group was redesignated as the 108th Fighter Group and allocated to the New Jersey Air National Guard
. The 348th was one of the first USAAF groups to be equipped with the P-47.
After an extended period of training in the northeast United States, the personnel boarded the Army transport ship Henry Gibbons
and left the wharf at Weehawken
, New Jersey on 15 May 1943. They groups personnel all thought they were heading for the European theatre of war
. However, they went through the Panama Canal
instead and crossed the Pacific Ocean reaching Brisbane
, Australia on 14 June 1943. They moved to Archer Field (Archerfield airfield) and waited for their aircraft to arrive.
The group's P-47D Thunderbolts began to arrive in Brisbane in the same month, and by the end of July after they had "run in" their engines on local training flights, the group began long-range missions to strike at Japanese targets in New Guinea
. In mid-June the 348th's three squadrons (340th, 341st, 342d) made the 1,200-mile flight from Brisbane to Port Moresby
, New Guinea. The group operated from New Guinea and Noemfoor
until November 1944, flying patrol and reconnaissance missions and escorted bombers to targets in New Guinea and New Britain
. The 460th Fighter Squadron, stationed at Noemfoor, New Guinea, was also later attached to the 348th Fighter Group on 23 September 1944 .
The arrival of the 348th as the first P-47 group in the Southwest Pacific area
coincided with the opening of the Allied offensive in New Guinea. During the summer of 1943 the P-47 missions were chiefly as cover for bombers in the Lae-Salamaua area, and for transports carrying supplies to the new mountain locked airstrip at Tsili, only a few miles from the Japanese held Markham Valley. The group met its first air combat over Tsili on 16 August 1943, when two squadrons tangled with the fighter cover of an enemy bomber formation, and shot down three aircraft.
In September the 348th's planes provided cover for the paratroop landing at Nadzab in the Markham valley, and with the capture of Nadzab and Lae
the group entered into one of the most spectacular phases of its overseas career, in a series of fighter sweeps, generally by flights of four planes, over the Japanese stronghold of Wewak
.
Lieutenant Colonel Neel Kearby
, the Commanding Officer of the 348th Fighter Group shot down his first Japanese aircraft on 4 September 1943. He shot down a second aircraft on the 15 September 1943. Colonel Kearby was awarded the Medal of Honor
for action over New Guinea on 11 October 1943. After leading a flight of four fighters to reconnoiter the enemy base at Wewak
, Lt Col Kearby sighted a Japanese bomber formation escorted by more than 30 fighters. Despite the heavy odds and a low fuel supply, and although his mission had been accomplished, Kearby ordered an attack, personally destroying six of the enemy planes. For covering Allied landings and supporting ground forces on New Britain, 16–31 December 1943, the group was awarded a Distinguished Unit Citation.
, and Halmahera
to aid in neutralizing those areas preparatory to the US invasion of the Philippines
. The group's pilots shot down 100 Japanese planes without the loss of a single pilot in aerial combat. From Finchhaven the group flew its first fighter-bomber missions. In the early spring of 1944, while the group was at Saidor, fighter-bomber work began in earnest with attacks on the Japanese concentrations in the Hansa Bay
region just ahead of the advancing Australian troops
After 18 months in New Guinea the 348th boarded ship and plane for the Philippines. One squadron, the 460th, arrived several weeks before the other three, and proceeded to roll up an imposing score of enemy planes, shipping, and personnel destroyed, providing cover for convoys, flying patrols, escorted bombers, attacked enemy airfields, and supporting ground forces. During a three week period it sank 50,000 tons of enemy shipping, which was slightly more than one-tenth of all the shipping sunk by the entire Fifth Air Force
during the year 1944. On one mission seven planes of the 460th squadron wiped out a convoy loaded with an estimated 10,000 enemy troops en route to reinforce the Japanese army on Leyte
. The squadron's planes were the first of the Army Air Force to fly over occupied Manila
after the Japanese capture of the Philippines. A flight led by Colonel Dunham, made the first return flight on 17 November 1944.
The group's greatest day, in point of total of enemy planes destroyed, was 14 December 1944 when, in protection of the invasion fleet heading to Mindoro
, 5 Japanese planes were shot down, an estimated 75 were destroyed and 20 more damaged, on the airfields of Negros Island only a few minutes flight from the Allied invasion force, which landed on Mindoro the following morning.
In aerial combat at the 348th's best day came on 24 December 1944 when its planes escorting B-24 Liberator
heavy bombers in one of the first bomber strikes on Clark Field
, met an attempted interception by an estimated 100 Japanese fighters. 32 of the enemy aircraft were definitely destroyed, 7 probably destroyed, the remainder were driven off, and the bombers proceeded undamaged to carry out their mission.
Early in December 1944, while the group's planes were operating from Taoloban strip, the majority of group personnel were camped inland near Burauen when the Japanese landed several hundred paratroops on a uncompleted airstrip less than a quarter of a mile from the group's camp, cutting the only road leading from the camp. For several days the camp was isolated between the paratroops on the East and the Japanese patrols on the West. Two men on guard post were surprised and killed by an enemy patrol, but the camp defense's prevented any breakthrough and the paratroops were finally wiped out by infantry and tanks.
When U.S. troops landed on Luzon
the 348th, now in process of conversion from P-47's to P-51 Mustang
s, began operation from San Marcelino airstrip a few days after the landing at San Marcelino and Subic Bay
. From this location the unit entered upon what many of its members consider its most outstanding work of the war, bombing and strafing in close support of ground troops. This work lacks the excitement and glamor of serial combat, or even of bombing and strafing of seen targets. Bombs and bullets are poured into areas where the enemy is reported to be, and day after day the mission reports stated "Results unobserved due to foliage". Only rarely were advancing ground troops able to tell what part of the damage found was done by a particular air strike.
so that the Japanese, retreating southward from Lingayen
, could not use the Bataan Peninsula's defensive strength as did the U.S. forces in 1942. However, a few miles East of Olongapo stubborn Japanese resistance suddenly had been met in Zigzag Pass, where the road climbed in a series of hairpin turns overlooked by the enemy's positions. Our ground forces had suffered some casualties, had dug in, and in four days had been unable to make any appreciable gain.
On Leyte the 348th had done experimental bombing with a new and highly effective firebomb
weapon, and it was proposed that it be used to break the deadlock in Zigzag Pass. However the infantry division occupying the west end of the pass was uncertain about the use of the bomb in close support of their troops, for fear of inaccurate bombing. So a Japanese supply area, well back of their front line, was bombed as a demonstration of accuracy, and was left neatly blanked with flame. There was no further lack of confidence. American infantry proceeded to direct our pilots to bomb and strafe just ahead of their front line, and for seven days advanced steadily until their mission of scaling off the Bataan Peninsula
had been accomplished.
Occasionally the curtain of "unobserved results" would lift. One strike, directed by Filipino guerillas who set off smoke pots to mark tan enemy bivouac area, was later found to have caused 700 Japanese casualties.
After another strike west of Fort Stotsenburg
, ground troops were able to move in quickly and found 574 Japanese, all killed by the single air attack. Neigher of those missions involved more than 32 sorties and 30 missions a day. It would be impossible to estimate how many other thousands of enemy dead were covered with the phrase "results unobserved".
During the month of April 1945 the 348th net a record for tonnage of bombs dropped on the enemy, with a total of 2091.5 tons. Total ammunition expended was just under two million rounds. So far as is known, this bomb tonnage is the greatest every dropped in one month by any group, either fighter or bomber, and the accuracy of the bombing attested repeatedly by reports from ground observers. Most of the record tonnage was dropped in the Ipo Dam area northeast of Manila
, and helped pave the way for the infantry's capture of that vital control-point of Manila's water supply. From San Marcelino the 348th also flew missions over French Indochina
, Hainan, China, and Formosa
.
In May 1945 the group moved to Floridablanca airfield, west of Fort Stotsenburg, and from there continued attacks on Japanese ground troops, chiefly in the Cagayan Valley in northern Luzon. By the middle of June the enemy forces had disintegrated and scattered so that profitable targets were hard to find, So operations of the 348th were redirected to the Ryukyus, and the group began operations from Ie Shima in mid-July.
Contrary to expectations the Japanese air forces did not choose to fight, and in the following month only 15 enemy planes were shot down without loss to the 348th in air combat. However there was an abundance of ground and shipping targets in Kyūshū
and North China, and the group's P-51's took a constant toll of enemy transportation on water and land before the afternoon of 14 August when the planes of the 348th delivered the last bombs dropped on Japan before the order was given to "cease firing".
The 348th Fighter Group was inactivated at Itami Airfield on 10 May 1946.
United States Air Force
The United States Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the American uniformed services. Initially part of the United States Army, the USAF was formed as a separate branch of the military on September 18, 1947 under the National Security Act of...
. Its last assignment was with V Fighter Command
V Fighter Command
The V Fighter Command is an inactive United States Air Force unit. It was last assigned to Fifth Air Force, based at Fukuoka AB, Japan. It was inactivated on 31 May 1946....
, stationed at Itami Air Base, Japan. It was inactivated on 10 May 1946.
During World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, the group operated primarily in the Southwest Pacific Theater. It was the most successful P-47 Thunderbolt
P-47 Thunderbolt
Republic Aviation's P-47 Thunderbolt, also known as the "Jug", was the largest, heaviest, and most expensive fighter aircraft in history to be powered by a single reciprocating engine. It was heavily armed with eight .50-caliber machine guns, four per wing. When fully loaded, the P-47 weighed up to...
unit in the Pacific War. The Group's commander, Colonel Neel Kearby ran up 20+ kills including a 6 kills-in-1-mission for which he was awarded the Medal of Honor
Medal of Honor
The Medal of Honor is the highest military decoration awarded by the United States government. It is bestowed by the President, in the name of Congress, upon members of the United States Armed Forces who distinguish themselves through "conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his or her...
. The Group scored 396 kills, over half of all the kills credited to Fifth Air Force
Fifth Air Force
The Fifth Air Force is a numbered air force of the United States Air Force Pacific Air Forces . It is headquartered at Yokota Air Base, Japan....
P-47s, and won two United States Distinguished Unit Citations. The Group had 20 P-47 aces including Bob Rowland, Lawrence O'Neill, Bill Banks, Bill Dunham, Walt Benz, Sam Blair and George Davis
George Andrew Davis, Jr.
George Andrew Davis, Jr. was a highly decorated flying ace of the United States Army in World War II, and later of the United States Air Force during the Korean War. Davis rose to the rank of lieutenant colonel and was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor for his actions in "MiG Alley" during...
, who would later be awarded the Medal of Honor flying F-86s during the Korean War.
On 24 May 1946, the group was redesignated as the 108th Fighter Group and allocated to the New Jersey Air National Guard
New Jersey Air National Guard
The New Jersey Air National Guard consists of almost 2300 Guardsmen from New Jersey.The New Jersey Air National Guard is governed through the New Jersey Department of Military and Veterans Affairs....
Lineage
- Constituted as 348th Fighter Group on 24 Sep 1942
- Activated on 30 Sep 1942
- Inactivated on 10 May 1946.
- Redesignated 108th Fighter Group. Allotted to ANG (NJ) on 24 May 1946
Assignments
- I Fighter CommandI Fighter CommandThe I Fighter Command is an inactive United States Air Force unit. Its last assignment was with the First Air Force, based at Mitchel Army Airfield, New York...
, 30 Sep 1942
- Attached to New York Fighter WingNew York Fighter WingThe New York Fighter Wing is an inactive United States Air Force unit. Its last assignment was with the I Fighter Command, stationed at Mitchel Field, New York It was inactivated on 10 April 1944....
, 30 Sep-29 Oct 1942 - Attached to Boston Fighter Wing, 30 Sep-9 May 1943
- V Fighter CommandV Fighter CommandThe V Fighter Command is an inactive United States Air Force unit. It was last assigned to Fifth Air Force, based at Fukuoka AB, Japan. It was inactivated on 31 May 1946....
, 23 Jun 1943 – 10 May 1946
- V Fighter Command
- Attached to: First Air Task Force: c. 14 Aug 1943-c. 31 Jan 1944
- Attached to: 310th Bombardment Wing310th Air DivisionThe 310th Air Division is an inactive United States Air Force organization. Its last assignment was with Continental Air Command, assigned to Twelfth Air Force, being stationed at Tinker AFB, Oklahoma...
: 1 May- 25 Aug 1944 - Attached to: 309th Bombardment Wing309th Air DivisionThe 309th Air Division is an inactive United States Air Force organization. Its last assignment was with Continental Air Command, assigned to Twelfth Air Force, being stationed at Hensley AFB, Texas. It was inactivated on 27 June 1949....
: 25 Aug-7 Nov 1944 - Attached to: 85th Fighter Wing: 7 Nov 1944 – 8 Feb 1945
- Attached to: 309th Bombardment Wing309th Air DivisionThe 309th Air Division is an inactive United States Air Force organization. Its last assignment was with Continental Air Command, assigned to Twelfth Air Force, being stationed at Hensley AFB, Texas. It was inactivated on 27 June 1949....
: 8 Feb-25 Sep 1945 - Attached to: 310th Bombardment Wing310th Air DivisionThe 310th Air Division is an inactive United States Air Force organization. Its last assignment was with Continental Air Command, assigned to Twelfth Air Force, being stationed at Tinker AFB, Oklahoma...
: 25 Sep 1945 – 25 Mar 1946
Components
- 340th Fighter Squadron: 30 Sep 1942 – 10 May 1946.
- 341st Fighter Squadron: 30 Sep 1942 – 10 May 1946.
- 342d Fighter Squadron: 30 Sep 1942 – 10 May 1946.
- 460th Fighter Squadron: 30 Sep 1942 – 10 May 1946.
Stations
- Mitchel Field, New York, 30 Sep 1942
- Bradley FieldBradley International AirportBradley International Airport is a joint civil-military public airport located in Windsor Locks on the border with East Granby and Suffield, in Hartford County, Connecticut, United States. It is owned by the State of Connecticut....
, ConnecticutConnecticutConnecticut is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, and the state of New York to the west and the south .Connecticut is named for the Connecticut River, the major U.S. river that approximately...
, 4 Oct 1942 - Westover Field, MassachusettsMassachusettsThe Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2010...
, 29 Oct 1942 - Providence AirportT. F. Green AirportT. F. Green Airport , also known as Theodore Francis Green State Airport, is a public airport located in Warwick, six miles south of Providence, in Kent County, Rhode Island, USA. Dedicated in 1931, the airport was named for former Rhode Island governor and longtime senator Theodore F. Green...
, Rhode IslandRhode IslandThe state of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, more commonly referred to as Rhode Island , is a state in the New England region of the United States. It is the smallest U.S. state by area...
, c. 3 Jan 1943 - Westover Field, MassachusettsMassachusettsThe Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2010...
, 28 Apr-9 May 1943 - Jackson Airfield (7 Mile Drome)Jacksons International AirportJacksons International Airport , also known as Port Moresby Airport, is located 5 miles outside Port Moresby, in Papua New Guinea...
, Port MoresbyPort MoresbyPort Moresby , or Pot Mosbi in Tok Pisin, is the capital and largest city of Papua New Guinea . It is located on the shores of the Gulf of Papua, on the southeastern coast of the island of New Guinea, which made it a prime objective for conquest by the Imperial Japanese forces during 1942–43...
, New GuineaNew GuineaNew Guinea is the world's second largest island, after Greenland, covering a land area of 786,000 km2. Located in the southwest Pacific Ocean, it lies geographically to the east of the Malay Archipelago, with which it is sometimes included as part of a greater Indo-Australian Archipelago...
, 23 Jun 1943 - Finschhafen AirfieldFinschhafen AirportFinschhafen Airport is a general aviation airport in Morobe Province, Papua New Guinea. . It is located on the south-east tip of Huon Peninsula at Finschafen. A half mile inland, parallel to Schneider Harbor, with Dregerhaffen to the south-east...
, New GuineaNew GuineaNew Guinea is the world's second largest island, after Greenland, covering a land area of 786,000 km2. Located in the southwest Pacific Ocean, it lies geographically to the east of the Malay Archipelago, with which it is sometimes included as part of a greater Indo-Australian Archipelago...
, 16 Dec 1943 - Saidor AirfieldSaidor AirportSaidor Airport is an airport in Madang Province, Papua New Guinea. . It is a general aviation airport located at the coast near Saidor, near Saul Point with Dekys Bay to the east and the Bismarck Sea to the north.-History:...
, New GuineaNew GuineaNew Guinea is the world's second largest island, after Greenland, covering a land area of 786,000 km2. Located in the southwest Pacific Ocean, it lies geographically to the east of the Malay Archipelago, with which it is sometimes included as part of a greater Indo-Australian Archipelago...
, 29 Mar 1944
- Wakde AirfieldWakde AirfieldWakde Airfield is a World War II airfield located on Located on Wakde Island, off the northern coast of New Guinea in West Papua Province, Indonesia. The airfield was abandoned after the war and today is almost totally returned to its natural state.-History:...
, WakdeWakdeWakde is an island of Indonesia, part of the province of West Papua, between the districts of Pantai Timur and Tor Atas.Occupied by Japanese forces in April 1942, Wakde served as an airbase...
, Netherlands East Indies,22 May 1944 - Kornasoren AirfieldKornasoren AirportKornasoren Airport is a civil airport in Noemfoor, Schouten Islands, Indonesia. . Currently, there is no commercial air service.-History:...
NoemfoorNoemfoorNumfor is one of the Biak Islands in Papua province, Indonesia. It was the site of conflict between Japanese and the Allied forces during World War II, and was major airbase for both sides.-Geography:The island is situated just north of the large Cenderawasih Bay...
, Schouten IslandsSchouten IslandsThe Indonesian Schouten Islands are an island group of Papua province, eastern Indonesia in the Cenderawasih Bay 50 km off the north-western coast of the island of New Guinea...
, New GuineaNew GuineaNew Guinea is the world's second largest island, after Greenland, covering a land area of 786,000 km2. Located in the southwest Pacific Ocean, it lies geographically to the east of the Malay Archipelago, with which it is sometimes included as part of a greater Indo-Australian Archipelago...
, 26 Aug 1944 - Tacloban AirfieldDaniel Z. Romualdez Airport-Facilities:Daniel Z. Romualdez Airport's facilities include a single-storey terminal building, a communications tower and administrative building. Small cafes surround outside the terminal across the parking area.* Terminal...
, LeyteLeyteLeyte is a province of the Philippines located in the Eastern Visayas region. Its capital is Tacloban City and occupies the northern three-quarters of the Leyte Island. Leyte is located west of Samar Island, north of Southern Leyte and south of Biliran...
, Philippines, 16 Nov 1944 - Tanauan AirfieldTanauan AirfieldTanauan Airfield is a World War II airfield located near Tanauan in the province of Leyte, Philippines. It was closed after the war.-History:The airfield was built by the Americans shortly after landing on Leyte in November 1944...
, LeyteLeyteLeyte is a province of the Philippines located in the Eastern Visayas region. Its capital is Tacloban City and occupies the northern three-quarters of the Leyte Island. Leyte is located west of Samar Island, north of Southern Leyte and south of Biliran...
, Philippines, 4 Feb 1945 - Floridablanca Airfield (Basa Air Base)Basa Air BaseBasa Air Base , is a Philippine Air Force base located at Floridablanca, Pampanga in the Philippines....
, LuzonLuzonLuzon is the largest island in the Philippines. It is located in the northernmost region of the archipelago, and is also the name for one of the three primary island groups in the country centered on the Island of Luzon...
, Philippines, 15 May 1945 - Ie Shima AirfieldIe Shima Airfieldis a gunnery and training facility, managed by the United States Marine Corps and a former World War II airfield complex on Ie Shima, an island located off the northwest coast of Okinawa Island in the East China Sea...
, Okinawa, 9 Jul 1945 - Itami Airfield, Japan, Oct 1945-10 May 1946
Operations
The 348th fighter group was activated at Mitchel Army Airfield, New York, on 30 September 1942. It was equipped with the P-47 ThunderboltP-47 Thunderbolt
Republic Aviation's P-47 Thunderbolt, also known as the "Jug", was the largest, heaviest, and most expensive fighter aircraft in history to be powered by a single reciprocating engine. It was heavily armed with eight .50-caliber machine guns, four per wing. When fully loaded, the P-47 weighed up to...
. The 348th was one of the first USAAF groups to be equipped with the P-47.
1943
USNS Henry Gibbins (T-AP-183)
USNS Henry Gibbins was a troop transport that served with the United States Military Sea Transportation Service during the 1950s. Prior to her MSTS service, she served as US Army transport USAT Henry Gibbins during World War II...
and left the wharf at Weehawken
Weehawken, New Jersey
Weehawken is a township in Hudson County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the township population was 12,554.-Geography:Weehawken is part of the New York metropolitan area...
, New Jersey on 15 May 1943. They groups personnel all thought they were heading for the European theatre of war
European Theatre of World War II
The European Theatre of World War II was a huge area of heavy fighting across Europe from Germany's invasion of Poland on September 1, 1939 until the end of the war with the German unconditional surrender on May 8, 1945...
. However, they went through the Panama Canal
Panama Canal
The Panama Canal is a ship canal in Panama that joins the Atlantic Ocean and the Pacific Ocean and is a key conduit for international maritime trade. Built from 1904 to 1914, the canal has seen annual traffic rise from about 1,000 ships early on to 14,702 vessels measuring a total of 309.6...
instead and crossed the Pacific Ocean reaching Brisbane
Brisbane
Brisbane is the capital and most populous city in the Australian state of Queensland and the third most populous city in Australia. Brisbane's metropolitan area has a population of over 2 million, and the South East Queensland urban conurbation, centred around Brisbane, encompasses a population of...
, Australia on 14 June 1943. They moved to Archer Field (Archerfield airfield) and waited for their aircraft to arrive.
The group's P-47D Thunderbolts began to arrive in Brisbane in the same month, and by the end of July after they had "run in" their engines on local training flights, the group began long-range missions to strike at Japanese targets in New Guinea
New Guinea
New Guinea is the world's second largest island, after Greenland, covering a land area of 786,000 km2. Located in the southwest Pacific Ocean, it lies geographically to the east of the Malay Archipelago, with which it is sometimes included as part of a greater Indo-Australian Archipelago...
. In mid-June the 348th's three squadrons (340th, 341st, 342d) made the 1,200-mile flight from Brisbane to Port Moresby
Port Moresby
Port Moresby , or Pot Mosbi in Tok Pisin, is the capital and largest city of Papua New Guinea . It is located on the shores of the Gulf of Papua, on the southeastern coast of the island of New Guinea, which made it a prime objective for conquest by the Imperial Japanese forces during 1942–43...
, New Guinea. The group operated from New Guinea and Noemfoor
Noemfoor
Numfor is one of the Biak Islands in Papua province, Indonesia. It was the site of conflict between Japanese and the Allied forces during World War II, and was major airbase for both sides.-Geography:The island is situated just north of the large Cenderawasih Bay...
until November 1944, flying patrol and reconnaissance missions and escorted bombers to targets in New Guinea and New Britain
New Britain
New Britain, or Niu Briten, is the largest island in the Bismarck Archipelago of Papua New Guinea. It is separated from the island of New Guinea by the Dampier and Vitiaz Straits and from New Ireland by St. George's Channel...
. The 460th Fighter Squadron, stationed at Noemfoor, New Guinea, was also later attached to the 348th Fighter Group on 23 September 1944 .
The arrival of the 348th as the first P-47 group in the Southwest Pacific area
South West Pacific theatre of World War II
The South West Pacific Theatre, technically the South West Pacific Area, between 1942 and 1945, was one of two designated area commands and war theatres enumerated by the Combined Chiefs of Staff of World War II in the Pacific region....
coincided with the opening of the Allied offensive in New Guinea. During the summer of 1943 the P-47 missions were chiefly as cover for bombers in the Lae-Salamaua area, and for transports carrying supplies to the new mountain locked airstrip at Tsili, only a few miles from the Japanese held Markham Valley. The group met its first air combat over Tsili on 16 August 1943, when two squadrons tangled with the fighter cover of an enemy bomber formation, and shot down three aircraft.
In September the 348th's planes provided cover for the paratroop landing at Nadzab in the Markham valley, and with the capture of Nadzab and Lae
Lae
Lae, the capital of Morobe Province, is the second-largest city in Papua New Guinea. It is located at the start of the Highlands Highway which is the main land transport corridor from the Highlands region to the coast...
the group entered into one of the most spectacular phases of its overseas career, in a series of fighter sweeps, generally by flights of four planes, over the Japanese stronghold of Wewak
Wewak
Wewak is the capital of the East Sepik province of Papua New Guinea. It is located on the northern coast of the island of New Guinea. It is the largest town between Madang and Jayapura. It is the see city of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Wewak....
.
Lieutenant Colonel Neel Kearby
Neel E. Kearby
Neel Ernest Kearby was a U.S. Army Air Corps Colonel and P-47 Thunderbolt pilot in World War II who received the Medal of Honor for his actions in combat.-Biography:...
, the Commanding Officer of the 348th Fighter Group shot down his first Japanese aircraft on 4 September 1943. He shot down a second aircraft on the 15 September 1943. Colonel Kearby was awarded the Medal of Honor
Medal of Honor
The Medal of Honor is the highest military decoration awarded by the United States government. It is bestowed by the President, in the name of Congress, upon members of the United States Armed Forces who distinguish themselves through "conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his or her...
for action over New Guinea on 11 October 1943. After leading a flight of four fighters to reconnoiter the enemy base at Wewak
Wewak
Wewak is the capital of the East Sepik province of Papua New Guinea. It is located on the northern coast of the island of New Guinea. It is the largest town between Madang and Jayapura. It is the see city of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Wewak....
, Lt Col Kearby sighted a Japanese bomber formation escorted by more than 30 fighters. Despite the heavy odds and a low fuel supply, and although his mission had been accomplished, Kearby ordered an attack, personally destroying six of the enemy planes. For covering Allied landings and supporting ground forces on New Britain, 16–31 December 1943, the group was awarded a Distinguished Unit Citation.
1944
In 1944 the group began to attack airfields, installations, and shipping in western New Guinea, CeramCERAM
CERAM is a materials science and testing organisation based in Stoke-on-Trent specialising in the field of ceramics. The CERAM Group owns testing facilities around the world.-History:The British Refractories Research Association was formed in 1920...
, and Halmahera
Halmahera
Halmahera is the largest island in the Maluku Islands. It is part of the North Maluku province of Indonesia.Halmahera has a land area of 17,780 km² and a population in 1995 of 162,728...
to aid in neutralizing those areas preparatory to the US invasion of the Philippines
Philippines
The Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...
. The group's pilots shot down 100 Japanese planes without the loss of a single pilot in aerial combat. From Finchhaven the group flew its first fighter-bomber missions. In the early spring of 1944, while the group was at Saidor, fighter-bomber work began in earnest with attacks on the Japanese concentrations in the Hansa Bay
Hansa Bay
Hansa Bay is a bay located on the north coast of Papua New Guinea, in Madang Province, between Madang and Wewak, north east of Bogia.- World War II history :...
region just ahead of the advancing Australian troops
After 18 months in New Guinea the 348th boarded ship and plane for the Philippines. One squadron, the 460th, arrived several weeks before the other three, and proceeded to roll up an imposing score of enemy planes, shipping, and personnel destroyed, providing cover for convoys, flying patrols, escorted bombers, attacked enemy airfields, and supporting ground forces. During a three week period it sank 50,000 tons of enemy shipping, which was slightly more than one-tenth of all the shipping sunk by the entire Fifth Air Force
Fifth Air Force
The Fifth Air Force is a numbered air force of the United States Air Force Pacific Air Forces . It is headquartered at Yokota Air Base, Japan....
during the year 1944. On one mission seven planes of the 460th squadron wiped out a convoy loaded with an estimated 10,000 enemy troops en route to reinforce the Japanese army on Leyte
Leyte
Leyte is a province of the Philippines located in the Eastern Visayas region. Its capital is Tacloban City and occupies the northern three-quarters of the Leyte Island. Leyte is located west of Samar Island, north of Southern Leyte and south of Biliran...
. The squadron's planes were the first of the Army Air Force to fly over occupied Manila
Manila
Manila is the capital of the Philippines. It is one of the sixteen cities forming Metro Manila.Manila is located on the eastern shores of Manila Bay and is bordered by Navotas and Caloocan to the north, Quezon City to the northeast, San Juan and Mandaluyong to the east, Makati on the southeast,...
after the Japanese capture of the Philippines. A flight led by Colonel Dunham, made the first return flight on 17 November 1944.
The group's greatest day, in point of total of enemy planes destroyed, was 14 December 1944 when, in protection of the invasion fleet heading to Mindoro
Mindoro
Mindoro is the seventh-largest island in the Philippines. It is located off the coast of Luzon, and northeast of Palawan. The southern coast of Mindoro forms the northeastern extremum of the Sulu Sea.-History:...
, 5 Japanese planes were shot down, an estimated 75 were destroyed and 20 more damaged, on the airfields of Negros Island only a few minutes flight from the Allied invasion force, which landed on Mindoro the following morning.
In aerial combat at the 348th's best day came on 24 December 1944 when its planes escorting B-24 Liberator
B-24 Liberator
The Consolidated B-24 Liberator was an American heavy bomber, designed by Consolidated Aircraft of San Diego, California. It was known within the company as the Model 32, and a small number of early models were sold under the name LB-30, for Land Bomber...
heavy bombers in one of the first bomber strikes on Clark Field
Clark Air Base
Clark Air Base is a former United States Air Force base on Luzon Island in the Philippines, located 3 miles west of Angeles City, about 40 miles northwest of Metro Manila. Clark Air Base was an American military facility from 1903 to 1991...
, met an attempted interception by an estimated 100 Japanese fighters. 32 of the enemy aircraft were definitely destroyed, 7 probably destroyed, the remainder were driven off, and the bombers proceeded undamaged to carry out their mission.
Early in December 1944, while the group's planes were operating from Taoloban strip, the majority of group personnel were camped inland near Burauen when the Japanese landed several hundred paratroops on a uncompleted airstrip less than a quarter of a mile from the group's camp, cutting the only road leading from the camp. For several days the camp was isolated between the paratroops on the East and the Japanese patrols on the West. Two men on guard post were surprised and killed by an enemy patrol, but the camp defense's prevented any breakthrough and the paratroops were finally wiped out by infantry and tanks.
When U.S. troops landed on Luzon
Luzon
Luzon is the largest island in the Philippines. It is located in the northernmost region of the archipelago, and is also the name for one of the three primary island groups in the country centered on the Island of Luzon...
the 348th, now in process of conversion from P-47's to P-51 Mustang
P-51 Mustang
The North American Aviation P-51 Mustang was an American long-range, single-seat fighter and fighter-bomber used during World War II, the Korean War and in several other conflicts...
s, began operation from San Marcelino airstrip a few days after the landing at San Marcelino and Subic Bay
Subic Bay
Subic Bay is a bay forming part of Luzon Sea on the west coast of the island of Luzon in Zambales, Philippines, about 100 kilometers northwest of Manila Bay. Its shores were formerly the site of a major United States Navy facility named U.S...
. From this location the unit entered upon what many of its members consider its most outstanding work of the war, bombing and strafing in close support of ground troops. This work lacks the excitement and glamor of serial combat, or even of bombing and strafing of seen targets. Bombs and bullets are poured into areas where the enemy is reported to be, and day after day the mission reports stated "Results unobserved due to foliage". Only rarely were advancing ground troops able to tell what part of the damage found was done by a particular air strike.
1945
At the time the 348th began ground support operations from San Marcelino, the infantry had taken Subic Bay and Olongapo and had started east with the objective of sealing off BataanBataan
Bataan is a province of the Philippines occupying the whole of the Bataan Peninsula on Luzon. The province is part of the Central Luzon region. The capital of Bataan is Balanga City and it is bordered by the provinces of Zambales and Pampanga to the north...
so that the Japanese, retreating southward from Lingayen
Lingayen, Pangasinan
Lingayen is a 1st class municipality in the province of Pangasinan on the island of Luzon in the Philippines. It is the capital municipality and the seat of government of the province of Pangasinan. According to the latest census, it has a population of 95,773 people in 16,467 households.Lingayen...
, could not use the Bataan Peninsula's defensive strength as did the U.S. forces in 1942. However, a few miles East of Olongapo stubborn Japanese resistance suddenly had been met in Zigzag Pass, where the road climbed in a series of hairpin turns overlooked by the enemy's positions. Our ground forces had suffered some casualties, had dug in, and in four days had been unable to make any appreciable gain.
Napalm
Napalm is a thickening/gelling agent generally mixed with gasoline or a similar fuel for use in an incendiary device, primarily as an anti-personnel weapon...
weapon, and it was proposed that it be used to break the deadlock in Zigzag Pass. However the infantry division occupying the west end of the pass was uncertain about the use of the bomb in close support of their troops, for fear of inaccurate bombing. So a Japanese supply area, well back of their front line, was bombed as a demonstration of accuracy, and was left neatly blanked with flame. There was no further lack of confidence. American infantry proceeded to direct our pilots to bomb and strafe just ahead of their front line, and for seven days advanced steadily until their mission of scaling off the Bataan Peninsula
Bataan Peninsula
The Bataan Peninsula is a rocky extension of the Zambales Mountains, on Luzon in the Philippines. It separates the Manila Bay from the South China Sea...
had been accomplished.
Occasionally the curtain of "unobserved results" would lift. One strike, directed by Filipino guerillas who set off smoke pots to mark tan enemy bivouac area, was later found to have caused 700 Japanese casualties.
After another strike west of Fort Stotsenburg
Fort Stotsenburg
Fort Stotsenburg, during the World War II era, was the location of the Philippine Department's 26th Cavalry Regiment, 86th Field Artillery Regiment, and 88th Field Artillery Regiment; along with the Philippine Division's 23rd and 24th Field Artillery Regiments...
, ground troops were able to move in quickly and found 574 Japanese, all killed by the single air attack. Neigher of those missions involved more than 32 sorties and 30 missions a day. It would be impossible to estimate how many other thousands of enemy dead were covered with the phrase "results unobserved".
During the month of April 1945 the 348th net a record for tonnage of bombs dropped on the enemy, with a total of 2091.5 tons. Total ammunition expended was just under two million rounds. So far as is known, this bomb tonnage is the greatest every dropped in one month by any group, either fighter or bomber, and the accuracy of the bombing attested repeatedly by reports from ground observers. Most of the record tonnage was dropped in the Ipo Dam area northeast of Manila
Manila
Manila is the capital of the Philippines. It is one of the sixteen cities forming Metro Manila.Manila is located on the eastern shores of Manila Bay and is bordered by Navotas and Caloocan to the north, Quezon City to the northeast, San Juan and Mandaluyong to the east, Makati on the southeast,...
, and helped pave the way for the infantry's capture of that vital control-point of Manila's water supply. From San Marcelino the 348th also flew missions over French Indochina
French Indochina
French Indochina was part of the French colonial empire in southeast Asia. A federation of the three Vietnamese regions, Tonkin , Annam , and Cochinchina , as well as Cambodia, was formed in 1887....
, Hainan, China, and Formosa
Formosa
Formosa or Ilha Formosa is a Portuguese historical name for Taiwan , literally meaning, "Beautiful Island". The term may also refer to:-Places:* Formosa Strait, another name for the Taiwan Strait...
.
In May 1945 the group moved to Floridablanca airfield, west of Fort Stotsenburg, and from there continued attacks on Japanese ground troops, chiefly in the Cagayan Valley in northern Luzon. By the middle of June the enemy forces had disintegrated and scattered so that profitable targets were hard to find, So operations of the 348th were redirected to the Ryukyus, and the group began operations from Ie Shima in mid-July.
Contrary to expectations the Japanese air forces did not choose to fight, and in the following month only 15 enemy planes were shot down without loss to the 348th in air combat. However there was an abundance of ground and shipping targets in Kyūshū
Kyushu
is the third largest island of Japan and most southwesterly of its four main islands. Its alternate ancient names include , , and . The historical regional name is referred to Kyushu and its surrounding islands....
and North China, and the group's P-51's took a constant toll of enemy transportation on water and land before the afternoon of 14 August when the planes of the 348th delivered the last bombs dropped on Japan before the order was given to "cease firing".
Inactivation
In the immediate postwar era, the group moved to Itami Airfield, Japan in October 1945 as part of Far East Air Forces, performing occupation duty.The 348th Fighter Group was inactivated at Itami Airfield on 10 May 1946.