History of the 348th Fighter Group

I can see that I have come a little bit late to the forum but thought I'd share some information that I have have relating to the 348th fighter Group and the 341st Fighter Squadron in particular - The "Black Jack" Squadron - with those still interested. I have recently begun sorting through my Dad's extensive Army Air Force Personal and Personnel Records and his photos. Attached are his orders assigning him to the 341st FS as well as the members of the 340th and 342nd. I did see that Biak had posted these previously but unfortunately a good portion of the 341st was missing, therefore this followup post. As best as I can tell these orders and the assigned pilots effectively were the start of the 348th Fighter Group. Some pilots are not listed such as the C. O. Davis Campbell, John T. Moore and Sam Blair so I'm pretty sure that the listed pilots were freshly minted 2nd Lieutenants shortly out of advance flight school. Not having done this before I hope it will work OK, if so I'll have more to share.

 

Thanks Biak.
The following photo of the 341st Fighter Squadron is seen frequently on various web sites and in print. Many, many years ago my dad, Clarence Blend wrote down all of the pilots last names on the back of his copy (he didn’t list their first names so I added all the first names I could find, those I couldn’t find are marked XXX). I think it’s always nice to associate a name with a face and others may feel the same so I have posted the picture for that reason.

I’m fairly sure this was taken on Wadke some time in early to mid July, 1944. Jim Curran states in his book “Check Six: A Fighter Pilots War in the Pacific” he left the 341st squadron to join the 460th on or shortly after July 23rd and he is in the photo. My dad received his promotion to captain June 9th and in the photo he is wearing his captain bars. Jim Curran tells of a respiratory virus that most of the pilots were stricken with in June. My Dad’s log book shows that he was not flying from June 11th to July 2 so my guess is he was sick with the virus (maybe on leave) between those dates, if so I would suppose he wouldn't have been available for the photo.

A couple of caveats:

1. My dad may have gotten a name or two mixed up. I know this because he listed James Curran as “Garst” yet I know this is Curran based on his book, for the most part though it’s fairly accurate.
2. In some cases the spelling may be off a bit but it’s close.
3. In one case I do not know one complete name. My Dad had “Lorenz” listed twice and I’m guessing there was only one Lorenz in the squadron - Howard Lorenz. Maybe the unknown pilot is Garst.

 

Thanks Biak.
The following photo of the 341st Fighter Squadron is seen frequently on various web sites and in print. Many, many years ago my dad, Clarence Blend wrote down all of the pilots last names on the back of his copy (he didn’t list their first names so I added all the first names I could find, those I couldn’t find are marked XXX). I think it’s always nice to associate a name with a face and others may feel the same so I have posted the picture for that reason.

I’m fairly sure this was taken on Wadke some time in early to mid July, 1944. Jim Curran states in his book “Check Six: A Fighter Pilots War in the Pacific” he left the 341st squadron to join the 460th on or shortly after July 23rd and he is in the photo. My dad received his promotion to captain June 9th and in the photo he is wearing his captain bars. Jim Curran tells of a respiratory virus that most of the pilots were stricken with in June. My Dad’s log book shows that he was not flying from June 11th to July 2 so my guess is he was sick with the virus (maybe on leave) between those dates, if so I would suppose he wouldn't have been available for the photo.

A couple of caveats:

1. My dad may have gotten a name or two mixed up. I know this because he listed James Curran as “Garst” yet I know this is Curran based on his book, for the most part though it’s fairly accurate.
2. In some cases the spelling may be off a bit but it’s close.
3. In one case I do not know one complete name. My Dad had “Lorenz” listed twice and I’m guessing there was only one Lorenz in the squadron - Howard Lorenz. Maybe the unknown pilot is Garst.

 

File is too large, I'll work around it.

 

The second 341st Squadron Photo. My Dad did not label the back of this picture so I tried to match up faces from the first photo. Unfortunately body position, lighting and shadow can make it tricky.

 

Great news on the names Biak, it would be nice to complete the names on the photo - for posterity.

Regarding the date of the photo you could be right about October but then it was on Noemfoor Island not Wadke, at least per my Dad’s log book which shows the squadron leaving Wadke on August 24th. My Dad flew his last mission on October 8th, turned in his gear on the 8th and 9th and then transitioned from Noemfoor to APO 925 (probably Biak Island) and then back to the states. He probably left for the USA sometime in early to mid November by looking at his orders so he was no longer with the 341st squadron, he was in San Francisco on November 22nd. James Curran says he was flying to Nadzab on September 1st to join the 460th fighter squadron so the question is why is he in the 341st squadron photo? Maybe he joined them for old-times-sake? Who knows.

Captain Merle Zeine is listed as Operations Officer in my Dad’s log book but on my Dad’s official records it shows Captain Robert Ducharme as the Operations office so there looks to be that transition during the month of October where Captain Merle Zeine became C.O.

 

Also on the back of the same 341st squadron photo my Dad lists those that were not on the photo but had been in the squadron at one time or another or perhaps still were but not available (I think Charles Cronk, Sam Blair the C.O. and Clifton Wheeler were still with the squadron).

I have added the first names and comments. Some of the pilots probably transferred to other squadrons, moved to headquarters or retuned to the States and some never survived the war.

• Nixon - James T.
• Mumper - David
• Perryman - Glenn
• Schrick - John H…..Did not survive the war
• Leighton - Leonard G…..Did not survive the war
• Jacoby - Harold……..Did not survive the war
• Henderson - Wilburn….Did not survive the war
• Winokur - Jack….Did not survive the war
• Orcutt - Jefferson H.
• Doyal - William….Did not survive the war
• Lynch - James E.
• Anderson - Robert W.
• Briggs - Kenneth M.
• Hayes - Ray
• Saunders -
• ?oyal -
• Galik - Samual….Did not survive the war
• Da? -
• Gar? -
• Spencer - Eugene
• Wallace -
• Craddock -
• Della - George
• Curran - James: He is in fact on the photo. Transfer to 460th 9/44
• Wheeler - Clifton D.
• Cronk - Charles A.
• Blair - Samual V.
• Moore - John T…..Did not survive the war
• Campbell - David A…..Did not survive the war
• Stroud - Robert M…..Did not survive the war
• Howard - Eldred G…..Did not survive the war
• Kelly - Edward S.
• Gentry - Angus

 

Really too bad about the fire and Merle tossing the written records. The amount of historical information in those would have been wonderful to have.
Charles Cronk and Clifton Wheeler were on the same Special Orders as my dad with transfer back to the states so I know they were around as well as Frank Morrison who is on the photo.

 

I have added these pilots to the roster of men not included on the photo. I found these 341st officers listed on the records of Squadron Standings of “Official Credit for Destruction of Enemy Aircraft by Fighter Pilots” dated 13 August 1944. The first 3 individuals were from the original formation of the squadron.

• Weeks - Arthur L.
• Rowe - James L.
• Rea - James L.
• Joyal - Wilfred N. This is the ?oyal from the first list.

Thanks to Biak It's time to update the squadron photo.

 

Speaking Of Wadke. In 2001 and 2002 my dad was corresponding with a member of the Australian War Museum regarding the 348th on New Guinea. To help his recall on some of the photos he had in his album with little to no information on them he enlisted the help of his buddy Jules Brausseur. Jules response regarding Wadke was pretty humorous and probably told it like it really was.

This is the photo my Dad sent to Jules


Jules Response

 

Here's the photo and reply