History of the 348th Fighter Group

I've always wondered why the Army Air Force did not seem to get the coverage that other branches received and found this as an example. The first is taken from HyperWar and the second from the 348th History.

First Marine strike against these convoys came on 7 December 1944. Army Intelligence had reported in briefing that three enemy destroyers and four cargo ships were steaming into Ormoc Bay and would still be some distance at sea at the time of attack. At 0930, 12 Corsairs of VMF-211 set out to intercept the convoy, only to find that the four cargo ships had already anchored in San Isidro harbor (see Map 4.), and the three destroyers were departing from Leyte in the direction of Manila. Acting on the assumption that the cargo ships would have to remain in port until later in the day, the flight leader, Major Stanislaus Witomski, immediately ordered the flight to attack the destroyers. Two of the Japanese war vessels had turned in combat formation at sight of the Corsairs, leaving one destroyer separated slightly from the other two.[SIZE=-1][SUP]68[/SUP][/SIZE]

Army P-47's had been scheduled to furnish air cover for the Marines, but failed to arrive.[SIZE=-1][SUP]69[/SUP][/SIZE] Nevertheless, the Corsairmen dived in through the protecting Japanese air cover (eight to ten ZEKES) and dropped their bombs,[SIZE=-1][SUP]70[/SUP][/SIZE] picking out the single destroyer as their target. No direct hits resulted, but near misses started an oil leak on the DD, leaving it "almost dead in the water."[SIZE=-1][SUP]71[/SUP][/SIZE] While the rest of the flight re-formed as protection from the Japanese fighter planes still attacking, one division of four planes remained to strafe the disabled enemy ship. With six separate strafing
--33--[HR][/HR] runs, the Marine pilots started a fire that soon spread from stem to stern of the destroyer. The Corsairs left the ship in flames, leaking oil badly, and barely underway.[SIZE=-1][SUP]72[/SUP][/SIZE]
The action was not without cost to the Marines. Fire from the enemy planes and ships downed three Corsairs. All three pilots bailed out, but one was lost and another died later of injuries.[SIZE=-1][SUP]73[/SUP][/SIZE]

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"On 7 December, Thunderbolts of the 341st and 342nd Squadron attacked an enemy convoy in San Isidro Bay on the Northeast coast of Leyte. The 4 large ships of which the Jap convoy was composed, were attacked at 1030/I by the 342nd and several direct hits were scored, resulting in explosions and columns of black smoke from one of the transports. Other Thunderbolts of the 460th Squadron which flew cover for this mission broke up an enemy attack against our own shipping in Ormoc Bay while enroute to San Isidro. A formation of nine Sally’s attacking our vessels as they were landing troops to invest the Jap stronghold at Ormoc was dispersed with two of them shot down. A Nick also crashed under attack by two P-47’s. Two more Thunderbolts of this squadron attacked 7 Zeke 32’s, killing none, but forcing them to jettison their bombs.
All through the day the Jap convoy in San Isidro was hit repeatedly by the 341st, the 342nd and Marine Corsairs. Evening found all four ships in the Bay destroyed along with two accompanying freighters and support vessels.
In the early afternoon of this same day the 460th Squadron swept the San Isidro area to clear the skies for afternoon bombing, attacking of 13 Zeke 32s, 4 Oscars and 1 Sally, engaged 6 Zeke 32s, 4 Oscars and 1 Sally were destroyed by the nine Thunderbolts in the 460th formation."

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According to the 348th report MAG-12 with 85 Corsairs had been assigned to the 308th Bombardment Wing (as were 12 PBJ's of VMF- 541) on 4-Dec-44. Now flying out of Tacloban.

I'm going to have to do some more digging.

 

Hey there Hellsapoppin and Welcome. Tell us more about your Dad. Do you have the names of the guys in the picture?

 

tcrpe, A big welcome to the forum! Please feel free to post anything and everything you would be willing to share. I'd be honored to have you post comments on the 348th thread but also think a separate thread for your Dad would be great.

Biak

 

Welcome to the forum captmercy,
Great to have another link to the 348th. Are you sure that's Kearby? Doesn't look like him, but I could be wrong. Feel free to post any other pictures and it goes without saying I'd really like to hear anything you might be able to share. I've not had much to add to the thread and look forward to any & all information we can find.
My Uncle said they arrived in Australia with cold weather gear but promptly packed it away. He was rather upset when he retrieved his to find it completely mold ridden.

 

Well I just received an email from the AFHRA stating they are running a few weeks behind in answering requests. I tried to be as specific as I could and only requested, "Everything You have on the 348th FG with detailed accounts of the 341st Squadron". Also as much as possible on the 340th, 342nd & 460th.
Naw not really. The folks at AFHRA are great and bend over backwards to help. Time to get out the checkbook and make a donation.

In the meantime I've scanned a few more pictures !

View attachment 18377
Westover. Home on Leave His P-47 April 1944

 

A few more pictures;

View attachment 18379

April 1944 -- I've seen this same picture somewhere (maybe here ww2f) naming the guy on the left not knowing who is on the right. It is Lt. Zeine.

 

Christmas in May ! Today I received 3 CD's from the AFHRA (took less than 2 weeks) with the Histories of each squadron of the 348th. The first has 2,126 pages, the 2nd has 2,007 pages and the third has 2,124 pages! Needless to say I will be busy Some of the pages did not copy very well but are still readable. Seems the P-51 carburator floats were a real pain in the ass.
An added bonus is there are a few hundred pages on the 339th Fighter Group at the beginning of disc #1.
Should I even say : Much More to Come?

 

Gosh I haven't been on here much the last few days but I do have a good reason. Spending time with the Uncle - we celebrated his 93rd birthday yesterday. Hearing a few more episodes of the 348th in the SWPA. I asked him just how fast he had gone in the P-47 and his reply was : Not sure. Did a full power inverted dive once and the air flow over the wings turned blue (from condensation?) & the shaking became kind of violent. Too busy getting control back to notice the indicated airspeed. We're guessing the old Jug was over 600mph but well below anything approaching Mach. He never did that again. I've convinced him to order his military file and we're going to see what we can get from NARA.

 

I'm looking forward to what you get from NARA. Have you had a chance to read any of the CD's you got? Sounds like your uncle had a pretty exciting time in the SWPA. Wish him a belated happy birthday for me.

 

I've scanned through the files but somehow life got in the way and I've been too scatter brained to do much with them. We've actually been enjoying our Summer the last few weeks and when you live up here in the North Land you grab every chance you get. Cause there ain't many chances! I'll try to get back in the groove soon and start posting the more interesting tid-bits.
I"ll pass on the glad tidings Lou, Thanks!

 

Slacker. You might think summer is meant for enjoyment. (it is!)