Pilot killed crash landing out of petrol, not yet assigned to FS, 33PG, Nonongahela River, Courtney, PA, USA, 

plane surveyed Feb 20, 1942, Hometown: Suffolk County, MA

Damaged landing, Mitchel Field, Long Island,  New York, USA, 

plane later destroyed in landing accident 18 Nov 41, Muni Airport, Tulsa OK

Plane destroyed in ground collision, Mitchel Field, Long Island,  

New York, USA, stalled on landing and spun-in at Mitchel Field, NY Nov 14, 1941

Plane destroyed forced landing out of petrol, Montefiore Cemetery, 

Farmingdale, New York, USA (JB website has wrecked in forced landing 

Middletown Air Depot, PA Dec 7, 1941)

Pilot killed plane destroyed structural failure, Mystic, CT, USA 

(JB website has wrecked at Groton, CT Dec 11, 1942) Hometown: Branch County, MI

Ground collision with BT-13 while landing during a thunderstorm, Bolling Field, D.C. USA.

Plane listed as surveyed at Moore AAF, TX Jul 6, 1943

Collision with P-40 flown by Lt. Palenscar, Bolling Field, D.C. USA. 60th FS collided with 41-14048 Jul 16, 1942. Pilot killed.

Plane retrieved from a tributary flowing into the Sassafras River near Frederickstown MD.

2nd Lt. Louis Contardi, lost his life when his P-40 collided with another in mid air.

Pulling his ripcord too soon, he became entangled with the tail surface and was dragged to his death. Class of 42-E

Based out of Bolling Field, DC, overtaken on landing by the above mentioned 41-14042.

Plane later to CL-26 at Lincoln, NB Aug 20,1942 Three of those pilots from the class of 42-E

were 2nd Lts Virgil Radcliffe, Ed Moses and Harry Dowd.

Based out of Bolling Field, DC, Landing he was in a collision with BT-13 during a thunderstorm,

Plane surveyed at Moore AAF, TX Jul 6, 1943

Claims 0.50 victory Fw 200 Condor shared with Elza Shahhan of the 27FS, 1FG, over Iceland.

The air portion of the Task Force sent to Iceland early in 1941 was built around the 33rd Squadron.

E. M. Morris was the designated Commander of the Air Units and the P-40s were delivered and flown

off of the Carrier Wasp. It is reported that Lt. Joseph D. R. Shaffer was responsible for helping to

down a Folke-Wulfe 200K, the first Nazi aircraft before hostilities, for which he received a

Silver Star. To replace the 33rd now in Iceland the 58th FS,  was activated then transferred to

form the 33rd Fighter Group. Late on the afternoon of 23 July, while the carrier lay alongside

Pier7, NOB Norfolk, 32 Army Air Force (AAF) pilots reported on board "for temporary duty."

At 0630 the following day, Wasp's crew watched an interesting cargo come on board, hoisted

on deck by the ship's cranes: 30 Curtiss P-40C's and three PT-17 trainers from the AAF 33d

Pursuit Squadron,8th Air Group, Air Force Combat Command, home based at Mitchell Field,

 N.Y. On the morning of 6 August, Wasp, Vincennes, Walke, and O'Brien parted company

from TF 16. Soon thereafter the carrier turned into the wind and commenced launching the planes

from the 33d Pursuit Squadron

Pilot later goes to 59FS, 33FG, based out of Philadelphia Map, PA , incident occurred at Hopewell

Twp, NJ  plane condemned Oct 14, 1942

Incident at Philadelphia Municipal Airport, PA. Plane later to DPC at Bush Field as P-40R May 24, 1945

This would have been at the time Phil Cochrane was training up the future "Jokers"

Hometown: Shelby County, IL . Based out of Langley Field, VA , crashed en route to Norfolk, Va,

for the loading of 72, P40F of the 33FG aboard the USS Chenango. Plane listed as wrecked at Langley Field, VA

Oct 21, 1942

The next morning, ( 9 Nov 42, the “fog of war” descended. We were about 100 miles offshore and ready to go but word had been received that the field in Port Lyautey had not been taken. Our Group CO, doubtless harking back to Tripoli and the war with the Barbary Pirates and to Mobile Bay in the Civil War, assumed a “damn the torpedoes” attitude and ordered, “Shoot Rathbun and his wingman off and we will see what the situation is.” So off we went on a heading of 85? degrees. There was no way of returning to the Chenango since we had no arresting gear and the flight deck was filled with other P-40s.When we reached Port Lyautey, we could see cruisers, destroyers, amphibious-assault and merchant ships offshore, many sending small landing craft to the beaches. The sight that interested me the most involved several bomb craters on the concrete runway, all made by our Navy planes in an effort to immobilize French aircraft. There were grass fields on both sides of the North--South runway but they had been flooded and pools of water remained on the grass. While the craters were big and the debris field on the north end of the runway covered the entire width of the runway, I decided to try to land just beyond the first crater and then slip past the crater farther down the runway. Craters aside, the runway was short–approximately 1,800-2,000 feet long–and landing just past the first crater left not more than 1,000 feet of runway. Therefore, I had to land at the lowest possible speed. Alas, the plane stalled just as I reached the first crater, dropping the wheels into the crater and “wiping off” the landing gear. Plane later condemned MIA Jan 21,1943

Rathbuns' wingman, a bright young man by the name of Dowd, saw what happened so he decided to try the grass on the west side of the runway. He made a good landing, but the wheels sank into the muddy ground and he “nosed up,” damaging the propeller and knocking the engine out of line.  (Took his Primary Training at Corsicana, Texas, KIA , 3 March 1943, 27th FS, 1FG),  Plane condemned inventory Jul 8, 1944

When the group CO appeared, he decided to land on the extreme northern end of the runway. Unfortunately for him, there was a sharp drop in terrain off the end of the runway, leaving the northern end of the runway exposed. Also, unfortunately for him, he came in slow and too low, possibly having lost some of his piloting skills in the eighteen days at sea. In any event, he was too low and his wheels hit the exposed end of the runway, wiping out the landing gear and skidding to, what would be to most pilots, an embarrassing stop. I questioned then (and now) his assumption that he could stop his plane in the less than 1,000 feet before he would reach the first crater. Of course, given his wrecked plane, we will never know. I do know that he was unfazed by his poor judgment and performance, and I do know that approximately twenty of the planes following him proceed to tear themselves apart in the muddy grass east of the concrete runway. Oblivious to the chaos he had helped create by his foolhardy, too early, departure from the carrier, he strode up to me and delivered his obiter dictum: “Rathbun, (O-442231) if you had used your head, you could have prevented all of this.” In subsequent days, this man was to continue to take my breath away on numerous occasions.

Flown off USS Chenango, Plane condemned due to mechanical failure Jun 17, 1944.

Crashed on landing at Port Lyautey. Plane condemned inventory Jul 8, 1944

Plane named "Dammit", condemned inventory Jul 8, 1944

Lands in the mud beside the runway, plane undamaged had to be towed out by a tank

Pilot has later service with 58FS

Crashed on landing at Port Lyautey. Plane condemned inventory Jul 8, 1944

Crashed on landing at Port Lyautey. Plane later to reclamation/scrap at Laredo AF, TX Mar 10, 1945. He shared a room with, Rathbun, Daniel E  on board the USS  Chenango

Crashed on landing at Port Lyautey, Pilot later with HQ. Plane condemned inventory Jul 8, 1944

Crashed on landing at Port Lyautey. Plane condemned inventory Jul 8, 1944

Crashed on landing at Port Lyautey

Headquarters of XII Air Support Command was first established on the beach and subsequently at the Miramar Hotel at Fedhala. When it was learned that the Port Lyautey field had been finally secured, Lt. Col. William W. Momyer's P-40's were ordered in from the Chenango. Despite misgivings of the Navy, the catapulting itself was fairly successful, planes eventually being launched at as little as two- or three-minute intervals. However, Navy shells and dive bombers had badly damaged the main runway at Port Lyautey and the rest of the field was soft. The catapulting, begun on 8 November, had to be discontinued and was not completed until two days later, some of the P-40's evidently going into Cazes airdrome at Casablanca. Of the eighty-seven P-40's launched from the Chenango, one crashed into the sea, one flew off into the fog and was never heard from, and seventeen were damaged in landing. None, apparently, got into action. Not long afterward, thirty-five more P-40's, the "advance attrition" of the 33d Group, arrived off Morocco on the British carrier Archer in the D plus 5 convoy. These planes were also catapulted and came down at Port Lyautey, four cracking up on landing primarily because of pilot inexperience.³¹

On November 10, we (60FS, 33FG) moved approximately 80 miles to the south to Casablanca, leaving a score or more of damaged planes for the service group to worry about.

Commander of the 59th Fighter Squadron, 33rd Fighter Group. On 10 November their P-40s were launched from the deck of the U.S.S. Chenango off Casablanca to participate in the Allied invasion of North Africa. Oon 18 March, 1944, while commanding the 20th Fighter Group out of Kings Cliffe, England, He shot down two Me-109s and was credited with a shared victory on another and one probable. Unfortunately, he was shot down by flak on the same mission and was captured by the Germans. Hubbard spent the remainder of the war in Stalag-Luft I in Barth, Germany.

Flew this plane off the Chenango, named the plane "Irene" another source has it named "Renee" and flew it for a month before it was handed over to the Free French Plane later condemned crashed into Sea Jun 17, 1944. Lt. Reed ultimately completed 83 missions flying P-40s

Tobe Tobin, the man who took the initiative to found the Road Racing Drivers Club in 1952, learned to fly at age 15 and during World War II became a P-40 fighter pilot in North Africa, flying with the 33rd Fighter Group, 59th Fighter Squadron … He also took part in several squadron-wide Courts Martial for such innocent little games as flying up the Hudson River and looping every bridge from the George Washington to Albany; participating in a closed-course air race using the Empire State and Chrysler Buildings as pylons; and flying upside down fifty feet above Manhattan Island in order to get a better look at the Normandie after she burned at her pier ... the squadron acquired an even more notoriety and was the model for Milton Caniff’s cartoon strip “Terry and the Pirates” which appeared in newspapers nationally ... After the war, he acquired a BMW 328 from Paul Richards. It is currently owned by Dieter Aumann, a German BMW enthusiast … One of Tobe’s first races was at Watkins Glen in 1951. He also raced at Thompson Raceway, Bridgehampton and, in 1952, both the the famous Pike's Peak and Giant’s Despair Hill Climbs.

The 58th had 4 accidents landing one pilot taxing into an unfilled crater at the end of the runway of the 17 total  planes damaged, 58 landed safely,  5 where repaired,  leaving 63 serviceable planes

Entered the Service from: Mississippi, Tablets of the Missing at North Africa American Cemetery, Carthage, Tunisia, Awards: Purple Heart. Got news that the Chenango (CVE) lost one plane and pilot while launching. Pilots neck snapped when catapulting

13 Nov 43,Joined military Convoy UGF2 in Hampton Roads for passage to Casablanca, 18 Nov 1943,         Arrived at Casablanca, After landing aircraft took passage to Gibraltar. These planes were also catapulted and came down at Port Lyautey, four cracking up on landing primarily because of pilot inexperience ( possibly one more man lost ditching in the sea. Again the catapult fails forcing another one day repair

Entered the Service From: Missouri
Rank: Second Lieutenant
Service: U.S. Army Air Forces, Army Air Corps
Died: Saturday, November 14, 1942
Memorialized at: North Africa American Cemetery
Location: Carthage, Tunisia

Hometown: Middlesex County, MA . Entered the Service From: Massachusetts
Rank: Second Lieutenant
Service: U.S. Army Air Forces, 60th Fighter Squadron, 33rd Fighter Group
Died: Sunday, January 31, 1943
Memorialized at: North Africa American Cemetery
Location: Carthage, Tunisia
Awards: Air Medal, Purple Heart

Detachment J, Flown off HMS Archer, launching catapult breaks causing a one hour delay while repairs are made he is forced to fly on to Port Lyautey in Casablanca, alone. Cochran soon took this squadron (Detachment J or "Jokers") to Rabat, Morocco, where he instituted a rigorous training program. While working his — "Jokers" in Rabat, the regular Army Air Corps caught up with him. Cochran received a message from Twelfth Air Force to take six of his best pilots and their aircraft to Thelepte, Tunisia, to backfill a unit that had suffered heavy losses to the Germans. On 14 December 1942, the air echelon of the 58FS, Squadron arrived at Thelepte, making it the unit that would stay on to conduct the —air guerrilla warfare" under Cochran‘s leadership

Hometown, Greenbrier, TN, Honored by
Mrs. Berry Duncan, Wife, Incident at Pinellas AAF, FL ,

18 Jan 1944, 43-22949, Curtiss P-40N-20-CU Warhawk

Hometown: Berkshire County, MA

Service: U.S. Army Air Forces, 60th Fighter Squadron, 33rd Fighter Group
Died: Sunday, January 31, 1943
Memorialized at: North Africa American Cemetery
Location: Carthage, Tunisia
Awards: Air Medal, Purple Heart

.

Pilot goes to 58FS, 33FG, Prior incident at Rentschler Field, CT, 3 Oct 1942, 316FS, 324FG, 41-14189, Curtiss P-40F Warhawk, plane later surveyed at Moore AAF, TX Oct 6, 1944

.

Pilot went to 58FS, 33FG, later to 91FBS, 81FBG

Pilot went to 59FS, 33FG

.

Sank on launch when catapult failed to provide flying speed thrust.

He was the 3rd last man off the Archer. He later served with 59FS.

Again the catapult fails causing a 2 day repair Pilot rejoins unit at Rabat

Hometown: Cooper County, MO . Entered the Service From: Missouri
Rank: Second Lieutenant
Service: U.S. Army Air Forces, Army Air Corps
Died: Saturday, November 14, 1942
Memorialized at: North Africa American Cemetery
Location: Carthage, Tunisia

HMS Archer launched the last 2 planes, last man off, Kantner,

sank on launch when catapult failed to provide flying speed thrust He later served with 58FS

Sixty-nine men and six Officers head west for Oujda,

on the border of French Morocco and Algeria

He is sent to Thelepte, Tunisia to scout out a landing ground, for

the remainder of December the 60FS flies out of Youkes-les Baines

on P-40-F’s.”

Entered the Service from: South Carolina, Buried at: Plot I Row 15 Grave 12
North Africa American Cemetery, Carthage, Tunisia, Awards: Purple Heart

Crashed while landing. First pilot fatality in the 60th FS. Plane listed as condemned inventory Jul 8, 1944

On 14 December 1942, the air echelon of the 58 th

Fighter Squadron arrived at Thelepte, making it the unit that would stay on to

conduct the —air guerrilla warfare“ under Cochran‘s leadership. Thelepte was an advance base and the living conditions were extremely poor. Originally the 58 th lived in pup tents, and along with being very cold at night, these

accommodations left the men vulnerable to the frequent strafing by German fighters.

Therefore, Cochran and his men dug their living quarters into the sides of ravines. Once

dug in, the entrances were covered with boards over which soil was placed and desert

grass planted. Although not the most luxurious of living conditions, these quarters

proved to be very effective against the German attacks.

Norman, Henry

C.O. 60FS

The 60th FS had been the first USAAF planes to land in Northwest Africa during Operation Torch. Unfortunately the 33rd FG they belonged to damaged 25% of their planes in that initial landing due to a bomb-cratered runway. Later, a large group of their P-40Fs where turned over to the Free French. By the end of December 1942, there were many pilots in the 33rd where without a plane

On the 29th of December five veteran pilots of the 60th FS and two of their new replacement pilots boarded a truck at Telergma, where they were stationed, for the long drive down to Biskra. They were being loaned out to the 1st Fighter Group. The veterans were 2nd Lts Harry E. Dowd, O-660120, (KIA , 3 March 1943, 27th FS, 1FG), William H. Martyn, George P. Means, Edwin (Ed) J. Moses and Virgil E. Radcliffe, O-660197, ( got his wings on May 19th, 1942, heand nine of his 42-E classmates were assigned to the 60thFighter Squadron of the 33rd Fighter Group), Lts. Dowd, O-660120, and Radcliffe had been together since Primary Training. Ed Moses joined them at Randolph Field and they got their wings in the class of 42-E. Matuch, George Jr., O-659739, 60FS, 33FG, was one of the two new pilots that accompanied the five veterans from the 60 FS to the 1st Fighter Group. Three of those pilots from the class of 42-E were 2nd Lts Virgil Radcliffe, Ed Moses and Harry Dowd. Other Lts. with this group were William Martin, George Means and Frank Matuch. Moses and Matuch would return to the 60th. Martin, Dowd and Means would be lost in combat. Virgil Radcliffe would finish his tour with the 27thFS, 1stFG, accounting for one Messerschmitt 109 on March 8th. Flying out of Biskra and Chateaudun-du-Rhumel he put the P-38 through its paces filling multiple roles as bomber escort, ground attack and dive bomber.

Memorialized at: North Africa American Cemetery
Location: Carthage, Tunisia. Awards: Air Medal, Purple Heart

There are two American Fighter Pilots in the Mediterranean Theatre who proudly claim the destruction of a Flying Fortress. Captain Levi Chase and Lieutenant James Gray, 58th Squadron of the 33rd Fighter Group, were on a patrol over enemy-held territory in Tunisia on January 5, 1943. Zooming over the road which runs between Gabes and El Guettar the two Warhawk pilots spotted a Fortress being towed along the highway by a truck.

At first they couldn't believe their eyes.

"Do you see what I see?" Chase asked Gray over the radio.

"It must be this local cognac," said Gray, "but let's take a look."

It was a Fortress, all right. The ship had force-landed behind the lines after becoming lost on a ferry flight (though Chase and Gray didn't know this at the time) and was being moved to an airfield by the Germans. The plane was surrounded by Nazi soldiers and Arabs.

Chase and Gray decided that a brand new Flying Fortress was just too good for the Luftwaffe and attacked the ship and its escort with all guns blazing. They left it a burning wreck. Each received credit for one-half a Flying Fortress, destroyed.

("Mediterranean Sweep: Air Stories from El Alamein to Rome"by Major Richard Thruelsen, A.C. and Lieutenant Elliot Arnold, A.C. published by Duell, Sloan and Pearce; New York 1944 page 62)

This helps to explain why the photo does not show all the planes in it.

One of the first planes received by GCII/5, the mechanics applied the French colors with the white band roundels (rosettes) that had been imposed by the German and Italian forces since 1940. The mechanics had not read the new directive.

The three serial numbers on the mobile part of the vertical tail were covered by the tricolour. One should have 114 on the left side (the first three numbers of the serial, less first 4, never carried) and xxx (number corresponding to l' plane) on the right-sided. It should have 114 one the left side (the first three resulting off the serial, washout the first 4, never worn) and xxx (number corresponding to the aircraft) one the right side. For example, the serial of the 1 " Vulture" is 41-14538 (source: Aéro-newspaper no 23). For example, the serial 1 off " The Vulture" is 41-14538 (source: Aero-newspaper No 23). It must thus have 114 of the left side, and 538 of the right-sided. It must cuts 114, left side and 538 one the right side. Plane condemned inventory Jul 8, 1944

Plane diverted to French ADO Apr 17, 1945

Plane diverted to French ADO Jun 15, 1944

Memorialized at: North Africa American Cemetery
Location: Carthage, Tunisia. Awards: Air Medal with Oak Leaf Cluster

Memorialized at: North Africa American Cemetery
Location: Carthage, Tunisia. Awards: Air Medal, Purple Heart, Shot down near Senna Station while on a recce mission with 91FS, 81FG P-39s'

The 33FG was sent to Agadir Morocco for rest and was refurbished with planes from the newly arrived 325FG

The 33FG was down to 13 planes before it was replenished from the 325th FG,  P-40L

Was one of the two new pilots that accompanied the five veterans from the 60 FS to the 1st Fighter Group. Lt. Matuch flew with the 1st for a brief period and then returned to the P-40s of the 60th FS on February 18th, 1943. He was shot down by ground fire and crash-landed his P-40 in the Tunisian Desert on April 7th. Captured by the Germans, he spent the remainder of the war in Stalag Luft, North African Theatre: Tunisia, Stalag 7A Moosburg Bavaria 48-12 (Work Camps 3324-46 Krumbachstrasse 48011, Work Camp 3368 Munich 48-11)