The 359th Fighter Group

During its 17 months of operation, members of the 359th Fighter Group, comprised of the 368th Fighter Squadron, the 369th Fighter Squadron, and the 370th Fighter Squadron, excelled at escort missions and at the very hazardous jobs of "killing" trains and destroying aircraft on the ground. Although often frustrated at the restrictions placed on pursuing enemy aircraft that endeavored to lure them away from protecting their "big friends," the bombers, the pilots of the 359th faithfully fulfilled the escort missions that comprised approximately 75 percent of their flights.

The 359th Fighter Group was awarded a Distinguished Unit Citation as well as numerous battle ribbons, including:

• The Air Offensive Europe ribbon, for preparation for the invasion of Normandy

• The Normandy ribbon, for invasion support and subsequent break out of the beach head areas

• The Northern France ribbon, for support for the drive across France

• The Rhineland ribbon for supporting the airborne invasion of the Netherlands as well as the drive into the Rhine

• The Ardennes-Alsace ribbon for support during the Battle of the Bulge

• And the Central Europe Ribbon for supporting the final actions across Germany

There were 13,455 sorties flown by the pilots of the 359th. In addition to guarding the "heavies" they shot down 241 enemy aircraft, with an additional 33 probables and 69 damaged. Another 122 were destroyed on the ground plus 107 damaged. Almost 500 locomotives and 1,400 railway cars were destroyed or damaged. Other ground attacks supported troop movements and targeted infrastructure. To do all of this 1,000,000 rounds of .50 calibre ammunition was expended along with nearly 900 bombs of varying poundage.

The 359th Fighter Group lost 121 pilots.

Maj. Ray S. Wetmore

Maj. Ray S. Wetmore -- "X-Ray Eyes"
359th Fighter Group, 370th Fighter Squadron

Maj. Ray S. Wetmore, nicknamed "Smack" and known for his keen vision, amassed a total score of 24 destroyed air-ground combat, highest scoring Ace in the 359th Fighter Group and eighth best of all American pilots in the ETO. On VE-Day he was a 21-year-old major.

Flying with the 370th Fighter Squadron, in February and March 1944 Wetmore scored his first 4.25 victories flying the Republic P-47 Thunderbolt. Upon conversion to the P-51 Mustang the group ranged farther afield and Wetmore became a 20-year-old ace with a double victory on May 19, downing two Me-109s. By the end of May 1944 his tally was 8.25. At the end of 1944 he was a captain with nearly 15 kills, flying a Mustang named "Daddy's Girl."

After returning from leave in the U.S. to serve his second tour of duty, Wetmore continued to score from November 1944 to January 1945. During that time he downed 12 more enemy fighters including 4.5 FW-190s on January 14. His final victory was a rocket-powered Me-163 on March 15.

Postwar, Major Wetmore commanded the 59th Interceptor Squadron at Otis Air Force Base, Massachusetts. On February 14, 1951, Raymond took off from Los Angeles with an F-86 Sabre on a trip to Otis. On his final approach, his plane suddenly shot up skyward, and then turned towards the ground where it crashed. Ray was killed instantly. He reportedly said that he was having trouble slowing down his plane and ejecting from the plane. He was also reported to have said to the tower that, "I'm going to go up and bring it down in Wakeby Lake, so I don't hit any houses."

"Say goodbye to my wife and kids," were his final words.

Historyofwar.org review of Fogg in the Cockpit

Fogg in the Cockpit,
Richard and Janet Fogg

Howard Fogg-Master Railroad Artist,
World War II Fighter Pilot

Howard Fogg is best known as a very successful railroad artist, but before that he served as a fighter pilot in the USAF, based in the UK and mainly providing fighter escorts for American bombers.

We start at the start of October 1943, with Fogg still in the United States. During the month his unit sailed across the Atlantic, and moved to their new base at WW, where they remained for the rest of Fogg's time with them. We end on 15 September 1944, one week before the end of his combat tour.

Each chapter begins with Fogg's diary entries for the month and ends with the official history as written by the Office of the Group Historian, giving us two points of view on events. The group historian's style is rather less formal than one might expect, so the two parts mesh rather well. Fogg begins as a novice pilot, but ended up in charge of a flight and also of training new pilots.

Fogg's experiences aren't quite what one might expect from reading many accounts of the fighting in this period. Many missions end without any German aircraft coming into sight, even when the Luftwaffe was still a strong force. Fogg mentions plenty of other combats, but not any of his own although he does talk about ground attacks. Mechanical problems also play a surprisingly large part in his life. We also get to see the pilot's eye view of a change in aircraft, from the P-47 that Fogg's unit entered combat with to the P-51 Mustang.

One also gets an insight into the glamour of life as a fighter boy when Fogg visited London and found himself in the company of Lawrence Olivier, Vivian Leigh and a number of other celebrities, after writing to Sid Field, another star of the day. His interest in trains also emerges from time to time, with notes on different engines striking an unusual note in a wartime memoir!

Rather amusingly Fogg soon gains the British obsession with the weather, reporting endless grey days and rain, even during the summer of 1944. There are a few good sunny days in there, but few and far apart. Thankfully his general impressions of Britain are still positive.

Fogg's last words were a list of the twenty six original members of his unit and their fates when he completed his tour. Seven were already back in the USA having completed their tour. One was an instructor, one at wing HQ. Four were POWs, three missing in action, four killed in action and two accidental deaths. Only four of the twenty six were still in combat having not yet completed their tour.

Fogg's diaries provide a fascinating window into the world of an American fighter pilot in Britain in 1944, and is of interest even if you aren't interested in Fogg the artist (those who are will be pleased with the inclusion of a section of colour plates of his paintings).

Chapters

1 - October 1943: England at Last!
2 - November 1943: The Calm Before the Storm
3 - December 1943: Operational!
4 - January 1944: Oh, This English Weather!
5 - February 1944: The Bombing Intensifies
6 - March 1944: First Ground Attacks
7 - April 1944: The P-51s Arrive
8 - May 1944: The War Hits Home
9 - June 1944: Operation Overlord
10 - July 1944: Deep Into Germany
11 - August 1944: Winding Down
12 - September 1944: Changing of the Guard
13 - October 1944 through August 1945
Summary of Action: Captain Howard Fogg
Summary of Action: 359th Fighter Group
Epilogues
The Postwar Career of Howard Fogg
Political Sketches by Howard Fogg
Rough Sketches by Howard Fogg
Acknowledgements
Art by Howard Fogg (colour plates)

Author: Richard and Janet Fogg
Edition: Hardcover
Pages: 376
Publisher: Casemate
Year: 2011

Review posted on historyofwar.org July 2012

July 1944: The 359th Fighter Group

An excerpt from the original report:

HEADQUARTERS 359TH FIGHTER GROUP

Office of the Group Historian

APO 637   US Army

4 August 1944

The 359th Fighter Group, July 1944

After the crescendo of June and the Invasion, July of 1944 was for the older pilots almost anticlimactic. The 25 missions of the month produced no large-scale air combat, strafing receded in importance, and the focus of interest shifted to the identity of the men completing their 300 hour combat tours. There were 17 of these on 31 July, of whom 11 were already in or on their way home to the Zone of the Interior.

But the complexion of the 359th Fighter Group had changed and the “originals” now were heavily outnumbered by replacement pilots for whom July provided pulsing excitement. There were eight long escort assignments to Munich, several in execrable weather, another to Leipzig, two to Merseburg and three to Kiel-Bremen. There was a strafing expedition to Leipheim, and another on French railroad targets. For the new men, this was a rugged introduction to combat flying.

In July, 31 more new pilots reported, and at month’s end, strength was at a peak: 146 pilots, of whom 17 had finished their tours and were off ops, 2 were administrative pilots, 13 were in training, 9 sick, 5 on DS in England, 12 on pass, with 71 available for a mission.

The 25 missions include a freak job on 14 July, a four ship evening weather reconnaissance east of Paris with which Captain Janney of the 368th completed his tour. Disregarding this mission, the 24 jobs of the month resulted in 1,075 Mustangs airborne from East Wretham, with 193 early returns and 992 completed sorties averaging 5 hours 4 minutes each for about 5,400 hours of combat time.

The Luftwaffe still was hoarding its strength and enemy sightings dwindled. The total of 207 shown includes 100-plus seen in two gaggles by a single pilot on 20 July near Merseburg, the enemy obviously being late for a planned interception, and another sighting of 50 seen at 20-mile range over Munich on 21 July, when only Lieutenant Colonel Murphy’s section could get in close enough for effective action.

Similarly, the 25 E/A sighted on 19 July in the Munich area were seen only by one section, which had dropped back on the task force trailing the lead assault elements, and the most profitable sighting of the month (three biplane trainers!) was made by a flight on 24 July, the flight driving all three of the antiques into the ground.

One sighting was, however, historic: the first operational use by the enemy of jet-propelled fighters, five Me163 Swallows being seen near, and driven off from, the bombers on the Merseburg show of 28 July, as Colonel Tacon’s widely-circulated teletyped special report duly narrates. The same day four German daredevils, apparently Wild Boar night-fighters, got into a B-17 combat wing and the bomber’s defensive cross-fire prevented our flights from following.

Me 163 photo courtesy of
Char Baldridge, Historian, 359th Fighter Group Association

Briefing Room

The original Briefing Room (or War Room) at East Wretham Airfield. 

Archived by Char Baldridge, Historian, 359th Fighter Group Association, 

from records at HQ USAF Research Center, Maxwell Air Force Base, Alabama.

Detail of chalkboard from photo of the original Briefing Room, 

believed to be from the December, 30, 1943 mission. 

Photo archived by Char Baldridge, Historian, 359th Fighter Group Association, 

from records at HQ USAF Research Center, Maxwell Air Force Base, Alabama.

Damn this lousy English weather

Excerpt from Fogg in the Cockpit: The wartime diary of Captain Howard Fogg.

"Wednesday, July 12, 1944: Wretham

           

Up at 0815. Briefing at 0930. Took off at 1110. Duplicate of yesterday’s show in every detail but flight time. I led Olson, White, and Keesey. My #2 and #4 planes got lost in very rough air of overcast. Picked up Kosc for #2. Homeyer flew #4 later. Encountered heavy flak near Ruhr so everyone split up as usual. Major Shaw led. I became Blue Flight.

We only had eight planes out of 16 for escort duty. Never saw the ground; went from here to Munich and back on instruments.

Couldn’t release my left tank and it pissed me off highly. Then it fell off on my landing approach.

Sure was tired. Up for 6 hours and 10 minutes. A long ride. Plane ran fine, loads of gas.

Damn this lousy English weather."

March 29, 1944 photo of belly tanks.
Photo archived by Char Baldridge, Historian, 359th Fighter Group Association. 

"The Mad Rebel"

Lt. John Houston Oliphint - "The Mad Rebel"
359th Fighter Group, 369th Fighter Squadron

Lt. John H. Oliphint flew with the 359th Fighter Group from April 1943 through June 8, 1944, when he was nearing La Fleche and his P-51 began to lose coolant. He continued to strafe, releasing his bombs point blank into the side of a locomotive. He crash landed, was injured, and needed medical attention, so the Maquis reported his position to the Germans. It was the Gestapo, though, who took him prisoner.

After interrogation and torture, Lt. Oliphint and several others escaped. During his stay with the Resistance, Lt. Oliphint gathered data for British Intelligence. On August 5, 1944, he was picked up by the RAF at a covert airfield and returned to England.

He served in the U.S. Air Force for 26 years, through World War II, Korea, and Vietnam, and was awarded Command Pilot wings and 43 medals including the Silver Star, 3 Distinguished Flying Crosses, 8 Air Medals, 2 Purple Hearts, a Bronze Star, Commendation Medal, Prisoner of War Medal, and numerous theater and foreign medals.

John Houston Oliphint passed away on December 19, 2011. He was a true Texan and a great fighter pilot.