June 1944: The 359th Fighter Group

June of 1944 was the month that Eisenhower stormed and breached the Atlantic Wall of Festung Europa in the greatest short-range operation of war in the history of man to that time.

In the great scheme of assault, the VIII Fighter Command, forged and tempered as the peerless high altitude fighter team of all the world’s struggling forces, was slung into the rough and tumble of ground attack. Only their airplanes had the needed range before the cannon and the tactical air forces could be disembarked, and only they could choke off support from the Werhmacht at the chosen storming place, the Cotentin Peninsula of Normandy.

So simply, is the story of June for the 359th Fighter Group told. With the 14 other groups of the Eighth Fighter Command, they isolated Normandy, hacked and splayed the German plan of reinforcement and counter-attack, and held off the Werhmacht while ships and men tore open a bloody hole in Western Europe.

It was expensive, 14 pilots were lost on tactical missions, 11 of those in the first 7 days of crisis, and this was one-sixth of the 359th Group’s normal pilot strength. Yet the total casualties for the month of 17 men, 16 operationally, was below the toll of May, and was well under the depletions suffered by other groups.

These are statistics, and they did not cushion the emotional shock of the grim second week of June, when 21 missions in 7 days cost 11 pilots, when foul weather, flak, fatigue, and warring enemy aircraft raised the normal odds against ground strafing to a great and nerve racking hazard.

Better Make Up Your Mind

“Better Make Up Your Mind F. D. Or There’ll Be A Wreck”

February 24, 1940 cartoon by Howard Fogg

June 14, 1944

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

Wednesday, June 14, 1944: Wretham

Good day, heavy cumulus.

One mission. Nuts!! Took off at 0615. Blue Flight led by me, with McNeil, Andy, Hammy, and Murphy. Top squadron. Flew an area escort to Brussels, Namur airfields. We encountered heavy flak at Namur but no trouble and no enemy aircraft. Flew at 26,000 to 27,000 feet in nice squadron formation. Really clear over the Channel. Back at 1000.

Foul headache. Tired. Lunch at 1115 then went to bed and slept until 1700.

I was told at supper of my transfer to the 368th and Taylor’s transfer back to 369th. I’m glad yet sorry. Good to rejoin the old outfit, but the 370th flies better and has better engineering, etc. Sorry to leave Colonel Murphy, a wonderful pilot and leader.

Taxied my ship over to the 368th, moved flying equipment after supper. Major Brown, ’40, Panama for three years, 1,200 flight hours, is the new 368th operations officer. He seems like a good guy. So I’m “home” again and it’s okay.

Moose Nose. Captain Howard Fogg’s P-51D-5 Mustang CV-D 44-13762. 

Courtesy of Ira J. “John” Bisher: 

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

Captain Howard Fogg Mission Destinations

World War II Database Review of Fogg in the Cockpit

A new review of Fogg in the Cockpit featured on World War II Database. 

  

Fogg in the Cockpit

Author: Richard Fogg and Janet Fogg
ISBN: 978-1-61200-004-6

Reviewer: C. Peter Chen
Review Date: 11 May 2012

Full Title: Fogg in the Cockpit: Howard Fogg-Master Railroad Artist, World War II Fighter Pilot

When Howard Fogg graduated from an Ivy League college in 1938 and then an art school in 1939, he, with professional interest in art and a hobby in locomotives, probably did not think of himself as a warrior even though war had already broken out in Asia and the European tensions escalated. Drafted into the military in 1941, he ended up becoming a fighter pilot flying P-47 Thunderbolt and later P-51 Mustang fighters. Fogg in the Cockpit, posthumously published in 2011, was a collection of Fogg's war time diary entries that gave the readers a glimpse into the life of an American pilot in the European theater of war, penned by this Renaissance Man of sorts whose mind was geared toward the arts as much as tuned to identifying friend or foe in a dogfight.

What I thought was valuable, if a bit inconsequential, was the very fact that Fogg did not always focus on the war. He did mention how impressed he was when he first flew a P-51 Mustang fighter and how tough it was to notice when one of his comrades failed to return to the airfield after a mission, but it was the little things that gave me an insight, trivial things that sometimes others often did not bother to note. The diarist dutifully noted when the weather was poor, which kept his squadron on the ground, wasting time presenting each other with mock medals or simply chatting the boredom away. While he talked about the nerve wracking experiences of flying through anti-aircraft bursts, he spent an equal amount of time talking about the movies he had seen, restaurants he had visited, and the different models of trains he had traveled aboard and painted. Some of the facts were, admittedly, mundane and mattered little in the grand scheme of things, but nevertheless, this book provided a personal perspective on a war that was often written so facelessly.

Throughout the book, editors Richard Fogg and Janet Fogg, the diarist's children, inserted various elements to enhance the readers' experience. I had particularly enjoyed the generous additions of period photographs, many of which seemed to be coming from the archives of the Fogg family and various veterans' associations, thus infrequently seen by outsiders like myself. At the end of certain entries, the editors had inserted major events of the European War on those particular days; while the intention of providing the larger picture was clear, I felt that these facts failed to plug Howard Fogg into the overall landscape of the war, thus these additions formed a distraction from the diary entries, especially that most of the them the world events did not seem to factor into the mindset of the diarist. Finally, for those who appreciate locomotive art and perhaps knew Fogg as a professional artist, a small collection of paintings printed in color in the final pages of the book might be of interest.

Memoirs and diaries, by definition, could not be considered works of history, but books such as Fogg in the Cockpit contained valuable insight on the reactions and thoughts of individuals who lived through and experienced the war, providing us the little pieces of hints that, collectively, told of how and why history was shaped.

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Let Us Never Forget

During its 17 months of operation there were 13,455 sorties flown by the pilots of the 359th Fighter Group. Following are just a few of those pilots.

The 368th Fighter Squadron:
Lt. John C. Allen, Killed in Action
Lt. Carl M. Anderson, Prisoner of War
Lt. David B. Archibald, Prisoner of War
Lt. Merle G. Aunspaugh, Killed in Flying Accident
Lt. Arlen R. Baldridge, Killed in Action
Lt. Louis E. Barnett, Missing in Action
Lt. Merle B. Barth, Missing in Action
Lt. Clifford L. Bartlett, Killed in Action
Lt. Robert V. Beaupre, Killed in Action
Lt. Geroge H. Blackburn, Killed in Action
Capt. Wayne N. Bolefahr, Killed in Action
Lt. Raymond L. Botsford, Killed in Flying Accident
Lt. Ray A. Boyd Jr., Prisoner of War
Lt. Cecil R. Brown, Killed in Action
Maj. Wayne R. Brown, Killed in Flying Accident
Lt. Emer H. Cater, Killed in Action
Lt. Willis J. Cherry, Prisoner of War
Lt. Albert A. Cowie, Prisoner of War
Lt. Richard H. Daniels, Killed in Action
Lt. David P. Dunmire, Missing in Action
Lt. Clifton Enoch Jr., Missing in Action
Capt. Charles E. Ettlesen, Killed in Action
Lt. James J. Ferris III, Killed in Flying Accident
Lt. Roy C. Garrett, Prisoner of War
Lt. James H. Haas, Prisoner of War
Lt. Benjamin M. Hagen III, Prisoner of War
Lt. John W. Herb, Killed in Action
Lt. Lester W. Hovden, Killed in Action
Lt. Clyde M. Hudelson Jr., Killed in Action
Lt. Edward J. Hyland, Killed in Action
F/O John H. Klug Jr., Killed in Flying Accident
Lt. John F. Lauesen, Killed in Action
Lt. Graham Lupton, Prisoner of War
Lt. Douglas A. MacLean, Killed in Action
Lt. Antony D. Maiorano, Prisoner of War
Lt. John S. Marcinkiewicz, Prisoner of War
Lt. James W. McCormack, Killed in Action
Capt. Thomas J. McGeever, Killed in Action
Capt. Charles E. Mosse, Prisoner of War
Lt. Donald L. Murphy, Missing in Action
Lt. Paul E. Olson, Prisoner of War
Lt. James R. Pino, Prisoner of War
Lt. William R. Simmons, Killed in Action
Lt. James B. Smith, Prisoner of War
Lt. Henry L. Thompson, Missing While Training
Lt. Col. Albert R. Tyrrell, Prisoner of War

The 369th Fighter Squadron:
Lt. Lawrence A. Bearden, Killed in Flying Accident
Lt. Robert J. Booth, Prisoner of War
Lt. Richard H. Broach, Prisoner of War
Lt. Charles R. Bruening, Missing in Action
Lt. Lowell W. Brundage, Killed in Action
Lt. Harold R. Burt, Killed in Action
Lt. Clifford E. Carter, Missing in Action, assumed KIA
Lt. Cecil W. Crawford, Missing in Action
Lt. Grover C. Deen, Prisoner of War
Lt. George M. Givan, Killed in Flying Accident
Lt. Maurice N. Haines, Prisoner of War
Lt. LeRoy D. Hess Jr., Prisoner of War
Lt. Kenneth L. Hobson, Prisoner of War
Lt. Frank W. Holliday, Missing in Action, assumed KIA
Maj. James A. Howard, Killed in Action
Lt. John E. Hughes, Missing in Action, assumed KIA
Lt. James F. Hutton, Missing in Action
Lt. Russell H. Jenner, Killed in Action
Lt. Howard A. Linderer, Prisoner of War
Lt. Russell E. Masters, Missing in Action
Capt. Harry L. Matthew, Prisoner of War
Lt. Paul. E. McCluskey, Killed in Action
Lt. Donald S. Melrose, Missing in Action
Lt. Lawrence F. Meyer, Missing in Action
Lt. Myron C. Morrill Jr., Missing in Action
Lt. James R. Parsons Jr., Killed in Flying Accident
Maj. Edwin F. Pezda, Prisoner of War
Capt Robert L. Pherson, Killed in Action
Lt. Homer L. Rodeheaver, Killed in Action
Lt. Stanley E. Sackett, Killed in Action
Lt. Robert B. Sander, Killed in Action
Capt. Karl K. Shearer, Killed in Action
Lt. Edwin L. Sjoblad, Missing in Action
Lt. Charles E. Stubblefield, Missing in Action
Lt. Ferris C. Suttle, Killed in Action
Lt. Edward J. Thorne, Prisoner of War

The 370th Fighter Squadron:
Capt. Benjamin H. Albertson, Prisoner of War
Capt. Carey H. Brown, Killed in Flying Accident
Capt. James E. Buckley, Killed in Action
Lt. Dick D. Connelly, Killed in Action
Lt. Alexander M. Cosmos, Killed in Flying Accident
Lt. Elmer N. Dunlap, Prisoner of War
Lt. Howard E. Grimes, Killed in Action
Lt. Lynn W. Hair, Killed in Action
Lt. Harold D. Hollis, Killed in Action
Lt. Cyril W. Jones Jr., Killed in Action
Lt. John E. Kerns, Missing in Action
Lt. Ralph E. Kibler Jr., Killed in Action
Capt. Washington D. Lyon, Missing in Action
Lt. Edward J. Maslow, Prisoner of War
Lt. Jack E. McCoskey, Prisoner of War
Lt. Garland J. McGregor, Killed in Action
Lt. Wallace C. Murray, Missing in Action
Lt. Albert T. Niccolai, Missing in Action, assumed KIA
F/O James J. O’Shea, Missing in Action
Lt. Malcom C. Paulette, Killed in Action
Lt. Alan C. Porter. Killed in Action
F/O Luther C. Reese, Missing in Action
Lt. Gordon M. Shortness, Missing in Action
Lt. Joseph E. Shupe, Missing in Action
Lt. Robert W. Siltamaki, Prisoner of War
Lt. Stanley F. Stegnerski, Missing in Action
Lt. Howard E. Steussey, Prisoner of War
Lt. Paul E. Sundheim, Prisoner of War
Lt. Earl W. Thomas Jr., Killed in Action
Lt. William N. Tucker Jr., Killed in Action
Lt. Benjamin J. Vos Jr., Missing in Action
Lt. Frank E. Westall Jr., Killed in Action
F/O Walter W. Wiley, Prisoner of War
Lt. Bennie F. White, Missing in Action
Lt. Theophalus A Williams, Killed in Action
Lt. Lawrence A. Ziska, Killed in Flying Accident

and
Lt. Col. James V. Wilson, Prisoner of War

Book Trailers: Fogg in the Cockpit and Soliloquy

Fogg in the Cockpit
by Richard and Janet Fogg
Book Trailer:

Soliloquy
by Janet Fogg
Book Trailer: