318th Fighter Group P-47 Thunderbolts East Field Saipan 1944

The 318th Fighter Group was a

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

United States Army Air Forces The United States Army Air Forces (USAAF or AAF) was the major land-based aerial warfare service component of the United States Army and ''de facto'' aerial warfare service branch of the United States during and immediately after World War II ...

combat organization. It served primarily in the

Pacific Ocean theater of World War II The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...

History

The 318th Fighter Group was activated in October 1942 when the remainders of the 72d and 44th Fighter Squadrons were transferred from the 15th and 18th Groups after their former groups were deployed to the Central Pacific. They were part of the 7th Air Force until summer of 1945. The initial mission of the 318th was air protection of the Hawaiian Islands. The 73d and 333d Fighter Squadrons were transferred in November 1942 and January 1943. In March 1943 the 44th was transferred out of the group and was replaced by the 19th Fighter Squadron. The group was equipped with P-40Ks, P-40Ns, and Douglas A-24s, but in June 1943 the Bell P-39Q Airacobras began to arrive at Bellows Field and the 72nd Fighter Squadron traded their P-40s for the Flying Cannon, the Bell Airacobra. In December 1943 the 72nd Fighter Squadron in their P-39s were catapulted from the deck of the

Escort aircraft carrier The escort carrier or escort aircraft carrier (U.S. hull classification symbol CVE), also called a "jeep carrier" or "baby flattop" in the United States Navy (USN) or "Woolworth Carrier" by the Royal Navy, was a small and slow type of aircraft ...

USS Nassau (CVE-16) and landed at Makin atoll on the island of Butaritari. At the completion of the Gilbert and Marshall Islands campaign the 72nd FS was transferred to the newly activated 21st Fighter Group to prepare for the job of escorting the Boeing B-29 Superfortresses over Japan. During 1944 the 318th was equipped with Republic P-47D Thunderbolts and during the Marianas campaign, working closely with Marine ground forces, pioneered close infantry support and employed the first use of

napalm Napalm is an incendiary mixture of a gelling agent and a volatile petrochemical (usually gasoline (petrol) or diesel fuel). The name is a portmanteau of two of the constituents of the original thickening and gelling agents: coprecipitated alu ...

. On Saipan the 318th had the dubious distinction along with the 21st Fighter Group on Iwo Jima of being the only

Army Air Force The United States Army Air Forces (USAAF or AAF) was the major land-based aerial warfare service component of the United States Army and ''de facto'' aerial warfare service branch of the United States during and immediately after World War II ...

units to engage in ground combat. The squadrons of the 318th Fighter Group were attacked by Japanese ground forces in June 1944 on Aslito Airfield, Saipan (renamed Isley Field), sustaining modest casualties. The 6th Night Fighter Squadron was attached to the 318th on Saipan, and scored several night time victories flying P-61s. Eventually, as they outranged most of their targets, they acquired some P-38 lightnings and flew them as well. However, in the 7th Air Force's heaviest losses since 7 December 1941, the 21st Fighter Group was besieged in their tent camp on Iwo Jima before dawn on 26 March 1945. Pilots and ground personnel took a crash course in infantry tactics and finally destroyed the superior enemy force, but suffered 15 dead and 50 wounded in doing so. The 318th was the first unit to receive the new long range P-47Ns in early 1945 before moving to Okinawa on Ie Shima. Army fighter planes flew from aircraft carriers no less than seven times in the Pacific. P-36s to Hawaii in February 1941, the 73d FS to Midway in P-40s in June 1942, the 45th FS to

Kanton Island Canton Island (also known as Kanton or Abariringa), previously known as Mary Island, Mary Balcout's Island or Swallow Island, is the largest, northernmost, and , the sole inhabited island of the Phoenix Islands, in the Republic of Kiribati. It i ...

and 72nd FS to Makin in P-39s in December 1943, the 19th, 73d and 333d FS's to Saipan in P-47s in June 1944. The Makin and Saipan operations were from catapult shots. From November 1944 to January 1945, the 318th Fighter Group helped counter the

Japanese air attacks on the Mariana Islands During World War II, a series of Japanese air attacks on the Mariana Islands took place between November 1944 and January 1945. These raids targeted United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) bases and sought to disrupt the bombing of Japan by B-29 Sup ...

. Most notably, the Seventh's airmen pioneered Very Long Range (VLR) fighter operations across the Pacific with missions of historic length and duration: Kauai to Midway Atoll, Midway to Kaneohe and Makin to

Jaluit Jaluit Atoll ( Marshallese: , , or , ) is a large coral atoll of 91 islands in the Pacific Ocean and forms a legislative district of the Ralik Chain of the Marshall Islands. Its total land area is , and it encloses a lagoon with an area of . Mo ...

and

Maloelap The Maloelap Atoll ( Marshallese: , ) (also spelled Maleolap) is a coral atoll of 71 islands in the Pacific Ocean, and forms a legislative district of the Ratak Chain of the Marshall Islands. Its land area is only , but that encloses a lagoon of ...

. By late 1944, Lockheed P-38s of the 318th were routinely flying missions to Truk and Iwo Jima from Saipan—, 8-hour trips. And by 1945, with new long range P-47Ns, VLR sorties were the rule rather than the exception for the Seventh's fighters. In April 1945 the 15th and 21st Fighter Groups began flying escort and sweep missions from Iwo Jima to Honshu-. In May 1945, the 318th Group advanced to le Shima where they reached out to Japanese targets in Kyu-shu- and China. During the summer of 1945, the 318th Fighter Group (along with the 15th and 21st from the VII Fighter Command) was reassigned to the

Twentieth Air Force The Twentieth Air Force (Air Forces Strategic) (20th AF) is a numbered air force of the United States Air Force Global Strike Command (AFGSC). It is headquartered at Francis E. Warren Air Force Base, Wyoming. 20 AF's primary mission is Interco ...

and continued its fighter sweeps against Japanese airfields and other targets, in addition to flying long-range B-29 escort missions to Japanese cities, until the end of the war. On 13 August 1945, the 318th flew from le Shima to Tokyo and back, an 8½ hour non-stop flight. The 318th Group was officially credited with 164 air combat victories by 15 August cease fire, with less than 6 pilots shot down by enemy planes. The 318th was assigned to Eighth Air Force in August 1945, shortly after

V-J Day Victory over Japan Day (also known as V-J Day, Victory in the Pacific Day, or V-P Day) is the day on which Imperial Japan surrendered in World War II, in effect bringing the war to an end. The term has been applied to both of the days on ...

. Moved to the US, December 1945 – January 1946. Inactivated on 12 January 1946. After the war, it was redesignated the 102nd Fighter Group in May 1946.

Lineage

* Constituted as 318th Pursuit Group (Interceptor) on 2 February 1942 : Redesignated 318th Fighter Group in May 1942 : Activated in Hawaii on 15 October 1942 : Inactivated on 12 January 1946 * Redesignated as 102d Fighter Group. Allocated to Massachusetts ANG on 24 May 1946

Assignments

VII Fighter Command The VII Fighter Command was a command and control organization of the United States Army Air Forces. Its last assignment was with Far East Air Forces. The Headquarters were based at several locations with forward command moving with the campaign ...

, 15 October 1942 * Eighth Air Force, 31 July 1945 * Army Service Forces, 29 November 1945 – 12 January 1946

Components

* 19th Fighter Squadron, 16 March 1943 – 12 January 1946 * 44th Fighter Squadron, 20 October – 1 December 1942 * 72d Fighter Squadron, 15 October 1942 – 15 June 1944 * 73d Fighter Squadron, 15 October 1942 – 12 January 1946 *

333d Fighter Squadron The 333rd Fighter Squadron is part of the 4th Operations Group, 4th Fighter Wing at Seymour Johnson Air Force Base, North Carolina. It operates McDonnell Douglas F-15E Strike Eagle aircraft conducting advanced fighter training. History Activ ...

, 11 January 1943 – 12 January 1946 * 318th Fighter Group August 1944– March (?) 1945

Aircraft flown

* Curtiss P-36 Hawk * Lockheed P-38 Lightning *

Curtiss P-40 Warhawk The Curtiss P-40 Warhawk is an American single-engined, single-seat, all-metal fighter and ground-attack aircraft that first flew in 1938. The P-40 design was a modification of the previous Curtiss P-36 Hawk which reduced development time an ...

Bell P-39 Airacobra The Bell P-39 Airacobra is a fighter produced by Bell Aircraft for the United States Army Air Forces during World War II. It was one of the principal American fighters in service when the United States entered combat. The P-39 was used by t ...

Douglas A-24 Banshee The Douglas SBD Dauntless is a World War II American naval scout plane and dive bomber that was manufactured by Douglas Aircraft from 1940 through 1944. The SBD ("Scout Bomber Douglas") was the United States Navy's main carrier-based scout/di ...

* Republic P-47 Thunderbolt *

Northrop P-61 Black Widow The Northrop P-61 Black Widow is a twin-engine United States Army Air Forces fighter aircraft of World War II. It was the first operational U.S. warplane designed as a night fighter, and the first aircraft designed specifically as a night figh ...

Stations

Hickam Field Hickam may refer to: ;Surname *Homer Hickam (born 1943), American author, Vietnam veteran, and a former NASA engineer ** October Sky: The Homer Hickam Story, 1999 American biographical film * Horace Meek Hickam (1885–1934), pioneer airpower advoc ...

, Hawaii (Territory), 15 October 1942 * Bellows Field, Hawaii (Territory), 9 February 1943 * East Field, Saipan, Mariana Islands, June 1944 *

Ie Shima Airfield is a training facility, managed by the United States Marine Corps and a former World War II airfield complex on Ie Shima, an island located off the northwest coast of Okinawa Island in the East China Sea. The airfield as such was inactivated ...

Okinawa is a prefecture of Japan. Okinawa Prefecture is the southernmost and westernmost prefecture of Japan, has a population of 1,457,162 (as of 2 February 2020) and a geographic area of 2,281 km2 (880 sq mi). Naha is the capital and largest city ...

, c. 30 April 1945 *

, November–December 1945

Operational history

References

* Maurer, Maurer (1983). Air Force Combat Units of World War II. Maxwell AFB, Alabama: Office of Air Force History. .

External links

* {{USAAF 20th Air Force World War II Fighter groups of the United States Army Air Forces Military units and formations established in 1942