History:February 6th 8 P-39s of the 40th Squadron were escorting transports into Wau and intercepted a formation of 24 Zekes (Zeros probably Oscars) and 6 Ki-21 (Sallys). In the ensuing battle they brough down 11 of the Zekes and one of the Sallys. It was the first time the P-39 had won such a lopsided battle.ACTIVATION
The 40th Pursuit Squadron was activated at Selfridge Field, MI on 22 Dec 1939 as part of the 31st Pursuit Group with the 39th and 41st Squadrons. One of the early Commanders, Captain (now Lt General,ret) Albert P. Clark, designed the first Red Devil insignia to fit on the anticipated P-40s. Later in 1941 when the squadron was under 1st Lt. (now Lt General, ret) Fred M. Dean, the Red Devil was re-designed to fit on the cockpit doors of the new P-39s which were flown on the Summer-Fall maneuvers in the southeastern USA.
The squadron was at Baer Field, Fort Wayne, IN 7 Dec 1941. On 10 Dec the ground echelon headed for Port Angeles, WA and the pilots and crews took the P-39s via the southern route to avoid the winter weather enroute to Paine Field at Everett, WA. The 31st Group was recalled to Selfridge Field and took half of the 40th to become the 308th Squadron. The remaining 40th cadre of 14 officers and 76 enlisted men along with 39th and 41st cadres shipped from San Francisco aboard the USAT ANCON on 31 Jan 1942 for Australia. They disembarked at Brisbane 25 Feb 1942. 1st Lt. Stephen M. Smith was the 40th Commander during this period.
WW II - S W P A
The squadron settled at Mt. Gambier, SA by 16 March and were then ordered to a new air strip 16 miles from Townsville, QLD called Antil Plains. After six weeks of training new people and securing P-400s and P-39s, the 40th was ordered to Port Moresby, Papua on 2 June 1942 as the 40th Fighter Squadron. Lt. Harvey J. Scandrett had scored the first victory for the 40th while on TDY with another unit on 17 May. Lt. B. J. Oliver scored the 2nd victory on an intercept over Salamaua on 16 June but Lts. William L. Hutcheson, Stanley F. Rice, and P. J. Magre were MIA. Lts. Robert S. Johnson and Stephen M. Smith were wounded. Capt Hubert I. Egenes, a Java veteran, took over the command.
On 11 July 1942 on an intercept over Port Moresby Lts. Robert W. Shick, Chester E. Trout, Garth B. Cottam, Clarence M. Wilmarth, and Philip K. Shriver scored victories. Lt. O. A. Kirtland was MIA and Lt. Ed J. Gignac was injured in a forced landing. Late in July the squadron rotated back to Antil Plains to re-coup and re-arm. On 21 Nov the 40th moved to Port Moresby and based at Berry Field (12 mile). Capt. Malcolm A. Moore was the commander. The 40th received the Presidential Unit Citation for its role in aerial support for the Papuan Campaign.
On 7 Dec 1942 in an air battle over Buna, Capt. Moore and Lts. Wilmarth and Charles A. Klein each downed a Zeke. On 6 Feb 1943 while covering C-47s supplying troops at Wau, a flight of eight 40th P-39s ran into a large group of Japanese aircraft and shot down twelve with no losses to themselves. Victors were Lt. Gene De Boer (1), Lt. Bill McDonough (2), Lt. Lewis Raines (1), Lt. Bill Shick (2), Lt. Lee Taylor (1), Capt. Tom Winburn (2), and Lt. Ed Schneider (3). This feat earned the 40th a second Presidential Unit Citation.
On 12 April 1943 on an intercept over Port Moresby Lts. Klein, Lou Nagy, Hauser Wilson, and Gene Heinz scored one victory each, while Capt. Bill Davitt got two. For the next three months the missions were routine patrol, air support for bombers, and escort for transports. Then came the move to Tsili-Tsili, a higly-secret, landlocked strip 200 miles north of Port Moresby. The first escort of C-47s began on 14 August. On the 15th, Lts. Dick Schamlz and Bob Yaeger tacked onto a 41st flight which got to the Tsili-Tsili area just as the first Japanese raid came in. Lt. Schmalz got one victory and Lt. Yaeger got two. The 40th moved to Tsili-Tsili on 25 Aug 1943 for some of the most rugged and severe flying and living conditions. Fuel, food and munitions supply could only come in by C-47. Mud and heat prevailed in the extremes, and cloud build-up over the surrounding mountains made every flight hazardous. The 40th covered the Lae landings of Allied troops and also participated in the airborne assault of the Nadzab area. The 40th moved to Nadzab in October 1943 and were able to cover Allied landings at Finschhafen. Major Thomas H. Winburn (now Lt Col, ret) was commander during this period.
On 27 Oct planes led by Capt. John Clapper intercepted Japanese bombers over Finschhafen. He and Lts. Carl E. Nelson, Nathan Smith, Schneider, Phil Wolf, and Robert G. Allison each downed a bomber. However, the Japanese also raided Nadzab at random and on 7 Nov 1943 Lts. John E. Doordan, Ben J. Ewers, Nelson, Walter S. Thayer, and William H. Strand each scored. Again on 9 Nov Capt. Clapper got 2 victories, Lts. Jack A. Grimm and John M. Davis got one each. In late November over Saidor Lts. Francis J. Vetort, Grimm, and Nelson got single victories, and Lt. Alvaro J. Hunter got two.
P-47 ERA
In late December 1943 with Capt. Joseph E. Lamphere as commander the 40th began transition into P-47 Thunderbolts, a big change from P-39s. In January 1944 the 40th flight line was bombed and strafed several times, but no big damage was done. Then in Feb 1944 the 40th moved up the Markham river to the Ramu river valley base called Gusap. It had cool air and cold water and put the squadron within the range of the Japanese bases around Wewak. Major Bill McDonough got two P-47 victories over Wewak on 15 Feb and another over Gusap on 4 March as Japanese Tony's followed our flights back from Wewak. On 11 Mar 1944 Capt. Robert Yaeger, Jr. got 3 scores over Wewak. Later he was the 40th Commander from 21 April to 5 May 1944.
The 40th continued to fly support missions for the Hollandia battle during April and May. They moved back to Nadzab June 1st for training and recuperation. The ground echelon loaded twice for Biak. Delays prevailed. Finally on 4 Aug the air echelon moved to Noemfoor Island. The squadron covered the Sansapor area during August and in September flew their longest dive bombing mission with 500 lb. bombs to Halmahera Island. Capt. John R. Young was commander during this period. On 10 Oct flying out of Morotai he led the 40th on the first Balikpapan mission - a 1600 mile round trip - the longest ever for 5th Ftr Cmnd at that time. Capt. Young led ten others flying P-47D28s (bubble canopied) aircraft. He scored two victories, Capt. Bill Strand got 3, Capts.Thomas F. Powell, Linsfield W. Poteet, and Charles D. Clark got 2 each, and Lt. Hilton S. Kessel got 1. On 14 Oct with Capt. Young leading eight P-47s he scored one more victory, Capts. Strand, Hunter, and Lt. Henry G. Wilkes got two each. Capt. D. J. Laird, Phil Thomas and Lt. Jack E. Simonini each got one victory. For this feat the 40th Fighter Squadron was awarded its third Presidential Unit Citation.
On 8 Nov 1944 Capt. John Young transferred to 35th Group Operations and was replaced by Capt. Al Hunter. Capt. Daniel Cherry replaced Hunter on 8 Dec.
THE PHILIPPINES AREA
In November and December 1944 there were many escort missions requiring a lot of open water flying to targets over Negros Island. On 5 Nov Lt. Robert Powers got a victory over Bacolod and on 6 Nov Lt. Wilkes and Lt. Jack L. Marvin each got victories at the same place. On 21 Nov Capt. Strand got a victory there. Then on 24 Nov over Alicante the squadron came upon a Japanese bomber flight and shot down six. Victors were Warren Wycoff (2), Bob Steffy, Ellis Baker, Graydon Franklin, Alvaro Hunter and Jack Gautreaux each (1). Bill Colsh had a victory over Mindanao on 6 Dec. Then on 14 Dec the 40th had another big day, 14 Japanese bombers shot down. The victors were Harold Vaughn (1), Warren Wycoff, Ellis Baker, James Meeks, and Bill Colsh (2) each, Roger Howe and Robert Haigh (1) each, and Bob Steffy (3).
The 40th headed for the Lingayen Gulf and landed on Luzon 18 January 1945. On 30 Jan Ellis Baker destroyed a Zeke over Formosa. On 27 Feb 1945 Capt. Darrel Laird (now Lt Col, ret) leading a 4 plane fighter sweep over Formosa destroyed three enemy "Frank" fighters. It was a bad month for the squadron though, since five pilots were shot down by ground fire on bombing and strafing missions. On 21 March the 40th flew its last P-47 mission from Mangaldan strip. On 3 April 1945 Capt. Tony Faikus lead a four-plane P-51 flight over Formosa when they sighted two Zekes and one Nick. The victors were Capt. Faikus, Lt. William L. Colsh, and Lt. Irving C. Pine. On the 19th the 40th moved to Clark Field where they occupied a camp originally set up by the 475th Group. Living at Clark Field was great compared to all the other places in the past. Flying consisted mainly of close support for U S Army troops on Luzon with a few strafing missions to Formosa. In May Capt. Daniel Cherry returned to the USA and he was replaced by Capt. Carlos Dannacher (now Col, ret) who had a previous tour with the 40th in New Guinea.
We fly 161 as Bishops in the LWArenas. We have our own European wing, which is filling up quick. Our P-47D25 has already been skinned, and our P-39D is awaiting download in-game.
http://40thfs.spruz.com(yes, I know there are 2 threads. Other one just got too filled up.)
