I just came back to Aces High a couple of months ago and have been trying to decide what to do next. Then I started reading a book on the 31st Fighter Group and decided to start a squadron. The 31st operated in North Africa and Italy during most of WWII and flew Spitfires all but the last year of the war when they flew P-51's. This is from Wiki:
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"The 31st Pursuit Group (Interceptor) was constituted on 22 December 1939 and activated on 1 February 1940, at Selfridge Field, Michigan, with the 39th, 40th and 41st Pursuit squadrons. Its first commander was Lt. Col. Harold H. George, previously commander of the 94th Pursuit Squadron, also at Selfridge. The group trained and participated in Army maneuvers. The unit was redesignated the 31st Fighter Group on 15 May 1942 and was deployed to the European Theater. Most of the group moved to RAF Atcham England where it was assigned to Eighth Air Force. The stationing of the group personnel and aircraft was very haphazard, being assigned to various RAF stations in Kent and the East Midlands throughout its tenure in England.
The group arrived in the UK without its assigned aircraft as the Bell P-39 Airacobras they trained with in the United States were found unsuitable for long-distance formation ferry flights. The ground echelon sailed on the RMS Queen Elizabeth on 4 June 1942 arriving Clyde 10 June 1942. Pilots followed later that same month. In England the group was provided with British Supermarine Spitfire VBs by the Royal Air Force.
The 31st Fighter Group was the first group to commence operations with VIII Fighter Command.
It flew its first sorties with the RAF on 26 July, and its first squadron operation on 5 August. The 31st's first combat operation was on 19 August 1942, when it supported the Allied raid at Dieppe, France.
In August 1942, the 31st moved to RAF Westhampnett in Sussex until October before moving into Tafaraoui, Algeria on 8 November 1942 as part of Twelfth Air Force to take part in Operation Torch, the invasion of North Africa.
Once in North Africa, the group attacked motor transports, gun positions, and troop concentrations during the campaign for Algeria and French Morocco. It supported ground troops in Tunisia and provided cover for bomber and fighter aircraft. During May and June 1943, after being re-equipped with Mk VIII and Mk IX Spitfires, the 31st escorted naval convoys in the Mediterranean and bombers on raids to Pantelleria. It supported landings on Sicily in July, at Salerno in September, and at Anzio in January 1944. The group provided close air support of Allied ground forces in Italy and flew patrol and escort missions.
In April 1944, after being assigned to Fifteenth Air Force, the group was equipped with North American P-51B, C and D "Mustangs" and engaged primarily in missions to escort heavy bombers to enemy targets in Italy, France, Germany, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Austria, Hungary, Bulgaria, Romania, Yugoslavia, and Greece. The 31st earned a Distinguished Unit Citation for a 21 April 1944 mission to cover a raid on production centers in Romania. It escorted reconnaissance and cargo aircraft participating in the airborne invasion of southern France. The unit strafed airdromes and communications targets. As part of a Fifteenth Air Force task force, it attacked targets in Romania while flying to Russia on 22 July 1944. After escorting P-38 Lightning aircraft from a Russian base for a raid on an airdrome in Poland on 25 July, it attacked a German fighter-bomber force and a truck convoy, earning a second Distinguished Unit Citation. In April 1945, when Allied forces pursued their final offensive in northern Italy, the group strafed enemy rail and highway traffic.
The 31st Fighter Group returned to Drew Field Florida in August 1945, where it was inactivated on 7 November."
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We will be flying Rook on Vox 131. My goal is to find guys 18 and older who want to get together and have fun flying Spitfires and P-51's most of the time. Let me know if you are interested and I'll send you an invitation that will pop up next time you log into the MA. That way you'll be able to find each other on the roster if I'm not online. I'm just going to send invitations to anyone who is interested so we can get to know each other and anyone who decides it's not a good fit can simply "unjoin."
With the Spitfires and P-51's we'll have great dogfighting and great jabo planes. Lot's of good skins for the 31st also, so it should be a fun squad once it gets going. I've got some ideas for squad night and other activities but we'll work that out once we get going.
I just moved and haven't finished unpacking yet but I'll be back online and flying more over the next week or so.
Cheers
