Robert Punchy Powell Signed The Bluenosed Bastards' of Bodney 352d Fighter Group

FROM WIKIPEDIA:

The 352d Fighter Group was activated at Mitchel Field, New York on 1 October 1942, and quickly moved to Bradley Field, Connecticut to begin organization. The group was equipped with the Republic P-47 Thunderbolt fighter. The initial squadrons to be assigned were the 21st and 34th Fighter Squadrons (under the command of 1st Lt John C. Meyer) and the newly activated 328th. On 18 May 1943 the assignment of the 21st and 34th Squadrons was retroactively revoked and they were replaced by the 486th and 487th Fighter Squadrons effective 1 October 1942.

The group absorbed new personnel, moving several times from Bradley Field to Westover Field, Massachusetts in November and then to Trumbull Field, Connecticut in January 1943 where it received the majority of personnel. Once aircraft were received and pilots proficient, the squadrons were assigned to alert duty over New York City, operating from LaGuardia Airport where pilots often performed acrobatic maneuvers on takeover much to chagrin of the tower, routinely buzzed Yankee Stadium and engaged in dogfights over the city thereby garnering attention of authorities. Shortly thereafter, the 328th was moved back to Mitchel Field in and was joined by the 487th in March. The 486th moved to Republic Field on 8 March. Training was in its advanced phase when the group was reassembled at Westover in late May in anticipation of deployment orders. The order to deploy arrived in June and the group moved to Camp Kilmer, New Jersey to prepare to embark aboard the ocean liner RMS Queen Elizabeth, leaving on 1 July 1943 for Scotland and service with the Eighth Air Force.

The first missions of the 352d were flown on 9 September 1943 when the Thunderbolts flew an escort mission over the North Sea protecting Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress bombers returning from a raid over continental Europe. Skirmishes with the Luftwaffe were frequent, but it wasn't until 26 November when Major John C. Meyer of the 487th Squadron scored the group's first victory over Europe, a Messerschmitt Me 109 fighter. Meyer later became deputy commander of the 352d during its most successful period of operations.

On 8 April 1944, the 352d exchanged its radial-engined P-47s for sleek North American P-51 Mustang fighter planes. It was then that the Group adopted their unique blue nose marking and the nickname the "Blue Nosed Bastards of Bodney." In the end, the Group flew nearly 60,000 combat hours in 19 months, claimed 519 enemy aircraft destroyed in the air (fourth highest among the fifteen groups of VIII Fighter Command), 287 on the ground and produced 26 aces for losses in combat of 118 aircraft. Notable pilots of the 352d include top scoring P-51 aces Major George Preddy and Col. John C. Meyer, Captain Donald S. Bryan, Lt. Robert "Punchy" Powell, Capt. John "Smokey" Stover, Capt. John Thornell, Capt. William C. Miller, Capt. Raymond Littge and Capt. William T. Whisner.

One of the 352d's greatest accomplishments was its huge victory over the Luftwaffe on 1 January 1945. In December 1944, the 352d received orders to deploy to Asch Airfield, a remote field approximately 3 miles south-southeast of As, Belgium. After arriving on 22 January, it began operating on the 24th. Poor weather hampered flight operations and the Battle of Bulge was raging nearby. Unknown to the Allies, the Luftwaffe was preparing a New Year's Day attack, designated Operation Bodenplatte against sixteen forward deployed Allied airfields in the area. Similar to the preparations for the Battle of Bulge, the Luftwaffe had been quietly preparing and assembling virtually every available fighter on the Western Front and had an estimated 800 fighters and fighter bombers ready to execute an attack when the Allies might be off guard following celebration of New Year's Eve. The concept was simple – a mass attack on newly established continental bases to destroy as many Allied aircraft on the ground and ease the pressure on German ground forces engaged in the battle of the Bulge. However, many of the Luftwaffe pilots were poorly trained and did not have the experience necessary to battle seasoned Allied pilots.

John C. Meyer had risen to be Deputy Commander of the 352d by December and was now a lieutenant colonel. He suspected that the Germans might use New Year's Day as an opportunity to attack and decided to have Y-29 in readiness when the sun rose. While haggling with higher authorities at Ninth Air Force throughout the night, he ordered a squadron assigned to do a morning sweep and ordered the pilots not to engage in any alcoholic celebration the night prior. Although he did not get permission until 0800, he joined the 487th Fighter Squadron in the frigid cold of the snowy weather at 0530 preflighting their Mustangs and was sitting in the cockpit of the lead aircraft. As the Mustangs were awaiting take-off for the morning patrol, their airfield was overrun with Luftwaffe fighters from Jagdgeschwader 11 (JG.11).

Nevertheless, when the group of 50+ Bodenplatte aircraft of JG.11 showed up over Y-29, the 12 blue-nosed Mustangs of the 487th were queuing for take-off with Meyer in the lead Mustang. While accelerating down the snow-packed runway, Lt. Col. Meyer opened the day's count by shooting down a German fighter in a head-on pass as it tried to strafe a parked Douglas C-47 Skytrain next to the runway. The German had not noticed the P-51 taking off. Meyer began firing before his wheels fully retracted and downed the marauding Focke Wulf FW.190. Though surrounded by strafing fighters, every one of the 487th planes got off the ground to meet their attackers.

In the battle that followed, 24 Luftwaffe fighters were destroyed by the 352d Group. However, one pilot, Lt. Dean Huston, was forced to belly land his P-51 after its cooling system was holed from the fire of zealous British antiaircraft gunners. Two pilots of the 487th claimed 4 German fighters shot down. The 487th received the Distinguished Unit Citation. Meyer, Capt. Stanford Moats, and Capt. William T. Whisner, who scored his fourth victory while his Mustang was starting to overheat from battle damage, were each awarded the Distinguished Service Cross and four other pilots were award the Silver Star. Despite the group losing a couple of aircraft to battle damage, not a single pilot was lost during the New Year's Day battle. But the tragedy of war was never far away. During the afternoon of the same day, fighters of the 328th Squadron were patrolling the skies above As when they spotted what they thought were four inbound enemy aircraft. Due to static on radio communications with the 328th, identification of the aircraft came too late, and one of the approaching aircraft was shot down, crashing near the village of Zutendall. The aircraft turned out to be RAF Hawker Typhoons of 183 Squadron from Gilze-Rijen on their way to their new base at Chievres. The pilot who was killed in the Typhoon that was shot down was F/Lt. Don Webber.