359th Fighter Group

Welcome to the Web Site of the 359th Fighter Group Association.

The 359th Fighter Group was activated on 15 January 1943 at Westover Field, Massachusetts under Lt.Col. Avelin P "Hard Tack" Tacon Jr. After a period of training on the Republic P-47 Thunderbolt, the group left for Camp Kilmer, New Jersey on 2 October 1943 and departed the US before dawn on 8 October as part of a large convoy heading for Great Britain, to become the latest addition to the 8th Air Force.

Based at Station 133, East Wretham, Norfolk for the duration of hostilities, the 359th carried out their first operational mission on 13 December 1943, being led by Maj. Luther Richmond of the 352nd Fighter Group based at Bodney. The final mission of the war was flown on 25 April 1945

This site is currently in its infancy but as it progresses, visitors will be presented with unique data so that not only will individual pilots be shown with details of every mission they flew as well as their flight position, a/c code and serial number but complete mission line-ups giving similar details. The complexity of presenting this extent of information on a web site is quite daunting but work is progressing well. Please check back often to catch up on improvements to the site.

Pilot Listing

View an online index of the 359th FG pilots.

Pilot List

The Outer Circle

The outer Circle is the Association's newsletter, ably compiled and edited by Gigi Paddock. Gigi is one of the dedicated band of "second generation" supporters that help the 359th maintain a strong presence. The daughter of 359th Ace pilot George "Pop" Doersch, Gigi has taken on the task of producing the newsletter and it goes from strength to strength. Previous copies are available below in pdf format. If you do not have a copy of Acrobat Reader, please click on the link to download a free copy.

Acknowledgements:

Thanks go to Association Historian Char Baldridge and husband John for tireless work at the National Archives and helping preserve the unit photo collection. To Ted Damick, ace researcher and all-round great guy, who spent endless weeks converting the information gleaned at Archives II into useable format as displayed here. To René Burtner, Mustang pilot and evader of the 369th Fighter Squadron for preserving the photo collection digitally. To Gigi Paddock (nee Doersch) for her great work in helping the association members keep in touch by her excellent "Outer Circle" newsletters. (available on site). To all others connected with the 359th FG Association for their dedication in preserving the memory of a first class fighter group.

Web site content and design by Peter and Stewart Randall of www.littlefriends.co.uk Digital artwork by Ronnie Olsthoorn of Skyraider3D