Existing comment:
A New Mission:
The Summer of 1944 was a time of significant change for the 99th FS and the 332nd FG. In April, the 332nd FG would began [sic] to exchange its well-used P39Q Airacobras for the very capable Republic P-47 Thunderbolts and then only after one month traded up to the legendary North American P-51 Mustangs. In June 1944, the 99th FS would become the fourth squadron of the 332nd FG and would move to it's [sic] permanent base at Ramitelli. Most significantly, the 332nd FG would transfer from the 12th Air Force to the 15th Air Force where the nature of its missions would also change.
With the 12th Air Force, the operations of the 332nd FG had been more tactical in nature, providing close air support to ground forces and attacking enemy lines of communications in Italy and Southern France. The mission of the 15th Air Force was more strategic, involving offensive air operations against targets in Germany and occupied Europe including industrial and war-making capabilities. More specifically the new mission would require the pilots of the 332nd FG to escort and protect heavy bombers (the four-engined B-17's [sic] and B-24's [sic]) on long range bombing missions into Germany and occupied Europe. It had been learned on a number of earlier missions in which bombers had been sent unescorted to strike important target [sic] that the losses would be unsustainable.
The 14 October 1943 mission of the 8th Air Force to bomb the ball bearing manufacturing plants at Schweinfurt Germany (referred to as "Black Thursday") is probably the most sited example. On this mission, the bombers had to fly a significant part of the route unescorted as no Allied fighter aircraft had sufficient range to escort the bombers all the way to the target and back. They were mauled by the Luftwaffe. Of the 291 bombers dispatched, 77 bombers and 650 aircrew were loss [sic]. Since that time, the Americans had brought the North American P-51 Mustang on line. The high performance P-51 had sufficient range to escort the bombers to almost all targets and back and more than a match for most Axis fighters. The re-equipping of the 332nd FG with the P-47 Thunderbolts and then the P-51 Mustangs, and the transfer to the 15th Air Force marked the beginning of a new mission. On 8 June 1944, the 332nd FG flew its first strategic mission with it's [sic] pilots flying P-47D's [sic] escorted [sic] B-17's [sic] from the 5th Bomb Wing to attack Pola, Italy. |