PORTLAND, Ore. -- It was the Day of Days, D-Day, June 6, 1944. Soon after Allied troops began landing on the beaches in the Normandy region of France. On that Tuesday morning, Allied nations broadcasted word of the landings to let their populations know that the liberation of Nazi-occupied Europe had begun. In an evening national radio broadcast, President Roosevelt implored the American people to join him in prayer for success of the operation.
Preparation
Closer to the scene in England, members of the 371st Fighter Group, predecessors of the men and women serving in the 142nd Wing today, already suspected something was up when on June 4 they received orders to paint black and white stripes on the group’s P-47 Thunderbolt fighters based at their home field, Station 415 at Bisterne, in Hampshire, England, and to do so before dark.
The next day, June 5, was calm after a mission in the morning, with an afternoon awards ceremony after which the men were notified that they were restricted to base and encouraged to get a good night’s rest. Was it another dry run, or the real thing?
Overnight hours perhaps answered the questions for those doubting. “That night, sleeping in our cots, we slowly awakened to the consciousness that the usual drone of friendly planes overhead had increased a thousand-fold and that an unusually large number of vehicles seemed to be whirring and clattering along the normally quiet roads around us. By the time we were turned out for 0400 pre-flight and briefing, we knew the score.”
Having experienced this, and then listening to the radio broadcasts while waiting on the ground at Bisterne, the men of the 371st Fighter Group were chomping at the bit to get into action. But considering the Allies had around 11,000 aircraft of all types available for D-Day operations, this overwhelming number couldn’t all be sent into the same airspace over the landings and adjacent areas at the same time. But their time soon came.
It was IX Fighter Command’s Operations Order (OpOrd) No. 346 which sent the group into action on that day. In the historical records of the group is a hand-written operations order, probably taken over the phone in the urgency of the day as Allied forces on land, sea and in the air fought to ensure the success of the initial landings. At bloody Omaha Beach that success was not yet clear.
The three fighter squadrons of the group, the 404th, 405th and 406th were tasked to fly their Republic P-47 Thunderbolts and seek German military traffic plying the roads of France from Coutances on the western side of the Normandy peninsula north-northeast to Carentan, Coutances eastward to St. Lo and Coutances north to La Haye-du-Puits. Group tasking also included patrol for enemy traffic from St. Lo northeast to within a mile southwest of Bayeux, and from Vire northward to Isigny-sur-Mer.
Instructions included to conduct armed reconnaissance of these elements of the transportation network and to attack military armored vehicles and transports. It was up to the group commander to decide how to cover the area with his squadrons, but that they were not to bomb any targets north of the areas assigned. Instantaneous fuzing of the 500-lb bombs was directed, and the group used AN/M103 nose and AN/M101-A1 tail fuzes. Takeoff time and time over the target area was directed to be “…as soon as possible.” It was time to fly and fight!
Execution
The group’s 405th Fighter Squadron (today’s 190th Fighter Squadron of the Idaho ANG) was the first to takeoff between 1241-1247, led by the commander Major Harvey L. Case, Jr. Eighteen P-47s took part in the mission, which included four as escorts and two as spares. Each of the fighter-bombers carried three 500-lb bombs while the escorts carried 100-gallon external fuel tanks on their bellies. Both bombers and escorts carried plentiful .50-caliber machine gun ammunition for each of their aircraft’s eight .50-caliber machine guns, at least 1,600 rounds total per plane, for 200-rounds per gun, though the loadout may have varied between aircraft tasked as bomb-laden fighter-bombers, escorts with a single belly tank and radio relay.
Enroute to the operations area, they sighted at 1315 what they described as five German gunboats, stationery at the north side of the Isle of St. Anne, off the tip of the Normandy peninsula.
The squadron had to work under a 4,000-ft ceiling as it entered the area of operations at 1335 and found its first targets at the railroad station in St. Lo, where at 1345 they strafed two trains composed of two locomotives with 15 box cars each. The 14 fighter-bombers then flew westward and bombed the railroad marshalling yard at Coutances at 1350 hours. They began their bomb runs as high as they could, at 4,000 feet with unrestricted visibility below the clouds. The Thunderbolts dived at 30-degrees and released their weapons at 1,500 feet. They encountered meager flak over the target and observed at least two direct hits on tracks to help disrupt German rail movements.
Next, the 405th strafed 25 boxcars they found on the rail line up at La Haye-du-Puits and finished their time in the combat area by 1355. Pilots reported no road traffic in the areas they flew over during their time in the area of operations.
The group’s other two squadrons were up shortly thereafter, with the 406th Fighter Squadron led by commander Maj. Edwin D. “Jessie” Taylor up starting at 1255 with 20 ships (including four spares and two radio relays, which did not receive credit for a combat sortie) and back from 1445. One highlight of the mission was strafing a seven-car goods train with a flak car and shot up the engine from 20-feet in altitude near La-Haye-Pesnel, southeast of Granville. This particular attack may well have been by Maj. Taylor himself, a former Eagle Squadron fighter pilot known for his aggressiveness and daring.
The 404th (today’s 186th Airlift Squadron, Montana ANG, a fighter squadron before 2014), led by its commander Maj. Rodney E. Gunther, followed with takeoff of 18 P-47s beginning at 1516 hours, and landings starting at 1650. The group’s last mission under OpOrd No. 346 encountered some alert German anti-aircraft gunners, who reminded group members that freedom isn’t free when they tagged a P-47D-20-RA, serial number 43-25278, piloted by 2nd Lt. Joseph E. Larochelle.
The Group’s First Prisoner of War
Missing Air Crew Report 5540 (MACR 5540) filed on June 9 contained a statement by Capt. William J. Mueller which described Lt. Larochelle’s loss:
“I was leading the second flight of four ships on the date that Lt. Larochelle went down. As we approached Granville from the north, we cut inside of the town and flew west. We saw a locomotive in the marshalling yards at Granville. I called out the train to the squadron commander and he said to go down and get it.
“We were at an altitude of approximately 2500 to 3000 feet about 3 miles west from Granville. We dove down in string and strafed and bombed the train. I pulled up to the left to an altitude of approximately 2000 feet. Lt Larochelle apparently pulled straight ahead off the target and the second element pulled off to the right.
“Lt Larochelle called and said, “Hello, Trademark Yellow Leader, this is Trademark Yellow 2. I’ve been hit and I believe I’m going to bail out.” I turned to the right and saw a single ship. It was completing a turn back towards Granville and then turned south paralleling the beach at an altitude of about 1500 feet. There was no smoke coming from the ship. The ship began to go in a shallow glide. When the ship was approximately at an altitude of about 800 feet I saw a length of parachute. A second later it blossomed. About six seconds later Lt Larochelle hit the water. I did not see him open his life raft as there was anti-aircraft fire shooting all the time. The airplane did not catch fire when it hit the water. Lt Larochelle landed about 150-200 yards off shore on a shallow appearing beach.”
Lt. Larochelle became the group’s first prisoner of war and survived his captivity to return home after the war. Capt. Mueller, formerly in the Minnesota National Guard’s 151st Field Artillery before he joined the Army and learned to fly, was subsequently killed in action on July 31, 1944 near Mortain, France. Capt. Mueller had flown 78 missions by that point, and was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross and Air Medal with two Silver Oak Leaf Clusters. He is buried in the Brooklyn-Crystal Cemetery in Brooklyn Park, Hennepin County, Minnesota at Lot 143A, Grave 11. The priceless blood of patriots and expensive treasure of the nation pay for the freedom which we enjoy.
D-Day Summary
And thus the 371st Fighter Group accomplished its first operational tasking on D-Day under OpOrd 346. 57 aircraft completed the mission, fired 34,568 rounds of .50-cal and dropped 128 500-lb bombs (32 tons) on the enemy.
A second mission under IX Fighter Command OpOrd No. 349 awaited them later in the day which saw them return to the continent to dive bomb German gun positions near the newly-established beachheads. Successful sorties were completed by 54 aircraft which fired another 15,369 rounds of .50-cal and dropped another 147 500-lb bombs (36.75 tons) on the enemy.
Fortunately, no further losses were incurred that day, though Lt. Rochelle and his ship were lost, and four other aircraft were damaged by flak. But the landings were successful, the toehold soon expanded into a foothold and more, and the 371st Fighter Group was proudly part of the successful Allied team in the great endeavor of D-Day.