PORTLAND, Ore. -- The contribution of the 142nd Wing, designated the 371st Fighter Group in World War II, to the Allied landing in Normandy on D-Day is documented in previous articles published on this website. Such as “Chomping at the Bit: The 371st Fighter Group’s Start on D-Day,” posted at: https://www.142wg.ang.af.mil/News/Article-Display/Article/4207134/chomping-at-the-bit-the-371st-fighter-groups-start-on-d-day/
The unit’s 111 sorties on D-day were part of the estimated 14,000 to 15,000 sorties flown by Allied aircraft on the Longest Day. Some 113 Allied aircraft were lost in D-Day operations, including a P-47 from the 371st Fighter Group, with three other group P-47s damaged.
But the tempo didn’t decrease in the early stages after the landings, as the Allies fought to expand their beachheads in Normandy. And the enemy, fully alerted, began to move troops and equipment to contest the landings on land, air and sea.
Flight Officer Wesley R. “Bob” Izzard from Amarillo, Texas, a Republic P-47 Thunderbolt pilot assigned to the 404th Fighter Squadron, wrote of that period in the days after D-Day in his 1994 book Winged Boot. He wrote about his mission flown on the morning of June 8. “The eight of us were a full Squadron effort for the 404th Squadron of the 371st Fighter Group on D-Day plus two. Normally we would have had sixteen ships in this flight. Our losses in equipment had been staggering for the past two days.”
On June 7, the 371st Fighter Group surged, flying 144 sorties in three missions over Normandy. In the morning, 48 P-47s (16 Thunderbolts from each of the group’s three fighter squadrons) escorted some 50-60 C-47 transports towing gliders to the Carentan, France area to reinforce the airborne troops who landed the night before. One P-47 was damaged, its rudder pierced by a 20mm shell.
In the afternoon, the group flew 48 sorties to dive bomb rail lines north/northeast of Rennes. Three aircraft returned damaged. The pilot whose plane was hit in the morning mission was struck again, this time in a wing. An evening mission of 48 sorties was flown too, dive bombing against “defended localities,” and armed reconnaissance over Normandy, with one P-47 coming back with a two-foot chunk of railroad tie embedded in its right wing.
Izzard continued: “Our job was shooting up the German flak positions in Normandy. We tried to keep as many Germans pinned down as possible. While our invasion was rolling ashore on Omaha and Utah beaches. We had worked on Cherbourg and down the peninsula. Anything that moved in the Bocage or hedgerow country had been raked by our eight 50s in each plane. It was flying from five o’clock in the morning to midnight each night.”
A few pilots had been wounded and killed but mostly it was dragging a plane across the English Channel into our field just north of Bournemouth with holes all the way through it. The agony of flying over water with your engine hit and spilling its lifeblood of oil and gas in a dirty stream out the turbocharger on the bottom rear of your plane, drained you of your last ounce of adrenaline.”
Two days of all out fighting took its measure of resistance and on the equipment. For the four o’clock mission on D plus two there were only eight planes left in flying condition. The old heads were worn out. Only those of us fresh and new to combat were left. The leader had ten missions. His wingman lead (sic) two. I was the element leader on my eighth mission. My wing man had four. The second flight was the same way.”
On June 8, 1944 just as his squadron reached the end of their assigned combat air patrol time period over Normandy and were to be relieved by some P-51 Mustangs from Eighth Air Force, Lt. Izzard soon found himself relieved of his aircraft as German Luftwaffe ME-109 fighters showed up first.
June 8 saw some sharp losses as the group experienced its first encounters with the Luftwaffe. Izzards squadron lost him and his aircraft, and three other aircraft returned with damage and a wounded pilot too. In the afternoon another three P-47s lost, with two pilots eventually recovered and one who remains missing in action until this day, as well as one more P-47 that returned damaged. But the Luftwaffe paid a price too in these air battles, which you can read about in “First Blood in the Air,” posted at: https://www.142wg.ang.af.mil/News/Features/Display/Article/864380/first-blood-in-the-air/
D-Day was a momentous operation, but it was just the start of the western Allies effort on the European continent. Bob Izzard, with help from French citizens in evading capture, returned to his squadron and continued flying combat in the P-47. He eventually completed 150 combat missions. Izzard was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross, Purple Heart, Air Medal with 14 oak leaf clusters, the Distinguished Unit Citation (Presidential Unit Citation today), the European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal with six bronze service stars which reflected his participation in designated military campaigns. He flew west in 2010 at the age of 87.
The 371st Fighter Group would play a key part in helping the ground forces achieve success in the Normandy campaign, and all the way to the final victory in the many hard days which followed.