361st Fighter Group (USAAF)

The 361st Fighter Group (USAAF) provided fighter escorts for the Eighth Air Force's strategic bombing campaign and also carried out a number of ground attack missions.

The group was formed in the US in February 1943 and crossed the Atlantic to join the Eighth Air Force in November 1943. Its main role for the rest of the war was to provide fighter escorts for the Eighth's heavy bombers.

As with most of the Eighth Air Force's fighter units, the 361st also carried out a range of ground attack missions and fighter sweeps. It took part in the Big Week attack on the Luftwaffe (February 1944), supported the D-Day landings and the breakout from St Lo and Operation Market Garden (September 1944)

The group took part in the Battle of the Bulge. Bad weather limited the air involvement early in the battle, but it cleared at the end of the December. On 26 December the 361st carried out fighter sweeps and escorted medium bombers on a busy day for the tactical air forces.

In February 1945 the 361st and 352nd Fighter Groups became the first in the Eighth Air Force to move to the Continent, moving to Chievres in Belgium. VIII Fighter Command had moved to Charleroi in the previous month, but plans to move heavy bomber units were abandoned. The group returned to England in April 1945 and flew its last combat mission on 20 April 1945.

The group returned to the US in November 1945 and was inactivated on 10 November.

Books

‘Big Week’ 1944 – Operation Argument and the breaking of the Jadgwaffe, Douglas C. Dildy. Looks at the USAAF’s concentrated attack on the German aircraft industry, a week of massive bombing raids that forced the Luftwaffe into an equally massive defensive effort that cost them around 150 aircrew at a time when they could hardly afford those losses, as well as cutting German fighter production by around 2,000 aircraft, and proving that the long range escort fighter was the key to a successful daylight bombing campaign (Read Full Review)

Aircraft

Timeline

Commanders (with date of appointment)

Col Thomas J J Christian Jr: 10 Feb 1943
Col Ronald F Fallows: 14 Aug 1944
Lt Col Roy B Caviness: 31 Aug 1944
Lt Col Joseph J Kruzel: 20 Sep 1944
Lt Col Roy B Caviness: 3 Nov 1944
Col Junius W Dennison Jr: 2 Dec 1944
Lt Col Roy B Caviness: 15 Apr 1945
Col John D Landers: 29 Jun 1945-unkn.

Main Bases

Richmond AAB, Va: 10 Feb 1943
Langley Field, Va: 26 May 1943
Millville AAFld, NJ: 20 Jul 1943
Camp Springs AAFld, Md: 28 Aug 1943
Richmond AAB, Va: 20 Sep-11 Nov 1943
Bottisham, England: 30 Nov 1943
Little Walden, England: 26 Sep 1944
Chievres, Belgium: 1 Feb-Apr 1945
Little Walden, England: 9 Apr-3 Nov 1945
Camp Kilmer, N J: 9-10 Nov 1945.

Component Units

374th Fighter Squadron: 1943-1945
375th Fighter Squadron: 1943-1945
376th Fighter Squadron: 1943-1945

Assigned To

July-September 1943: Philadelphia Fighter Wing; I Fighter Command; First Air Force
1943-1944: 66th Fighter Wing; VIII Fighter Command; Eighth Air Force
September 1944-: 67th Fighter Wing; 1st Air Division; Eighth Air Force
1944-1945: 65th Fighter Wing; 2nd Air Division; Eighth Air Force
23 Dec 1944-31 Jan 1945: Attached to 100th Fighter Wing; XIX Tactical Air Command
1945: 66th Fighter Wing; 3rd Air Division; Eighth Air Force
1945: 65th Fighter Wing; 2nd Air Division; Eighth Air Force

How to cite this article: Rickard, J (1 October 2014), 361st Fighter Group (Second World War), http://www.historyofwar.org/air/units/USAAF/361st_Fighter_Group.html

28 January 1943	Constituted as 361st Fighter Group
10 February 1943	Activated
November 1943	To England and Eighth Air Force
21 January 1944	Combat debut
20 April 1945	Last combat mission
November 1945	To United States
10 November 1945	Inactivated