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Home , 335th Fighter Squadron, 336th Fighter Squadron, 4th Fighter Group, Battle of Britain, Charles Sweeny, Eagle Squadrons

Bettmann/Corbis photo

In World War II, a handful of American fliers answered Britain’s call for help.

The

By Tamar A. Mehuron, Associate Editor

y Sept. 19, 1940, the the expanding Army Air Forces pres- Bof Britain had depleted the ence there. The airmen then provided Royal . Its fighter pilots and an invaluable boost of experience to the were worn down and stretched green USAAF crews who soon began to the max. Responding to Britain’s call to arrive in in large numbers. for more pilots, however, was a small “Those stout-hearted fellows who came of American volunteers. from America to fight for us a year and In a brief ceremony that day at Church a half ago, still fight with us,” said Rob- Fenton, RAF Fighter Command stood up bie Robinson, Member of Parliament its first all-American fighter unit, No. 71 and first intelligence officer for No. 71 USAF Museum . This unit soon became known Squadron, in a speech thanking them to all as the Eagle Squadron, inspired on the BBC. by America’s national symbol. Within By the end of 1942, the former Eagle a year, they would be joined by two Squadrons, now comprising USAAF’s other Eagle outfits, No. 121 Squadron , were the only US and No. 133 Squadron. fighter group selected to remain to The three squadrons valiantly de- defend England, as most of the forces fended Britain in combat against the transferred to Africa for the North Eight members of the first Eagle Nazis from Feb. 5, 1941, until Sept. 29, African campaign. It was a long road Squadron, No. 71, return from a train- 1942, when they were assimilated into getting to that point, however. ing mission in . 72 AIR FORCE Magazine / October 2007 For Vernon C. Keough, Andrew operation, but still channeled recruits diploma, a minimum of 300 hours of Mamedoff, and Eugene Q. Tobin, three to Britain, via and then by sea certified flying time, a pilot’s license, original members of No. 71 Squadron, to English ports. and be single. the unit’s activation made reality of In this, he was aided by his nephew, The Eagles differed from their La- their push to fly the RAF’s hot mili- , a successful business- fayette Escadrille precursors in several tary fighters of the day, the Hawker man. Charles Sweeny got ’s areas. Many of the Escadrille pilots Hurricane and Spitfire. authorization to establish an American were well-educated and had come from And they were convinced that, sooner RAF fighter squadron. He organized wealthy, prominent Eastern families or later, America would be drawn into the volunteers, sent by his uncle, who and tended to view flying as a hobby for the war. They wanted to get in on the were to form the nucleus of the first the elite. The Eagles, for the most part, action on their terms—as volunteer Eagle Squadron. And he created the had high school educations and held fighter pilots, not as infantry draftees Eagle flash, inspired by the image on blue-collar or working-class jobs. Far in the US Army. It was a sentiment felt his US passport. from treating flying as a lark, they had by many of the Eagles. The Sweeny operation was not the solid backgrounds in aviation. Carroll Those Americans—244 in all—who only recruitment effort. Another, even McColpin, for example, had more than formed the three Eagle Squadrons larger supplier of American volunteers 450 hours of flight time. found their way to the RAF by various was what was called the All of them recognized that volun- routes, all of them chancy. One avenue Committee, which operated from April teering for the RAF was their ticket for volunteers was to enlist first in the 1940 to October 1942. Knight was a to fly fast military aircraft, and to get British or Canadian armed services, and aviator, admirer of the into the war on highly exciting terms. then try to transfer into the RAF. This Escadrille, and an aviation artist. At the Some were so eager to get in the British was the route taken by Eagle William behest of World War I ace William A. air service that they embellished their Dunn. He came into No. 71 Squadron Bishop, Knight obtained British support logbooks, registering more flight time in early 1941. for an organization that could tap into than was actually the case. Several, including Keough, Mame­ the large pool of American pilots. The Upon arrival in England, the vol- doff and Tobin, were assisted by Col. Knight Committee had considerable unteers were sent to an operational Charles Sweeny, a World War I Army reach as a result of a network of offices training unit for two to four weeks of throughout the . initial flight training in Although Britain supported both trainers, Hurricanes, and Spitfires. This the Sweeny and Knight operations, the was an important step in establishing a Knight Committee supplied more than common baseline of flight training in 80 percent of the pilots for the RAF’s fighters. When the volunteers completed Eagle Squadron No. 71 member Eagle Squadrons. Out of nearly 50,000 this training phase, they usually were William Dunn is shown wearing both Americans who signed up, the commit- assigned to an RAF squadron. the RAF brevet and the US Army Air Forces pilot wings. tee took 6,700 to become RAF pilots. There, the American volunteers were inculcated with the RAF cultural norms, A Passion for Flying military conduct, operations, and flying The Americans who volunteered were methods. The RAF approach was simple: mostly men under the age of 25. They If one could fly an , one could came from a wide variety of both blue- fly all airplanes. veteran and admirer of the successful, collar and middle-class jobs. With the RAF Fighter Command divided legendary . In his nation just emerging from the poverty Britain into geographic sectors called post-Great War life, he was a daring, of the Great Depression, they lacked groups. Each group contained major cit- flamboyant promoter, who in the late money for college. Some of them had ies and RAF bases, several of which were 1930s and early publicized to taken jobs in aviation or aviation-related used by the three Eagle Squadrons. Americans the French and British need industries. Thus, No. 11 Group included the cities for fighter pilots. His aim was to form All of them, somehow, were bound of London, , Dover, Southamp- an American squadron of fighter pilots, by their experience in or passion for ton, and , as well as the Eagle reprising the Escadrille. aviation. They came from all over the Squadron bases of North Weald, north of Sweeny carried out his recruitment United States, with many from Califor- London, , south of London, efforts in the face of stringent US Neu- nia, which was at the time the center of the coastal bases of Martlesham Heath trality Acts, which forbade Americans American aviation. Many lacked the and Southend-on-Sea, and Debden and to travel on the ships of combatant education and physical requirements to Great Sampford. nations or travel in a combat zone. get themselves into the coveted Army No. 12 Group, to the north, included Violators were supposed to be subjected Air training schools. The stipula- the cities of York, Manchester, Liv- to stiff fines and other legal sanctions. tion of two years of college and 20/20 erpool, , and Coventry, Sweeny’s recruitment activities in 1939 eyesight shut the door to many worthy and housed the Eagle Squadron bases and 1940 thus earned him the ire of the candidates. of Church Fenton, Kirton-in-Lindsey, US authorities. The RAF had less stringent standards. Colly Weston, Coltishall, Fowlmere, Still, he was successful in finding There was no college requirement, and and . volunteers. After the calamitous fall a prospective pilot’s eyesight could be No. 13 Group covered the north, as of in June 1940, the US halted 20/40 if corrective lenses could pro- well as and Northern Ireland, prosecution of violators of the Neu- duce 20/20 vision. Applicants had to which housed the sole Eagle Squadron trality Acts. Sweeny pared down his have a birth certificate, a high school base of Eglinton near Londonderry. AIR FORCE Magazine / October 2007 73 Staff Illustration by Zaur Eylanbekov

Maj. William Daley brought with him this Spitfire Mk VB No. EN853 AV-D (shown as it appeared in November 1942), into the USAAF’s . On May 14, 1941, the RAF stood up to 30-minute alert. In this situation, the to meet up with a force of the second Eagle Squadron, No. 121, pilots could be in their quarters or the in midchannel between Bolthead and in Kirton-in-Lindsey, with a core of mess, spending time reading, writing, Morlaix. Once airborne, however, the experienced pilots and headed by an playing cards or pool, but they had to pilots flew in heavy overcast and were RAF veteran of the be prepared to dash to their airplanes, unknowingly blown far south of their as . After two months most often to replace an that rendezvous point by 100 mph northern of training in Hurricane Is, the unit had already been scrambled. winds. They lost radio contact with switched to Hurricane IIBs, and was Great care was taken not to grind down ground control in England. declared operational July 21, 1941. the pilots. The Eagles could request time With fuel running low, the Eagles Just 11 days later, the third Eagle away from duty, and each squadron had met up with a group of bombers Squadron, No. 133, stood up, moved to a different day off. There was also a returning to England, and began to Duxford, and spent the month of Sep- stand-down day, with individual leaves escort them back to base. One of the tember training. As with the predecessor on top of that. Spitfire pilots requested permission squadrons, No. 133 began with convoy Weather conditions proved to be to go down through the cloud cover patrol duties, their target area covering almost as formidable a foe as the Luft- to determine their location, and the the . waffe. Bad weather led to the crashes entire flight went with him. When All three Eagle Squadrons were com- of two No. 133 aircraft in October 1941. the squadron broke out of the cloud manded at first by English RAF squadron Poor weather grounded No. 71 Squadron cover, they were over Brest, France, leaders, which afforded the Eagles more for much of January 1942. Then, the flying in the teeth of a huge German grounding in RAF operations. Later, weather cleared. That April, the squad- anti-aircraft artillery trap. they were commanded by Americans. ron flew 661 missions, and on April 27, Four Eagle pilots were shot down and All three units also began by flying during a escort mission over St. killed, six more were shot down and convoy escort missions in Hurricanes Omer, American squadron commander taken as prisoners of war. One Eagle and transitioned later to Spitfires. Chesley Peterson downed two enemy crash-landed in England and was criti- By October 1941, No. 71 Squadron aircraft, with other squadron members cally injured. The final pilot bailed out had wielded the Spitfire so effectively destroying three more. and made his way back to England with in combat that it led all of Fighter The three Eagle Squadrons flew the help of the French underground. Command in enemy aircraft destroyed. together in only one mission: a raid All 12 Spitfires were destroyed. The Eagles moved on to fighter sweeps on the French city of Dieppe on Aug. Three days later, on Sept. 29, 1942, in France. RAF operations called for 19, 1942. members of the three Eagle Squadrons fighters to undertake air defense mis- were transferred directly into the 4th sions, bomber escorts, and attacks on Disaster Strikes Fighter Group, US Army Air Forces. enemy targets. Designated Operation Jubilee, it was Having flown for Britain for two The pilots normally would be on three intended by the RAF as a dry run for an years, the Eagles brought to their green kinds of alert. Cockpit alert required the invasion of France. The raid was costly American units a core of badly needed pilot to be in or near the cockpit, ready to the RAF, but the Eagle Squadrons combat experience. After helping the to take off. This category called for the outdueled the on that day. For RAF in its time of desperate need, pilot to run the engine every half-hour, if the Eagle Squadrons, Dieppe’s bomber many of the Eagle pilots continued to weather permitted, so the aircraft would escort duty proved to be the high point serve valiantly for the remainder of have full power right as it started. of their service. The Eagles destroyed World War II. The second type of alert required the nine German aircraft and posted four Members of No. 71 Squadron merged pilot to stay in the alert shack or dispersal “probables.” into USAAF’s 334th Fighter Squadron. hut on the flight line. He was dressed in That victory was followed by disaster Those of No. 121 moved over to the flight clothes with his Mae West inflat- on Sept. 26, 1942. 335th Fighter Squadron. The Ameri- able life jacket on. His parachute would Squadron 133 was assigned to bomber cans in No. 133 Squadron became part sit on the wing, his helmet ready atop the escort duty for a mission to Morlaix, of USAAF’s . control stick. Once alerted, usually by France. The mission planner anticipated These units live on today as three of the telephone, he had two to three minutes a routine flight, with intermittent clouds squadrons flying F-15E Strike Eagles to get airborne. and a southerly 35 mph wind. Flying for the at Seymour The third alert category was the 15- brand-new Spitfires, the pilots were Johnson AFB, N.C. n 74 AIR FORCE Magazine / October 2007