Need info on 18th FG or other Guadalcanal P-40 units (1 Viewer)

[Steamed_Banana]

After reading a thread here which brought me to Claringbould's new Pacific Adversaries books about fighting in the Solomons in 1943, I notice once again the 44th FS flying missions out of Guadalcanal with P-40Fs, and later (though Claringbould misidentifies them a few times as Fs) P-40Ms, which they seem to have switched to in later 1943 probably due to the Fs running out. There are a few photos of 44th FS and some other mysterious unit's P-40Fs (identifiable by the lack of an intake scoop on the top of the fuselage) with the vertical white stripe camouflage marking.

I've been curious about this unit for a long time because it seems to be the only Pacific Theater unit that flew the merlin engined F (and maybe L) but the information about the unit is very sketchy, at least from what I've been able to find. Claringbould's books renewed my interest because one of these squadrons - 44th FS in particular, seems to have done quite well against the Japanese in each of the several engagements he researches. Better than the F4U units in the battles Claringbould covers, though he always treats their role in the battles as an afterthought at best.

I'd seen this squadron attributed to the 18th FG, which was a unit that got wiped out during the attack at Pearl Harbor and then reformed, and I've also seen these identified as part of a 347th FG. But when I look both 18th FG and 347th FG up, what (very little) information I can find seems to indicate they were flying P-39s and P-38s during 1943-44, and yet here are various missions of 44th FS in these operational histories showing them flying P-40Fs and then by the fall, P-40Ms and later Ns.

Does anyone have a good source on either of these units or know more about the Guadalcanal / Solomons USAAF Warhawk units?

What I wan to know is, was it just the 44th FS? Each of those two fighter groups had three squadrons but I can't find much about them and only see P-40F photos attributed to 44th FS. Which if either of these FG was based at Guadalcanal / Espiritu Santo and later further up the island chain heading toward Rabaul. Or was it some other unit or was 44th FS just detached?

Also anything else anyone can find about the operational history of 44th FS or any other Solomons P-40 units would be very appreciated. There seem to be a few aces with 44th FS but I don't know how many and couldn't find a list.

While we are at it I'm also interested in the RNZAF units (was it more than one squadron?) though I do have some data on those guys.

 

[Dana Bell]

As with many other Seventh AF squadrons, the 44th was transferred between groups and independent stations as needed. Here's the best book I've seen on that unit:

Vampire Squadron!: A History of the 44th Fighter Squadron in World War II, 1941-1945: Starke, William H.: 9780918837028: Amazon.com: Books

Vampire Squadron!: A History of the 44th Fighter Squadron in World War II, 1941-1945 [Starke, William H.] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. Vampire Squadron!: A History of the 44th Fighter Squadron in World War II, 1941-1945

www.amazon.com

Hope you can find an inexpensive copy...

Cheers,


Dana

 

[Steamed_Banana]

Fantastic thank you

 

[Steamed_Banana]

As with many other Seventh AF squadrons, the 44th was transferred between groups and independent stations as needed. Here's the best book I've seen on that unit:

Vampire Squadron!: A History of the 44th Fighter Squadron in World War II, 1941-1945: Starke, William H.: 9780918837028: Amazon.com: Books

Vampire Squadron!: A History of the 44th Fighter Squadron in World War II, 1941-1945 [Starke, William H.] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. Vampire Squadron!: A History of the 44th Fighter Squadron in World War II, 1941-1945

www.amazon.com

Hope you can find an inexpensive copy...

Cheers,


Dana

I see what you mean about finding that book... yikes that's a bit beyond my reach. Somebody needs to revive this thing with a PoD

 

[Steamed_Banana]

But it's interesting to learn that 44th FS was kind of a 'fire brigade' unit, that fits what little i was able to find...

 

[Buz101]

S Steamed_Banana

44FS flew P-40F (both long and shorts) as well as P-40M's with 100 series numbers of the Cowls (such as P-40F #111 "Destitute Prostitute" and P-40M #126 "The Twerp" etc) and the 68th FS flew P-40F long tailed (previously had flown P-40E-1's out of Tongatabu and Noumea), however this later Unit was not part of the 18th FG, but did fly out of Guadalcanal so I've included them (they were part of the 347th FG and had a mixed bag of aircraft, including P-40, P-39, P-400 etc).

44th FS was not part of the 18th FG when they started flying out of Guadalcanal, as they had transferred to the 318th FG on the 20th Oct 1942, but did transfer back to the 18th during Mar 43

Drop me a PM if you're after anything additional, I may be able to help you a little.

Buz

 

[Steamed_Banana]

S Steamed_Banana

44FS flew P-40F (both long and shorts) as well as P-40M's with 100 series numbers of the Cowls (such as P-40F #111 "Destitute Prostitute" and P-40M #126 "The Twerp" etc) and the 68th FS flew P-40F long tailed (previously had flown P-40E-1's out of Tongatabu and Noumea), however this later Unit was not part of the 18th FG, but did fly out of Guadalcanal so I've included them (they were part of the 347th FG and had a mixed bag of aircraft, including P-40, P-39, P-400 etc).

Very interesting, thank you! So it sounds like 68th FS is the other squadron I was looking for that was flying P-40Fs or Ls for a while.

I gather 44th FS also shifted from P-40Fs to P-38s eventually, though I don't know the timeline of this. Do you have a TO&E timeline for which fighter types these units used and when?

I gather as the P-40F/L ran out in later 1943 they switched to M, did they also use Ks? Do you know when they transitioned to P-38s?

44th FS was not part of the 18th FG when they started flying out of Guadalcanal, as they had transferred to the 318th FG on the 20th Oct 1942, but did transfer back to the 18th during Mar 43

Again very interesting! I am gathering here that this unit was in the 'fire brigade' role and moved around a lot. Do you know which (if any) other bases they flew out of? i gather from Clairingbould's operational histories that they moved up the Solomons island chain somewhat.

Drop me a PM if you're after anything additional, I may be able to help you a little.

Buz

I will thanks!

 

[Buz101]

Again very interesting! I am gathering here that this unit was in the 'fire brigade' role and moved around a lot. Do you know which (if any) other bases they flew out of? i gather from Clairingbould's operational histories that they moved up the Solomons island chain somewhat.

Sorry I don't have the condensed organizational history of 44FS (only the "normal" history) however did find the following if any use to you (I don't vouch for the accuracy but was from a USAAF source)..

Wheeler Field, TH, 1 Jan 1941
Bellows Field, TH, 7 Nov 1941
Wheeler Field, TH, 12 Dec 1941
Kaneohe, TH, 27 Dec 1941
Wheeler Field, TH, 25 Jan 1942
Bellows Field, TH, 23 Jun–23 Oct 1942
Efate, New Hebrides, 7 Nov 1942 (air echelon operated from Guadalcanal, 20 Dec 1942–20 Mar 1944)
Espiritu Santo, 25 Oct 1943 (air echelon operated from Treasury Island, Solomon Islands, 20 Mar–25 Apr 1944, and from Guadalcanal, 11 May–16 Jul 1944)
Guadalcanal, 17 Jul 1944
Cape Opmarai, New Guinea, 23 Aug 1944 (air echelon operated from Morotai, 7 Nov 1944–16 Jan 1945)
Lingayen, Luzon, 13 Jan 1945
San Jose, Mindoro, 26 Feb 1945 (air echelon operated from Palawan, 26 Apr–13 May 1945)
Zamboanga, Mindanao, 4 May–Nov 1945

I gather as the P-40F/L ran out in later 1943 they switched to M, did they also use Ks? Do you know when they transitioned to P-38s?

First to answer the K models, I believe they had around 5 of them at one point, by Mar 43 they were flying a mixed bag of F/K/M models, in Jul this reduced to just F and M models. As to the P-38's I believe Nov 43 was when they started to receive them, certainly the mission on the 6th Dec was made up of 15 P-38's

Buz

 

[Steamed_Banana]

Ok so flying P-40s in Guadalcanal area from Dec 42 until Nov 43?

 

[MIflyer]

Great Picture! Love the big fat drop tank! Glad I was not in that mudhole.

 

[Steamed_Banana]

Fantastic! I've seen that plane before (it's a bit famous I think) but never that photo. My guess is this is shortly after a rain.

 

[Buz101]

Nice image, quite well know, of interest the aircraft behind is also a P-40F-15CU, with the one you can just see the nose of being an M of some form (-5 or -10). IIRC the image was taken around Aug 1943 at Munda.

Buz

 

[Steamed_Banana]

I've got the Special Hobby kit of this exact aircraft. Making it right now along with two Sword P-40Ks all in 1/72