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The 50th K-9, Hahn AB, West Germany: 10th FS |
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WELCOME TO |
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Our guide, Supply Sergeant, Tom Johnson aka Arkie, of the 10th Fighter Squadron, will share his insight and his wartime experiences to the real squadron history of the 10th, from Lymington ALG #551, England, to Carentan A-10 France, to Germany and the end of the war. Arkie joined the 10th FS, 1943 at Key Field AB, Florida; the unit shipped out on board the HMS Sterling Castle, on March 23, 1944 and according to Arkie, arrived April 4th at Lymington Advance Landing Ground #551, England. Arkie's job was to pass our the tools and parts to the P-47 crews, the hours were long and unusal. Ninth AF "Fighter Command inisisted, we have 25 planes serviceable!" "We did!" |
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The 10th Fighter Squadron was constituted as the 10th Pursuit Squadron (Interceptor) at Selfridge Field, MI, on November 20, 1940. It was activated on January 15, 1941. The squadron first flew the Vultee BT-13 and quickly converted to the Seversky P-35. Our guide, Thomas J. Johnson, aka Arkie, of Cabot, Arkansas, was inducted into the Army's Air Force on October 22, 1942 and fourteen days later started active service November 5th. After basic training, Arkie, who was a 'Time keeper,' in civilan life, was sent to AAF Technical (Supply) School and trained as a Clerk Typist. The 10th PS moved to Key Field, MS on October 3, 1941; and then to Orlando AB, Florida on March18,1942, where it was re- designated the 10th Fighter Squadron, 50th Fighter Group, on May 15, 1942. The squadron moved to Zephyr Hills, Florida on January 4, 1943.  Arkie - "Well finally, no more training...I have my assignment, the 10th Fighter Squadron, AAFSAT, at Zephyr Hills, Florida. My boss is a Tech/Sgt. Hayden, a real smart guy, really! The other guys in Supply, are OK too; there's Hal Fischer, then Bill Lurch and me. The squadron is flying P-51 Mustangs! While in Florida the 10th FS was assigned to the AAF School of Applied Tactics, where it trained pilots in combat tactics and air defense for the Fighter Command School; later on it trained cadres and key personnel of other units in fighter tactics, using the Curtis P-40 and North American's P-51 aircraft.  Arkie - "Been hearing rumors, about shipping out!" Arkie, after spending 1 year, 5 months and 28 days, in the Army, was sent overseas on March 23rd, 1944 to England. The unit returned to Orlando Air Base on January 29,1944 and departed from Camp Shanks, in New York, on March 23rd, for Lymington, England on board the British troop ship, the HMS Sterling Castle! Once outside New York's harbor, they joined up with the largest wartime convoy ever, to cross the Atlantic!  The Sterling Castle, was a converted cargo ship; on board the accomodations were very cramped, and the food, English, was very flat and odd to American taste; the crossing took a 'long fourteen days.' Arkie - "We knew the English had war rationing and not the greatest reputation for cooking but the Sterling Castle had a even worse reputation for palatable meals, so much so, that everyone used to call her, 'the Starving Castle.' Lucky for us, the AAF had a canteen on board or we would have had nothing decent to eat!" On the afternoon of April 3rd, the HMS Sterling Castle dropped anchor ...they had arrived in Liverpool, England. The squadron, once off the ship, immediately boarded a waiting train, heading south for Lymington ALG #551, arriving there on April 4th, 1944.  The 10th Fighter Squadron arrived at Lymington ALG #551, on April 4, 1944; soon afterwards, their P-47s arrived and they quickly started training in their new to them P-47 Thunderbolts. The 10th was the only 50th FG squadron trained in the new twin engine P-51 and P-40 but the squadron never received any training in the P-47 Thunderbolt, while stationed back in the states. Lymington, a 90 day temporary airfield, was built in 1943, by the RAF No. 5004 Airfield Construction Squadron. Originally a piece of farmland, it was located in Hampshire, near the New Forest, on the south eastern coast of England, across from the Isle of Wight. Akie - "Hal and me, took a walk, after supper, down to the harbor. Man, there's so many ships there, you could walk across them, from here to the Isle of Wight and not get your feet wet! They're all part of the invasion fleet! Hal got his ass chewed again, he shot a sea gull while we were there and an Army officer came up to him and read the riot act... said it made the troops jumpy hearing the shot. I guess he's right. I be alittle jumpy now too!" The only permanent structures, besides some farm buildings, was the five blister hangars. The group used tents and some mobile trailors for operations. Arkie - "Other than the hangars, the only permanent buildings belongs to the farm, one of them, the house, looked just like a castle. We had tents equipped with coal stoves and not much coal! The latrines were outside, a bucket arrangement and cold water. And mud ...lots of mud!!! The only good thing about Lymington were the pheasants...it had lots of pheasants! So naturally, this country boy went bird hunting; we didn't know that the owners had a gameskeeper too and we weren't allowed to hunt them, until it was to late. Heck, we didn't even have a chance to eat them!" Actually, what Arkie describe as a castle, was Pylewell House, one of England's old stately homes, (Pylewell contained over 100 rooms and certainly does look like a castle) which the airfield's main runway ran pass. Pylewell House and the farm land that the airfield was built on, was owned by the late Mr. Willian Ingham Whitaker, the present Lord Teynham's uncle. Air defense for the field was provided by a RAF AA Company and ground security by the units' own personnel, plus a small attachment of MP's. Arkie - "Had guard duty last night, stupid MP chewed out one of the crew chiefs, who was working on his plane using a tiny flashlight to see with. Well this MP, came tearing across the field in his jeep, with the headlights on, just to ball the guy out because of the blackout. Hell, his jeep showed more light than that flashlight ever did."  The 10th Fighter Squadron (call letter T5) was assigned to the 50th Fighter Group, part of the 84th Fighter Wing, 9th Tactical Air Command, 9th Air Force. Arkie - "To tell you the truth, we didn't have to much to do with the other 50th squadrons... always to busy,...we were on one side of the airfield and they were on other! Heck! It was hard enough just keeping track of our own people...there's always alot of new faces!" The unit flew its first combat mission, a fighter sweep near Caen, France on May 1, 1944. From then until June 6, 1944, the squadron flew fighter sweeps over north western France; conducted divebombing attacks against such targets such as marshalling yards, trains, a railroad bridge over the Seine River, factories, and a NOBALL (missile launching) site near Pas de Calais; and escorted medium bombers and dive bombers.  On D-Day, June 6th, the squadron flew area cover over the Normandy beaches, part of a tremendous umbrella of fighter cover furnished by 171 squadrons. Arkie - "What a time! Two days before the invasion, operations had the crews painting big white stripes on the planes, called them 'invasion stripes!' Didn't get much sleep either, who could sleep! The entire field was like a bee hive. The ground crews were making last minute repairs all throught the night, plus fueling and loading the guns and bombs. You could practically 'cut the air!" The 10th moved to Carentan, France (A-10) on June 25, 1944, they were the third Fighter Group. to make the move, after the invasion, from England to France. June 22th. As Supply Sgt. Tom Johnson (aka Arkie) tells it, "we only had forty-eight hours to pack up and label everything at Lymington for the move to France. Army transportation was responsible for getting our stuff there, we just had to have it ready." The 10th FS support personel left Bristol by LST's for the channel crossing to France. "They dropped us off in waist deep water, off the beach, shells were still coming in from pockets of German resistance. Our first air field, was a French farm and orchard, several miles from the front lines." The 10th FS also played a major part by bombing targets, against extremely heavy German resistance, during the Battle of St. Lo, in July; when the American forces, commanded by Gen Omar Bradley, launched a massive attack to break out southward from the invasion bridge head into Normandy. With the successful breakout, the tank columns of Patton's Third Army raced southward across Normandy and into Brittany. Immediately behind the racing tank columns came the tactical air forces, operating from hastily repaired or improvised fields (ALG's) as close to the forward columns as they could get. In a period of some seven weeks under a new commander, Maj. Gen. Hoyt S. Vandenberg, the Ninth Air Force moved its fighter bombers from the beach head across France and into eastern Belgium - 400 to 500 miles - with as many as four or five stops in between. This remarkable feat of 'tactical mobility' was made possible by the herculean efforts of the IX (Engineer Command) aviation engineers and the logistical units (Arkie's 10th Supply) of the Ninth. The 10th FS, now assigned to 'air ground support,' provided a rotating patrol of P-47s for 'air artillery' for the advancing columns; ready to reconnoiter or to blast enemy resistance at a word from the 'support party,' as the frontline moved forward.  From Toul-Ochey (Nancy) the 10th helped stem the German offensive in the Saar-Hardt area in January, 1945; was a part of the offensive that reduced the Colmar bridgehead in January and February; and supported the drive that breached the Siegfried Line and allowed movement of Allied forces into southern Germany in March and April, 1945.  November 14, 1944, the 10th FS was formally transferred to the new First Tactical Air Force (Provisional), commanded by US Major General Robert H. Webster, flying in direct support of the US Sixth Army, with Brig. General Paul Gorador heading the 1st French Air Corps. By the time the 10th had flown its last combat mission (May 7,1945) it had been located at eight different fields in France and Germany. Arkie - "Not sure, which one it was, but there was one ALG, the 10th Fighter Squadron never occupied. I think it was Meautis, yea that was it. Me and this other guy, got to Meautis just around dusk; the Colonel had sent us up there to check it out. We slept there, over night, on a couple of canvas folding cots, under an apple tree. By sunrise, the front had moved so far that we got orders from the CO to move on immediately to Olry." The 10th Fighter Squadron knew what was meant by "maximum mobility. Under canvas in freezing conditions they moved forward with the ground forces, sharing their rations and the discomfort of life in the field." Arkie - "Once in Germany, me and this other guy came across this huge warehouse with a MP guard, who for a carton of smokes, let us take a look around! Well, we opened the door and saw shelves stacked floor to ceiling with shiny SS boots, that had been used only for parades." Note: Bear in mind this is a kid from the 'back woods of Arkansas,' the second youngest of eight kids, who never wore a new pair of shoes until he was in the Army. This was like King Solomon's treasure to him. "When we pick up a pair, we noticed that the soles were worn out. Every pair was like that, we kind of guessed that they had been sent there to be re-soled and though they looked new, they were all unwearable. Did find a German overcoat, gave it Dad after the war; he sometimes wore it while plowing." The allies were advancing into Germany and on April 20, 1945, the 50th was transferred to Giebelstadt, Germany. Just five days after the move the 50th was involved in a mission that earned the group its second Distinguished Unit Citation. The 50th flew into an enemy airfield southeast of Munchen, where under intense enemy anti-aircraft fire, it destroyed or damaged many enemy aircraft. The 10th Fighter Squadron had taken part in the following campaigns: Decorations awarded: Two Distinguished Unit Citations: ETO, March 13-20, 1945; Germany, April 25, 1945. Six Battle Streamers. Also cited in the Order of the Day, Belgiun Army: June 6 - Sept. 30, 1944. Arkie - "Well, it's over! I don't care if I ever think about the last 2 years, 10 months and 21 days, ever again! Just want to go home!!!"  Note: Thomas J. Johnson aka 'Arkie' had served in five different combat campaigns and was awarded the following decorations: EAME Service Ribbon with one Silver Service Star and One Bronze Service Star. Good Conduct Medal. Distinguished Unit Badge - earned while serving with the 1st TACAF (Prov), and One Bronze Oak Leaf Cluster. Arkie had did his duty. And like thousand others, who served their country, he was ready to return to civilian life and put his war experiences behind him. And Arkie, did just that, with $136.20 mustering out pay in his pocket, he returned home to Cabot, Arkansas; met the girl of his dreams, married, raised a family, worked in the (auto) supply business (naturally), retired and is now enjoying the 'good life!' Thanks Arkie for everything! The 10th Fighter Squadron left Europe by ship on June 22, 1945 and arrived at La Junta Army Air Force Base, CO on August 6, 1945, where it remained until inactivation on Nov. 7, 1945. |
In Memoriam |
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Tom Newton, SiteBuilder at HAHN-50THap-k9@webtv.net |
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