Before . Beyond. WW II P-Shooters in North Africa 12+

📖 SORTIE Fifteenth Air Force Vol. 1 No. 6 - Sunday, 28 January 1945 Printed in Italy: Free Distribution Veteran Fighters Mark Progress Hold Mediterranean Record Participating in 7 Campaigns 15th AAF - Completing two and half years of overseas service this month, the 52nd Fighter group is now a veteran of seven campaigns. The group has 404 serial combat victories, a Distinguished Unit Citation, and a Mediterranean theater record for destroying 102 enemy aircraft in 30 days. The group achieved its most spectacular successes during the crucial days of the Tunisian campaign and in the great air battles fought last summer while escorting 15th Air Force heavy bombers in their attacks against strategic targets in southern Europe and the Balkans. Landing in North Ireland in July of 1942, it was one of two American fighter groups to be equipped with British Spitfires. Fighter sweeps were flown over France from a base in England during September, 1942 and on Nov. 10 and 11 of that year they landed near Oran, Algeria to participate in the North African campaign. Particularly active during the battle of the Kasserine Pass, the group provided cover for the retreat there, and later, when the Americans counterattacked, the 52nd's Spitfires supported General Patton's ground forces at Kasserine, El Guettar, and final defeat of the enemy at Cape Bon. Shooting down 13 JU-87's in one evening of aerial combat, the group was credited with performing the outstanding aerial feat of the bat...