The 20th.FG on D-Day

THE 20TH.FIGHTER GROUP
AND THE INVASION OF NORMANDY

For many there are but a handful of occurances from the Second World War that are instantly recognizable, the attack on Pearl Harbor, the Atomic Bombing of Hiroshima and the end of hostilities being prime examples. D-Day, however is a term that has somehow endured to become part of the American psyche and vocabulary.

While the facts, statistics and strategies have been covered an endless amount of times in books, movies and on the net there seems to be little mention of what was going in the skies above the action on the beachs. This is where the 20th. Fighter Group played their part in the turning point of this great conflict.

An aerial view of the Normandy beach head.
(Photo courtesy of the USAF Museum)

Capt. Ilfrey prepares for his first mission in the darkness on the morning of D-Day.
(Photo courtesy of Maj. Jack M. Ilfrey)

The aircraft and pilots of the 20th.FG were grounded June 3rd. and groundcrews began painting invasion stripes on the aircraft in preparation for the coming action. On the night of June 4th. the pilots practiced night formation flying, landings and takeoffs. Capt. Art Heiden recalled, "Though spring Days are very long in England, rain and clouds shortened them. Consequently, more darkness than was probably planned. There were many difficulties flying formation on the glow of the turbochargers, which became increasingly more difficult in the clouds and rain. No navagational lights were allowed, or wanted.

"The English runway lighting system initially caused some concern, but worked out well after getting used to it. The very dim lights were guarded so you could not see them until lined up on final approach. Requiring D/F Steers until perfectly lined up less than a mile out."

On June 5th. an armada of Allied vessels began to depart from England for the Normandy coast en masse, carrying the largest invasion force in history. The 20th.FG's job was to provide cover for these convoys as they made their way across the English Channel. The Fighter Groups flying P-38s were chosen because of the aircrafts' ease in recognition and the familiar silhouette of the 20th.'s Lightnings began filling the sky at aprox. 5 pm.

"German intruders would follow bombers home in the night, get in the pattern with them and shoot them down. We were concerned they would do that to us too."Heiden continued, "Our bases were on high alert for infiltration and airborne attacks. We had those little British armored cars, wore our 45's, and Concertina wire around the airfield. These were two big 6' coils, laid side-by-side with another coil on top. I came back one rainy dark night on single engine, hydroplaned off the runway, chewed through the Concertina into a muddy field. A CleTrack pulled the aircraft out. Max filed the notches out of the props and replaced the Carb diaphragm and I was in the AM line up. Our runways were like 3500' long. Two or three missions a day wore you out in a hurry, especially the night part of it which was probably to integrate the limited number of night fighters available. We were useless at night. I can recall being alerted that unidentified aircraft were in our location at least once."

As the morning of D-Day arrived the men were awakened early and their first patrols began in the darkness at 3:46am. Each squadron was dispatched three times throughout the day and each mission lasted aprox. 90 minutes. With the skies nearly empty of all but Allied aircraft there was little excitement save for that of Maj. George Wemyss, who undershot the airfield in the darkness and destroyed his P-38. He walked away virtually unscathed.

Maj. George Wemyss' crashed P-38.
(Photo courtesy of Mrs. Bonnie Lechman)

- 20TH.FG PATROLS JUNE 6,1944 -

SQUADRON TAKE OFF ARRIVED PATROL AREA DEPARTED PATROL AREA LANDED NO. A/C

55th.FS 0346 0430 0604 0700 18

77th.FS 0644 0730 0900 0954 16

79th.FS 0812 0855 1035 1136 16

55th.FS 1112 1200 1330 1443 16

77th.FS 1247 1330 1507 1601 16

79th.FS 1543 1630 1800 1855 17

55th.FS 1714 1800 1935 2030 17

77th.FS 2016 2100 2234 2325 16

79th.FS 2113 2155 2330 0016 15

The anticipated opposition by the Luftwaffe did not materialize due to the excellent deception created by Allied intelligence that convinced the enemy the invasion would take the shortest route and land in Calais. This left the pilots with a ringside seat to history in the making.

" It was a sight I shall never forget - four thousand boats merged into one, big, spectacular prong, ready to lash itself on the enemy coast, thousands of men lying flat on their stomachs in the boats and hundreds of airplanes patrolling the sixty-mile stretch from the English coast to Normandy." wrote Jack Ilfrey in his autobiography Happy Jack's Go Buggy

Click to hear Jack Ilfrey talk about his view of D-Day.
The patrols continued through June 9th., when bad weather kept the 20th. on the ground, and ended on June 10th. The pent-up anxiety of having prepared for combat with large numbers of enemy aircraft was somewhat relieved on the last day of these patrols when Col. Harold Rau's patrol turned inland near Granville and made straffing runs on targets of opportunity. This netted a large number of enemy trucks and transports. Col. Cy Wilson alone destroyed eight ammunition trucks.

The invasion moved further inland as the "Atlantic Wall" began to crack and a foothold was firmly established on the Normandy coast. The 20th.FG were dispatched as a group over Brest. The skies were still nearly empty of enemy aircraft, so they again turned to strafing ground targets. Lt. Gese (77th.FS) was downed but would later make his way back to England. Lt. Jacobson (77th.FS) disappeared soon after the group reformed and was never seen again. Capt. McLary (55th.FS) had made an emergency landing just moments after his P-38 caught fire on take off.

The second misssion of the day was a bombing run on Loire that was led by the groups' droop snoot P-38. When the primary target was found to be clouded over they turned their attention to two bridges near Amboise.While attacking a Tank column in the vicinity of Caen, four aircraft of the flight lead by Lt. Ben Rader were lost, Rader bailed out over the Channel and was picked up by a Destroyer. Lt. Fiebelkorn (77th.FS) was forced to make an emergency landing on a Normandy beach head landing strip due to a fuel shortage:
"...By that time I was running low on gas, so I decided to land," he said. "I came in on one of the newly built airstrips close to the beach and almost lost my lunch when I discovered I had a 1,000 pound bomb still hooked to my ship.*"

Lt. Kendrick and Lt. Kummerle (77th.FS) were both hit by enemy flak. Kummerle later recounted:

" I was about four miles inside our invasion lines and I decided to bring her in for a belly landing. I held my breath, just imagining what would happen if I hit a land mine. But I scooted right into the middle of a British infantry division. It was a hot spot too and I was pretty scared. Shells, bombs and small arms fire were raising Cain. I spent the night in a tent near a foxhole, but didn't get much sleep.*"

Kummerle and Fiebelkorn were back with the 20th.FG in a few days but Kendrick was not as lucky, as he was quickly captured by German forces.

On the 13th. raids were made with 1,000lbs. bombs on the rail bridge at La Possiniere and a road bridge at Montjean. In the subsequent strafing Lt. Quinn (77th.FS) was Killed in action and Capt. Ilfrey (79th.FS) was downed near Angers. Ilfrey evaded capture with the help of French civillians and returned to action in a few weeks.

Raids continued in France and Holland for the next four days and seven more pilots of the 20th.FG would be listed as Missing in action. In the next month the group would begin transitioning to P-51 Mustangs.

(* = From "Loco Boys Go Crazy" by Arch Whitehouse)

For an in-depth look at the Invasion of Normandy we suggest the following websites:
The Encyclopedia Brittanica's Normandy 1944
The National D-Day Memorial Foundation
D-Day Web: The Real Normandy
A P.B.S. Show on D-Day

Trivia Fact: The D in D-Day actually stood for Day.

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