P38J or L of the 12th Squadron, Phillipines 1945: Col. W. Fowkes

    The 18th Fighter Group was organized at Wheeler Field, Hawaii in 1927.  The Japanese attacked Hawaii  on December 7, 1941 and the group's planes suffered heavy losses on the ground.  The Group left Hawaii in March, 1943 and established headquarters at Espirito Santo island in the New Hebrides.  In April it moved north to Guadalcanal in the Solomon Islands and became part of the 13th Air Force which had been created April 13, 1943.           

    The Group now consisted of three squadrons--the 12th, 44th, and 70th.   Prior to this, with all the turmoil and confusion that resulted when the war started, the three squadrons had been placed under the command of "Commander for Air, South Pacific."  (COMAIRSOPAC),  which was then commanded by Navy and Marine admirals and generals--which led  to considerable friction between the three services!!  The Army did not want the Navy or Marines telling the Army what to do!!           

    The 18th Fighter Group made a significant contribution to winning the war against thee Japanese  Starting ant Guadalcanal, its pilots ranged out to attack targets on Munda, Bougainville, and the huge Jap Naval Base at Rabaul.  In August, 1944, the 18th then moved west to Sanspor, in far western New Guinea and its pilots began escorting B-24s bombing the huge Jap oil installations in Borneo.  the Group then moved north to Morotai island began pounding Jap targets all over the Philippines,  In March, 1945, the Group moved to Mindoro island in the northern Philippines where its pilots helped the 8th Army clean out the thousands of Japanese troops on the ground in the Philippines.  From there the pilots put on their 300 gallon belly tanks again and hit Jap targets on Formosa (Taiwan), and all along the China Coast on 2,000 mile, 8-10 hour combat missions.            

    By the war's end, the 18th Fighter Group had compiled a distinguished record--shooting down 282 Jap planes and  had 12 aces in the Group.  The Group did not keep track of Jap planes destroyed on the ground.

Aces were:
(scores in the group only- some scored victories while flying in other groups)

Squadron Insignia and Codes Click on Squadron Logo for photos   Þ
	12th Fighter Squadron		44th Fighter Squadron		70th Fighter Squadron		419th Nnight Fighter Squadron

	Taken 6-30-43 on Fighter. 2 Maj Cecil Looke OPS officer of the 18th FG awards the Purple Heart to the following pilots. L-R Capt Len Frame-70FS, 1Lt Wally "Little" Jennings-44 FS, Capt Jack Bade-44 FS, Capt Mat Matson-44 FS, and Capt Bill Norris-70 FS. photo courtesy of Jack Cook
	Capt Arnold L. Miller photo courtesy of Tracey Anne Miller
	Henry Wiese  12th FS photo courtesy of Henry (Hank) R. Wiese
	419th NFS, Dudley C. Bray on the wing, top right photo courtesy of Kelly M. Bray

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    Data for this page was found and used from the following publications-

• Air Force Combat Units of WWII, by USAF Historical Div. Air University
• Stars and Bars by Frank Olynyk
• Vampire Squadron by William Starke

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