342nd Fighter-Day Group

342d Fighter Day Group
Active	1942-1944; 1956
Country	United States
Branch	United States Air Force
Garrison/HQ	Myrtle Beach AFB

File:Mb-rf80-a-1956.jpg

Lockheed P/RF-80C-5-LO "Shooting Stars" of the 342d Fighter-Day Group, 1956. Serial 47-0537 shown in foreground.

The 342d Fighter Day Group is an inactive United States Air Force unit. It was last assigned to the 342d Fighter-Day Wing, being stationed at Myrtle Beach Air Force Base, South Carolina. The unit was inactivated on 18 November 1956

History

Lineage

• Constituted as 342d Composite Group on August 29, 1942

Activated on September 11, 1942

Disbanded on March 18, 1944

• Established as 342d Fighter Day Group on July 25, 1956 and activated

Inactivated on November 18, 1956

Assignments

• Iceland Base Command, 11 Sep 1942-18 Mar 1944
• 342d Fighter-Day Wing, 25 Jul 1956-18 Nov 1956

Stations

• Keflavik, Iceland August 29, 1942 – March 18, 1944
• Myrtle Beach Air Force Base, South Carolina, July 25 – November 18, 1956

Aircraft Assigned

• P-38 Lightning (1942–1944)
• P-39 Airacobra (1942–1944)
• Curtiss P-40 (1942–1944)
• B-18 Bolo (1942–1944)
• RF-80 Shooting Star (1956)

Operational History

World War II

Lockheed P-38F-5-LO Lightning 42-12596 of the 50th Fighter Squadron in Iceland, 1942

The 342d Composite Group participated in the defense of Iceland by intercepting and destroying some of the German planes that on occasion attempted to attack Iceland or that appeared in that area on reconnaissance missions. The unit also conducted antisubmarine patrols in the North Atlantic and provided cover for convoys on the run to Murmansk, Soviet Union.

The USAAF first engaged enemy forces near Iceland on April 28, 1942 and had been followed by a three months' lull. Then in late July three more encounters took place. Up to this point the honors had gone to the Norwegian patrol squadron, which, under RAF command, was operating off the northern and eastern coast; but it was not long before the American air forces in Iceland had their chances at the Nazis. Having missed being the first to engage the enemy, an American plane became the first to bring one down.

On the morning of August 14, 1942 two American fighter pilots, Lt. E. E. Shahan and Lt. J. D. Shaffer, intercepted and destroyed a Focke-Wulf Fw 200 about ten miles north of Reykjavík. It was the first German plane of the war to be shot down by the Army Air Forces.

During the next two months American fighter planes of the Iceland Base Command bagged two more German planes, intercepted and attacked seven, and unsuccessfully tried to intercept three others. Planes of the Norwegian RAF squadron, meanwhile, had met and attacked three German aircraft with varying degrees of success, and during the same period the ground troops opened fire on German planes a dozen times. A few planes appeared during the winter, but none was intercepted and only two came under antiaircraft fire. Some of this air activity over the North Atlantic was undoubtedly related to the enemy's efforts to set up weather and radio stations in Greenland.

The spring of 1943 promised to be just as lively. In April German planes were spotted or reported on at least ten occasions. One of the intruders, a Junkers Ju 88 bomber, was shot down at the end of the month by two planes of the 50th Fighter Squadron. Throughout the year the number of enemy or unidentified planes reported was about 15 percent less than in 1942. Actual contacts were considerably fewer. Apparently the German planes were successfully avoiding the antiaircraft defenses and evading the American fighters.

On August 5 American planes, making their second interception of the year, shot down another German bomber, the fifth and last enemy plane to be destroyed over Iceland.

After the summer of 1943, little German activity was noted over the North Atlantic skies. The enemy, not the Americas, was on the defensive, and the American defensive outposts in the Atlantic (Iceland, Greenland, Newfoundland and Bermuda) were shifting to secondary roles.

The 342d Composite Group was inactivated on March 18, 1944. Its squadrons were reassigned to England and the Eighth and Ninth Air Forces.

Cold War

On July 25, 1956, the 342d Fighter Day Group was established and activated at Myrtle Beach AFB, South Carolina.

The group was a placeholder organization directed to reach operational capabilities by overcoming the problems and obstacles inherent in the activation of a orgazation on a base sill largely under construction. Close liaison was maintained between units at Shaw AFB, SC for many activities. There were regularly scheduled truck convoys between Shaw and Myrtle Beach during the Wing's development.

The 342 FDG lasted 117 days until November 18, 1956. On November 19, the Air Force redesignated the unit as the 354th Fighter-Day Group, absorbing all personnel and assets of the organization

References

 This article incorporates public domain material from the Air Force Historical Research Agency

• Maurer, Maurer (1983). Air Force Combat Units Of World War II. Maxwell AFB, Alabama: Office of Air Force History. ISBN 0892010924.