The 365th Fighter Group (aka Hell Hawks) at Beaulieu Airfield USAAF Station 408

Beaulieu Airfield was handed over to the control of the Americans in March 1944, becoming USAAF Station 408. The 365th Fighter Group started to arrive early that month in their P-47D Thunderbolt fighter bombers in preparation for D-Day. They’d previously been based at Gosfield in Essex. Their three months on the south coast of England would be very eventful. 

On March 3, they started weeks of in intensive training, and March 20 took part in their first dive-bombing mission, targeting an airfield in Northern France. They then worked on escorting bombers and more dive-bombing attacks including attacking bridges and communication targets in the lead-up to D-Day on June 6, 1944.

On D-Day forty-seven P-47s took off from Beaulieu. The Hell Hawks were tasked with protecting the ground forces from enemy air attack and destroying all obstacles on the ground that prevented the Allied advance. These included railways and roads to stop German reinforcements reaching the beaches. Two pilots were lost on the first day.

During their three months at Beaulieu, seventeen Hell Hawk pilots were killed in action.

I published the video you can watch below on 28 June 2024. I deliberately chose this date as it was eighty years to the day since the 365th Fighter Group, also known as the Hell Hawks, had left Beaulieu Airfield for France.

I produced the film in order to commemorate their actions in the best way that I can, because during their time here, seventeen airmen of the 365th Fighter Group died, and not all due to enemy action.

During the video I put a cross down in the memory of those men, the names of whom you can read below..

I also wish to include the ferry pilot who died on Beaulieu Airfield. His name was William J Shaffer (326th Ferry Squadron / 27th Air Transport Group).

A Short History of the Hell Hawks in WW2

The 365th Fighter Group, nicknamed the Hell Hawks, was made up of three fighter squadrons: the 386th, 387th and 388th. Activated on 15 May 1943 and equipped with Republic P-47 Thunderbolts, the group quickly gained a reputation as one of the most effective fighter-bomber units in the U.S. Army Air Forces.

The Hell Hawks trained at Dover, Delaware, flying gunnery practice from Millville, New Jersey, before moving to Richmond Army Air Base, Virginia. On 4 December 1943 they departed Richmond and sailed for Europe on the Queen Elizabeth along with some 15,000 other troops, arriving at Gosfield, Essex, on 23 December 1943. After about two months of further training from their first combat airfield, they flew their first operational mission on 22 February 1944. Over the next few weeks they transitioned from escorting 8th Air Force heavy bombers to the fighter-bomber role they would carry through to the end of the war.

The P-47 Thunderbolt and its armament

The Hell Hawks were instrumental in determining the maximum bomb load for the P-47 in the fighter-bomber role. They pioneered dive-bombing missions carrying two 1,000 lb bombs plus an external fuel tank on the belly rack, a configuration that became standard for the P-47 fighter-bomber groups.

Each aircraft mounted eight ‘light barrel’ Browning M2 .50 calibre machine guns, giving formidable strafing power. Their total arsenal also included rockets and, later, napalm. Shortly after the D-Day landings on 6 June 1944, this combination of guns, bombs, rockets and napalm became standard across all thirteen P-47 fighter-bomber groups in the 9th Air Force. The pilots of the 365th rated the rugged Thunderbolt highly, often remarking that while other aircraft might be “pretty looking,” the P-47 was the one they wanted under them in combat.

Operations and combat role

Assigned to the IX Tactical Air Command, the Hell Hawks flew in direct support of General Courtney Hodges’ First U.S. Army. Their mission was twofold: to protect friendly ground forces from enemy air attack, and to destroy anything on the ground that might delay the advance of the infantry and armour.

Their targets included bridges, aerodromes, rail facilities, gun positions, locomotives, supply trains and V-weapon sites. On D-Day they struck coastal gun emplacements and rail targets before, during and after the landings. Although normally tied to First Army, they also supported Patton’s Third Army on two key occasions: shortly after its activation on 1 August 1944, and again during the final phases of the Battle of the Bulge.

The Hell Hawks were among the very first Allied fighter-bomber groups to move onto German soil, relocating to Aachen on 17 March 1945, and were the first to fly combat missions from an airfield inside Germany. In total, they flew combat operations from 22 February 1944 through 4 May 1945 – some 14½ months – and operated from more airfields than any other fighter-bomber group in the 9th Air Force.

Bases of the Hell Hawks

  • Richmond AAB, Virginia – 4 November 1943 to 18 December 1943
  • Gosfield, Essex, England – from 23 December 1943 (P-47s operational from February 1944)
  • Beaulieu, Hampshire, England – from 5 March 1944
  • Azeville (Fontenay-sur-Mer), France – Strip A-7, from 27 June 1944
  • Balleroy, France – Strip A-12, from 15 August 1944
  • Brétigny (Paris), France – Strip A-48, from 3 September 1944
  • Juvincourt (Reims), France – Strip A-68, from 11 September 1944
  • Chièvres (Mons), Belgium – Strip A-84, from 4 October 1944
  • Metz, Alsace-Lorraine, France – Strip Y-34, from 25 December 1944
  • Florennes/Juzaine, Belgium – from 20 January 1945
  • Aachen, Germany – from 17 March 1945
  • Fritzlar, Germany – from 12 April 1945

Hell Hawk unit citations and honours

  • Members of the 365th Fighter Group were entitled to wear the following decorations and campaign honours:
  • Distinguished Unit Citation – 21 October 1944
  • Distinguished Unit Citation – 20 April 1945
  • Belgian Army Order of the Day – 6 June to 30 September 1944
  • Belgian Fourragère – for actions from 16 December 1944 to 25 June 1945
  • Belgian Croix de Guerre – cited 21 December 1945

Related Posts