<bgsound src= "sentimentaljourney.mid" loop="1">
Yahoo! GeoCities Member Banner Exchange Info 
Letter From Ed Steiner To All 20th. Ftr. Gp. POWs
11 May, 1945


HQ
55th.
77th.
79th.
Group Total
P-38s
10 5/6
25
39 1/6
38
113 (83Air - 30Ground)
P-51s
12
1021/2
1181/2
75
308 (120Air - 188Ground)
Total
22 5/6
127 1/2
157 2/3
113
421 (203 Air- 218 Ground)


Howdy Fellows!

� � We couldn't begin to tell you how happy we are that you are alive and free once again. Everyone in the Group has been sweating you out and in fact we are still in the dark. How about stopping right now and dropping a card to the Group and let us know you are OK. Just address it to the 20th. Fighter Group, APO 557, U.S. Army. Incidentally, we are still at the same base.

� � Some of you have been gone a he** of a long time and others only a few months. We'll try to give you a short history to bring you up to date but the details must wait until later. If you want to know about any particular person or mission just write and ask.

� � The 20th. Fighter Group arrived in the UK on 26 August, 1943 and flew its first mission on 28 December. During the latter part of July, 1944 the Group changed over from P-38s to P-51s. We flew 138 P-38 missions and 174 P-51 missions; the last being 25 April, 1945. Total Missions: 312.

� � The group also destroyed 400 locomotives, damaged 122, and clobbered 1555 freight cars, 169 oil cars, 94 ammunitions cars, 536 motor vehicles, 992 German soldiers and many other targets. We were one of the pioneering high altitude precsion bombing outfits using P-38s and with both P-38s and P-51s we have dive, glide and skip bombed hundreds of targets and strafed many more. We have had some big days but the biggest was on 10 April, 1945 when the boys destroyed 5 jets and damaged 2 more in the air over Berlin and beat up the surrounding airfields, destroying 55 and damaging 24 planes on the ground.

OTHER NOTABLE SUCCESSES:

8 April, 1944 (P-38) 7-0-0 Air 21-0-23 Ground.
9 August,1944 (P-51) 16-0-9 Air
25 August,1944 (P-51) 30-0-21 Ground and water
6 October,1944 (P-51) 39-0-14 Ground and water
2 November,1944 (P-51) 28-1-5 Air
14 January,1945 (P-51) 22-0-5 Air
9 February,1945 (P-51) 38-0-7 Ground (13 P-51s of the 77th. did this job.)
20 February,1945 (P-51) 7-0-0 Air, 24-0-25 Ground

� � We have 26 "Aces"*, 3 of whom have destroyed ten or more planes: Capt. Jimmie Morris, 10 2/3, Capt. Joe Mansker 10, and Capt. Red Fiebelkorn, top man with 11.

� � On 11 September,1944 Col. Rau led 64 P-51s of the 20th. on the third of four shuttle runs carried out by 8th.AF bombers and fighters. From Russia the Group escorted bombers to targets in Hungary and on to Italy from whence the boys returned home on 17 September.

Edward Steiner



RETURN TO THE 20TH.FG� � A LIST OF 20TH.FG P.O.W.S

(*= At the time the 8th. Air Force was counting aircraft destroyed on the ground in with air victories, this was later changed to only air victories.)

Unless otherwise noted, all content � copyright The Art of Syd Edwards 1998-1999. All rights reserved and reproduction is prohibited.





1