The basis of this website/blog is to rediscover the history of the 367th Fighter Squadron during the years 1943 to 1945 in World War II. Because their history has already been recorded, there is no reason to re-write it. Instead, I will present and make every attempt to use all of the primary resources from the squadron files and records which chronicle their history day by day. Only to help support what happened during the missions will I attempt to include additional information and create a bigger picture of that specific recorded event.
Every unit in the US Military records and keeps a record of their daily activities. During World War II, for Army Air Corps fighter squadrons, these records came in the form of “mission reports”. For the 367th, these reports were created daily and sent up the chain of command to the 358th Fighter Group headquarters at the beginning of every month. Most monthly reports included a synopsis of the events at the beginning, and this page, or occasionally pages, detailed the strength of the squadron and events such as the status of station (base) and if they had moved their base, awards and pilot losses.
The reports that were filed from December 1943 until November 1944 are very detailed accounts and seem to accurately depict the events in the missions as they truly happened. Occasionally more details can be found by looking at the Operation Reports of the 358th Fighter Group, which typically includes a recap of each squadron’s report and can at times include additional information. Even better is to discover an encounter report which recorded in as much detail as possibly allowed by the fog of war, a pilot’s engagement of enemy aircraft. In November 1944, the 358th was transferred into the First Tactical Air Force from the 9th Air Force and beginning in December of 1944 the method of recording the missions changed and was carried out until the end of the war. The format looks more like a journal and the mission details become almost non-existent except when an outstanding event occurred and those details were recorded. To learn the specifics of the squadron records of 1945, it is necessary to explore and comb through those group files. That process will be included as this project further develops.