Letter from Carleton L Fuhsman about his service

Letter from Carleton L Fuhsman about his service

Carleton L Fuhsman served in 352 Fighter Group.

Two page typewritten letter

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EFuhsmanCL[Recipient]I[Date]-010001, EFuhsmanCL[Recipient]I[Date]-010002

Dear Ian,

Thank you for your letter, I am glad there are still people who like to remember the 8th A.F. It was 45 years ago last Thursday (March 23) that we sailed out of Boston Harbor and joined a convoy that led us to England. I was a replacement pilot to the 352 Fighter Group. I got to the group on May 1st. It was May 11th before I flew my first mission. Flying time came fast after that as we were getting ready for D-Day. The 352 FG went to England in July 1943 and flew P-47 Thunderbolts. They were just changing over to P-51 Mustangs when I got there. I had trained in the Mustangs in the States so I had more time in them than most of the combat pilots of the group.

I am proud of the time I served in the 8th AF, but I am no great “ace”. I never did get credit for any kills. I was what we call, “always a bridesmaid, but never a bride”. Meaning I flew as wingman to a lot of kills by others but never did much shooting Myself. I am sure the Germans knew I was there as they tried to use me for target practice many times.

I was stationed at Goxhill for about 3 weeks before I was sent to the 352 FG. That was for low level and combat formation flying training. Later, another pilot and I landed there in July. We had been on an escort mission and on the way back we ran into some heavy head winds and were blown far off course to the north. The other pilot was very short of petrol, but I had enough to climb up higher and they vectored us to Goxhill as the closest base where we could get refueled and then fly back to base. It seems like we lost 6 planes that day due to fuel shortage. Some of the pilots bailed out near a ship when they saw they could not make it to land, some came down on the beach or close to shore.

I was in the 486 Fighter Squadron, which is part of the 352 FG. 16 of my Squadron were sent with the 4th Fighter Group, from Debden, on the first “Shuttle Flight” to Russia, Italy and back to England. I was lucky enough to be one of the 16. It was a seven hours and forty-five minute flight from England to where we landed in Russia. Quite a long non-stop flight for fighters in those days.

There is a book out in England called “Action Stations”. Vol [symbol] 1 is on the military airfields of East Anglia. It tells of Bodney on page 68. It remarks about a crash that took place on D-Day. I was in that flight, and flew through the fire ball of the airplane that crashed into the control tower.

I have been back to Bodney three times since the war. The last time was in 1984. The 352 FG is going to England in August this year for our reunion. We are scheduled to spend August 4, 5, 6, and 7 nights at the University Arms Hotel in Cambridge. We will be visiting the cemetery, Bodney, and Duxford. After that we will be in London for 3 nights. Queenie and I will be leaving the tour on Friday when they fly home and renting a car and going back to Norfolk for 2 weeks to see Queenie’s mother and relation.

I would love to come up to Yorkshire but it will be impossible this time. Three of my ancestors came from your area of England. Most people call me “Bud”, but my first name is Carleton, a family name. They come from Beeford, Humberside area, a little ways north of Hull. Another of my ancestors came from Giggleswick, Yorkshire, which is a small place

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beyond Skipton on the A65. Another came from Spennithorne which is beyond Ripon and Marsham and near Middleham.

You have quite an impressive list of signatures you have collected. I have never heard of anyone collecting signatures over here but they collect everything else. Are your collection on letters or just how do you get them? You don’t seem to have any from the 352 FG. One that comes to my mind would be Col. John Meyers. He had a high number of kills to his credit and went on to become a four star general in the Air Force. He is dead now. We had a Maj. George Preddy in the 352 FG. He was the leading Mustang Ace in WW II. He was shot down and killed on Christmas day 1944 by our own anti-aircraft guns. I have a video tape on his life made by his cousin. It explains how he was killed.

I have enclosed a post card with a painting of Maj. Preddy’s airplane. Also a patch from the 352 FG Assn. The Association was formed about 5 years ago to arrange for reunions, try and locate members of the Group, and to put out a news letter 4 times a year. As you can see in the painting our airplanes had a blue nose, so the news letter is called the “Bluenoser”. We have a great time at our reunions, seeing fellows we haven’t seen in 40 years or more. We have our reunions in a different place every year. As I mentioned we are going to Norfolk, England in August. It will have been 45 years since I was there. I had completed my tour and was back in the States by Nov. 1944. The 352 FG is planning a mini-reunion when the 8th AFHS has its reunion in Denver, Colorado during October. There will be some that can’t or won’t go to the reunion in England. We plan on going to the reunion in Denver and then go on to Salt Lake City, Utah where there is the Mormon Library which is a great place to do genealogy.

Queenie will be writing to your mother from time to time on genealogy. If there is any question you want to ask about my stay at Bodney I will try and answer it.

Best wishes,

Carleton L Fuhsman