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"Flying Yankees" "Black Lightning
Squadron"
The 118th Tactical Reconnaissance Squadron
began World War Two as the 118th Observation Squadron,
Connecticut National Guard, whose lineage dated back to World War One
and service in France. The 118th was called to federal
service in February 1941, and at the time of Pearl Harbor was stationed
in Jacksonville, Florida after having been on maneuvers with Army ground
forces for most of the year. After Pearl Harbor the 118th was
moved to Charleston, SC and performed anti-submarine patrol duties along
the Atlantic coast. After being relieved from anti-submarine patrol
duties in August, 1942, the 118th returned to maneuvers with
the Army throughout the South until June, 1943 when training for
overseas deployment began in earnest.
Redesignated the 118th Tactical
Reconnaissance Squadron in August 1943 the squadron continued its
preparations for combat. In October 1943 it was committed to the CBI
with ultimate assignment to the 23rd Fighter Group of the 14th
Air Force. At this time the squadron received an influx of new pilots to
replace the original pilots and other National Guard officer personnel
who had been transferred from the unit, but many of the experienced NCOs
and other enlisted personnel remained to form the nucleus of the ground
support element that served the squadron so well in China.
The squadron, commanded by Major Edward O. McComas,
departed the U.S. in January 1944, arriving in India in February. The
118th, now equipped with P-40s rather then the P-51s they had
trained in, was assigned to local airbase defense of the newly
established B-29 bases at Chakulia and Kharagpur, India while the
squadron Head Quarters was established at Gushkara, India. Though most
of the pilots had transitioned through fighter RTU, most of their
experience had been as tactical reconnaissance pilots, flying at low
level and maneuvering to take pictures of the assigned targets. Flying
P-40s and later P-51s with machine guns and bomb racks, the squadron was
assigned a fighter role, with the reconnaissance role becoming a
secondary mission.
In late May 1944, the 118th was relieved
of its base defense mission and on June 12, crossed the Hump
from Chabua to Yunnanyi, losing one P-40 and the pilot in the process.
Within a week the air element was conducting combat operations from
Kweilin along with other squadrons of the 23rd FG at Kweilin,
Lingling and Liuchow. The rest of the squadron crossed the Hump by C-46,
arriving in Chengkung, near Kunming, where the rear echelon would
remain, providing support to the air element during operation from
Kweilin and other forward bases in China.
By mid July the 118th was operating alone
from Ehr Tong airfield at Kweilin, as the 23rd FG tried to
stop the Japanese advance on its airfields in South Central China. With
the fall of Kweilin the 118th moved to Liuchow. The 118th
performed essentially in a fighter-bomber role against Japanese troops,
material and their lines of communications. While still a secondary
mission, there were a few memorable low-level tactical reconnaissance
missions, usually in conjunction with fighter sweeps against Japanese
airfields and installations. The 118th also began to receive
their P-51B/C Mustangs and the F-6C reconnaissance version of the P-51,
with their enhanced performance, range and maneuverability.
The 118th remained at Liuchow until
November 7, when the entire base was evacuated and destroyed in the face
of imminent capture by the Japanese. The Japanese were about to conclude
their campaign to neutralize the 14th Air Force bases and to
secure their lines of communications to Indo-China.
The 118th returned to Chengkung for a few
days break from combat and to reorganize for the combat to come. Most of
the initial group of pilots who had completed their 100 missions were
rotated back to the United States while a new group was ready to take
over. The CO, Major Ed McComas, due to illness and recurring physical
problems, had flown far fewer missions then the other pilots. Still in
command, he was eager to continue the battle and to add to his personal
score of enemy airplanes destroyed, which now stood at two. His
opportunity came on November 12, when the squadron air element moved to
the forward airbase at Suichuan. From here the squadron would perform
some of their most difficult but most productive missions, attacking
shipping in Hong Kong harbor and airfields in the Shanghai area in
January 1945.
At the end of January, 1945 the 118th was
forced to return to Chengkung as the Japanese completed their takeover
of the East China airfields. They remained until April, when they moved
to their new base at Laohwangping from where they were expected to help
repel the Japanese advance on Chihkiang. However, pressure from the
advancing U.S. forces in the Southwest and Central Pacific was forcing a
general withdrawal of the Japanese from China. By July the air war in
China was virtually over. There was much speculation about the future of
the 118th, but all speculation ceased with the dropping of
the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki and the ending of the war.
With the cessation of hostilities the 118th
once again moved, to Liuchow, where its primary mission was to
reconnoiter and observe the withdrawal of Japanese troops from occupied
areas and to prepare for their return to the United States. By October
most of the pilots and other officers had been transferred to other
squadrons of the 23rd FG at Hangchow. There they remained
until December when they left for home by ship from Shanghai, arriving
in the U.S. in January 1946.The remainder of the men were transferred to
other units to return to the U.S. by way of India and the Mediterranean
to arrive at Camp Kilmer, NJ in November, 1945. The squadron was
officially deactivated in China in late October 1945. It was soon
returned to National Guard status where it survives today as the 118th
Tactical Fighter Squadron, Connecticut Air National Guard located at
Bradley Field, Windsor Locks, Connecticut. The 118th today
flies the A-10 "Wart Hog" providing close air support for the
ground commanders and a powerful tank bustin’ capability.
The 118th served in China for only fifteen and one-half
months and was engaged in strenuous combat for just over six of those
months, June 1944 to January 1945, yet it compiled an enviable record
during this time. The 118th produced three "Aces"
in those six months, Oran S. Watts being the first and Russell D.
Williams the last with each scoring five aerial victories and one ground
victory. LtCol Ed McComas, a very aggressive fighter pilot and a hard
charging squadron commander, became the highest scoring pilot in the
squadron with fourteen aerial victories and four destroyed on the
ground. He scored all of his victories in only ten weeks beginning
October 16, 1944 and ending December 24, 1944. His mission of December
23, 1944 on which he shot down five Japanese airplanes made him the only
"Ace-in-a-day" in the 14th Air Force and his
fourteen victories ranked him second overall in the 14th Air
Force to only Major "Pappy" Herbst with eighteen victories.
(Col. Charles Older had eighteen and one-half victories but the Air
Force refused to count those victories while flying with the A.V.G.
"Flying Tigers".)
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