Scale Aviator International Magazine Issue 3 | Page 32

stop, fortunately uninjured. Now, even though the gear
had tested perfectly on our model on the ground, when
we lowered the gear in flight, the right gear would
not lock down. So, we brought it in and the right gear
failed after touchdown and it slid to a stop on the
same runway, almost 60 years to the day later, just as
Schilling’s plane had done!
Incidentally, Schilling’s plane was repaired and on
December 23, 1944, he and Hairless Joe shot down
five German fighters in a huge dogfight over Germany.
On our model, I decided not to make temporary
repairs and fly it again due to a very strong crosswind
and muddy field, and put it on display, instead, for the
rest of the airshow weekend.
The airshow itself was great, and talking with the
local modelers and attendees of the airshow very

This photo was taken at Halesworth Air Field,
which the 56th Fighter Group flew out of for
about 9 months from July 1943 until April 1944.
They were then moved to Boxted Air Field until
the end of the war. Halesworth is located about
50 miles northeast of Boxted. (FYI: All fighter
groups based in England were placed in bases
near the coast so that they could penetrate as
far as possible to escort the bombers in missions deep into Germany. This was especially
true for the earlier P-47 models that had a limited range for escorting the bombers).
The Bronze Plaque above on the
memorial reads:
This memorial plaque to commanding officer
Col. Hubert “Hub” Zemke and the 56th Fighter
Group is located outside the visitors’ center at
Halesworth Air Field. They were based here
for about nine months before moving to Boxted in April 1944 where they stayed until the
end of the war. The 56th Fighter Group became known as “Zemke’s Wolfpack” and was
arguably the most successful fighter group
operating out of England with the USAAF during that time.

This splendid memorial to the 446th BG lies
outside the original entrance for the air base
at Bungay (Flixton). All traffic and personnel passed by here on their way in and out
of the base. My dad flew out of here with the
446th BG, a B-24 unit, and later flew out of
Alconbury in B-17s and B-24s carrying special radars that could “see” through the clo Ց