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Continuing to operate from its base at Balsola, Italy, the Wing started the month with an officer strength of eighteen and an enlisted men strength of fifty seven.
Lt. Louis P. Heyman, 0-593837, came to the Wing on 22 February as Adjutant of Headquarters Squadron relieving Lt. Abe Posner, who is now assigned to the XV Fighter Command. Lt. Heyman is a recent arrival from the United States, this being his first tour of overseas duty. When in the United States, he was with the Fourth Air Force at Hamilton Field, California as Base Mess Supervisor. Lt Heyman's hometown is New York, N.Y., and he has been in the service since November 1942.
Lt. Herbert J. Vogt, 0-1935353, formerly in the A-2 section, was assigned to the 2675th Regiment A.C. on 17th of February.
Two enlisted men in the Wing returned to the United States this month. They were S/Sgt Ernest W. Warriner and Pfc Joseph M. Lynch. S/Sgt Herschel E. Windell, Sgt Leaman R. Inman and Pfc William R. Price who returned to the United States in January were released from T.D. to the Wing in February. One new enlisted man has been assigned to the Wing. He is Sgt Seymour S. Friedman who is now with the A-2 section.
The total personnel strength at the end of the month revealed a decline, with an officer strength of seventeen and an enlisted men strength of fifty three.
Col. William R. Morgan, Wing Executive Officer and Major Clifford Roger Silliman, Wing A-4, returned from a twenty three day trip to England where they had been assigned on temporary duty to attend a ten day course in technical and tactical data offered by the Army Air Forces Materiel Command. This course had been designed primarily for the discussion and observation of the new and promising P-80. Stop off places enroute to England included Bari, Naples, Marseille, Dijon and Paris. Arriving in London on the 22nd of January, they were informed that the ten day course had been cancelled; nevertheless, the trip had not been altogether in vain for it enabled Col. Morgan to visit and observe Eighth Air Force Headquarters and a few of the units under that Air Force.
While at that Headquarters Col. Morgan watched the planning and preparation of missions. Later, he visited the 57th Fighter Wing, commanded by Brig. General Jesse Auton and spent some time with Col. M.S. Olson of the Allied Control Commission.
In the meantime, Major Silliman was with the 55th Fighter Group, a P-51 unit located near London and then went to Middle England to observe the P-80.
There were two particular personal highlights of the trip. One of these occurred while the two officers were in London. Early one morning they were awakened abruptly by a loud explosion accompanied with the sounds of hailing glass. Upon a daylight investigation, they discovered that a "rocket-bomb" had exploded nearby and all windows in the neighborhood were minus glass panes. The other event occurred on an air trip to Brussels. Col. Morgan was navigating at this time and it had been necessary for him to plot their course to hairbreadth accuracy. Any miscalculation at the time would have caused them to pass over a highly restricted area while coming in for a landing and they would have offered an excellent target to a heavy concentration of flak guns.
Upon returning to Italy, Col. Morgan remarked that, after making a comparative observation of various headquarters throughout his trip, the more he liked the present arrangement of the 305th Fighter Wing.
Early in the month of February, new officers were elected to the Board of Governors, 305th Fighter Wing Officers' Club. They are as follows: President: Lt Col. J.A. Roth. Vice President: Capt. A.W. Shaw. Sec-Treasurer: Maj. Clifford R. Silliman.
During the month the club underwent considerable physical changes. All members loaned a hand in the painting of the walls a brighter color and, under the guidance of an interior decorator, the final touches were added. New lighting fixtures were installed, a shelf was built behind the bar, and many other conveniences were added.
The enlisted men's club also held an election early in the month. New club officers are as follows: President: M/Sgt. John P. Hoffman. Vice President: S/Sgt. Ralph H. Towle. Sec-Treasurer: Pfc Norman Hillier.
New chairs and tables and a ping pong table made by the 94th Service Squadron were added to the club.
With the departure of Lt. Vogt, the Information and Education program was taken over by Lt. Edward McVan. During the month, the psychology class under the supervision of Lt. Vogt terminated and members of the class are now awaiting the final examination. Arrangements now are being made for those men who are and will be taking extension courses to obtain the necessary books by a more simplified method. At present a new program for I.& E.is being formed and it is expected to be underway shortly.
The month of February 1945 proved to be an operationally successful one for the 305th Fighter Wing (Prov). Contrary to amateur meteorological predictions based on conditions of the preceding years, February offered excellent flying weather which the Wing fully exploited.
Flying a total of 125 missions, consisting of 35 escorts, 5 strafing, 5 bombing, 3 fighter sweeps, 68 recce escorts, and 9 special missions, the Wing had total claims of 119 locos destroyed, 78 damaged, 66 oil cars destroyed, 16 damaged, 15 motor transport destroyed, 39 damaged, 2 aircraft destroyed, 1 probable, 1 damaged and the destruction and damage of numerous power lines, railroad stations, and other communication objectives.
The 305th Fighter Wing led the Fifteenth Air Force for claims of locomotives destroyed and damaged with the 14th Fighter Group, "The Loco Busters", leading the wing for the number destroyed, totalling claims of 96 destroyed and 68 damaged. Good results were obtained in dive bombing attacks on M/Y's at Worgl, and St. Veit, Austria.
During the month experiments were made by the Wing Operations section in long range skip bombing and strafing of enemy locos and rail lines. Four officers from the section participated with combined claims of 4 locos destroyed, and damage to numerous passenger and freight cars and military personnel.
A total of 20 missions were flown by officers of the Wing. These missions included recce escort, supply dropping escort, bomber escort, and the aforementioned skip-bombing missions.
Ground Training was as extensive as the month's operations would allow. As usual, all new pilots received the special ground school courses covering such subjects as air-sea-rescue, personal equipment, tactics, security, communications, and escape. A special course on engineering maintenance of P-38's was held for pilots of the 14th Fighter Group.
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