| 357th Fighter Group | |
|---|---|
 357th Fighter Group | |
| Active | 16 December 1942 – 20 August 1946 |
| Country | United States |
| Branch | United States Army Air Forces |
| Type | Fighter group |
| Role | Air Superiority |
| Size | 125 P-51 aircraft, 1000 personnel |
| Part of | 66th Fighter Wing Eighth Air Force |
| Garrison/HQ | RAF Leiston, UK |
| Nickname(s) | "The Yoxford Boys" |
| Motto(s) | Semper Omnia (All Things at All Times) |
| Engagements | DUC: Berlin, 6 March 1944 and Leipzig, 29 June 1944 DUC: Derben, 14 January 1945 Big Week 313 group missions |
The 357th Fighter Group was an air combat unit of the United States Army Air Forces during the Second World War. The 357th operated P-51 Mustang aircraft as part of the U.S. Eighth Air Force and its members were known unofficially as the Yoxford Boys after the village of Yoxford near their base in the UK. (Group tradition holds that the name was the invention of Lord Haw-Haw in a broadcast greeting the night of its arrival at RAF Leiston.)[1] Its victory totals in air-to-air combat are the most of any P-51 group in the Eighth Air Force and third among all groups fighting in Europe.[2]
The 357th flew 313 combat missions between 11 February 1944 and 25 April 1945. It is officially credited by the U.S. Air Force with having destroyed 595.5 German airplanes in the air and 106.5 on the ground. The 357th as such existed as a USAAF unit only during World War II; postwar, the group’s history, lineage and honors were bestowed on an Ohio Air National Guard group which considers itself a direct descendant of the 357th FG.[3]
- ^ Olmsted 1994, p. 23.
- ^ USAF Historical Study 85: USAF Credits for Destruction of Enemy Aircraft, World War II. Office of Air Force History, AFHRA, 624, 629, 631, 633. Retrieved 14 October 2006.
- ^ "Ohio Air National Guard History". Ohio Air National Guard. Archived from the original on 29 September 2011. Retrieved 14 October 2006.