26 AIR CLASSICS/August 2022
onto the field. First a B-25 took off,
then 22 P-38s and then another
B-25. There were eleven planes in
each flight headed by a B-25. They
circled wide over the field getting into
formation and then buzzed the field
about 25 feet off the ground. It was
really a sight to see. There was strict
radio silence for security reasons.
Most of the pilots were glad to get
away and into action.”
One of this flight’s participants,
83rd FS pilot 2nd Lt. Harold T.
Harper, remembered later that, “On
28 March, I returned to Langford
Lodge to fly an unarmed F-4 photo
plane back to Casablanca.” This time
Harper was assigned there to the 49th
FS of the reforming 14th FG, which
was then based nearby at Mediouna.
He had been credited with destroying
two Bf 109s by the time he completed
his subsequent combat tour on 28
August 1943.
Also on 16 February, the 78th FG
received 45 new pilots to replace its
P-38 pilots who were being transferred
to Africa. It moved to its new base,
Duxford, during the first week of April
and flew its first combat mission, with
P-47s, on the 13th of that month.
The Group’s final Lightning
accident took place on 28 February,North Africa permanently.
Another 78th Group P-38 fer-
ry flight to North Africa, this one
comprised of 24 aircraft, took place
on 16 February, from the RAF air-
field at Predannack, in Cornwall, a
few miles from the southern tip of
England. Sergeant Earl Payne, one
of the Group’s groundcrewmen, had
witnessed this flight’s takeoff from
Goxhill three days earlier, which event
he described in his diary:
“They have been waiting four or
five days for the weather to clear to
get off. I saw the cockpit of one of the
P-38s. It had every available nook
and cranny and space behind the
pilot over the radio filled with the
pilot’s personal clothing. Engineering
gave us a buzz at 10:30 am that they
would take off in ten minutes. We
closed the office and went over to
the field 100 yards away. Soon, way
across the field we saw planes taxiing
First Lieutenant Anthony Evans of the 49th FS had served with the 82nd FS in England1st Lt. Lloyd DeMoss, with his assigned 49th FS P-38 named BAD PENNY and The
GENTLEMAN. DeMoss had earlier served with the 83rd FS.