combat aircraft

Below: Modern-

day ‘Fiend’ — a

Joint Helmet

Mounted Cueing

System-wearing

‘Viper’ pilot gets

in the zone for a

‘Distant Thunder’

mission.

traded its Nieuport biplanes for Curtiss
P-6s and Boeing P-12s, spending the
inter-war years in a period of excitement
and constant change.
Pilots ferried aircraft for use in exercises,
and perpetuated the  ghting spirit
they’d already become famous for, by
 ying essentially as demonstration pilots
at celebrations and special occasions
in Washington DC. It was during a
completely unsanctioned demonstration
of air power above a private farm that
a reporter witnessed the class act and
described the performance as a ‘dazzling
display, like a bunch of fabulous  ying
 ends’. The name stuck.
On June 15, 1932, the ‘Fiends’ were
assigned to the 8th Pursuit Group,
which would later become the 8th
Tactical Fighter Wing, and moved to
Langley Field in the Virginia tidewater. By
February 1934, the squadron found itself
tasked with another duty of the utmost

importance: air mail. The pilots  ew in

open cockpits, in bad weather, without

instruments — both day and night — to

ful ll their obligations. Unlike other units,

the ‘Flying Fiends’ did not lose a single

pilot or aircraft while undertaking this

unconventional responsibility.

When the US declared its entry to

WW2, the 36th answered the nation’s

call, deploying in defense of America

and her freedom — serving this time

in the Paci c theater. The  rst stop was

Brisbane, Australia, and the squadron

moved from there to a forward-deployed

location in New Guinea. The 36th Fighter

Squadron’s  rst combat mission of the

war took place on April 30, 1942.

Over the course of hostilities, the unit

would  y the Bell P-39 Airacobra, the

Republic P-47 Thunderbolt, and the

Lockheed P-38 Lightning, in which it

 nished the war. The ‘Fiends’ achieved

tremendous success in the Paci c,

achieving the destruction of more than

94 enemy aircraft, producing two aces

and several stories of amazing airmanship

and heroism. Even so, such triumph came

at a heavy cost: during major combat

operations the ‘Flying Fiends’ lost 56 men

either killed or missing.

Following the end of the war, the

‘Fiends’ converted to the legendary North

American P-51 Mustang, remaining

http://www.combataircraft.net // December 2018 55