moved over to Montecorvino, to
the east of Salerno by which time
the Luftwaffe had regrouped. The
31st retained its interceptor role,
but the 52nd converted to fighter-
bomber tactics.
Throughout the rest of December,
the 31st chalked up seven more
kills and several credits for damaged
aircraft. Luftwaffe activity never let
up and the Italians seemed to have
an endless supply of Macchis.
The Anzio campaign of the
early months of 1944 represented
a major effort for the 31st FG.
Captain Floyd J Rodmyre recalled
events: “The 307th was designated
as the ‘assault’ squadron. A runway
of sorts was bladed out of the
beachhead area, and the 307th
operated from there. Another
debacle! Our squadron was being
shelled by German artillery.
“I remember hearing of one
incident where a flight of Spits
was taxiing out to take off, when
an artillery shell landed right in
front of one. Fortunately, the shell
was a dud, and only made a large
depression in the ground. After
many days the 307th was ordered
to evacuate...”
“For the next several weeks, the
majority of our missions were over
Anzio. There were a few escorts
for B-25s and B-26s [Martin
Marauders] but most of the time
we were defending the Anzio real
estate. The Luftwaffe ran many
missions against us, and we were
frequently outnumbered.
“One day, when the area we were
flying in had no enemy planes, we
heard this poignant call from an
RAF pilot. In his fascinating English
accent, he said ‘I have nine of the
bloody ‘Hun’ cornered over here.
But, I can outclimb them, I think.’
“Our flight leader immediately
tried to call him, asking for his
location. There was no answer. We
had no way of knowing if he was
in our general area or if he was 50
miles away.
“One thing for sure: when there
are nine of the enemy and only one
of you, you don’t exactly have
them outnumbered.
“In late January, I was on a flight
where we got ‘heavily involved’
with Me 109s and Fw 190s (eight
in count) and we were six in
number. The CO shot down one
’109, my element leader shot down
another Fw 190.
“I was diving down behind my
element leader, trying to cover
him when everything went black.
I don’t know how long I was out,
but when I came to, my plane was
in a very steep dive and going very
fast, and my altitude was less than
6,000ft. I levelled out and checked
my instruments and everything
seemed OK and I started climbing
for altitude.
“There was a lot of wind noise in
the cockpit and I saw this oblong
hole in my bubble canopy, this hole
being about 16in long and 11in
high. Nothing else seemed out of
place, so I headed back to base,
unescorted. I found out that a ’109
which I didn’t see had come up
behind me and took a quick shot at
me, blowing a hole with one of his
20mm shells.”TEN PER MONTH
The Spitfire that flew in the
Sicilian campaign was the Mk.V,
but in early 1944 the 31st began
transitioning to the much more
capable Mk.IX. Before the group
was completely furnished with IXs,
it began receiving Mk.VIIIs. At first
the pilots thought the lower Roman
numeral meant they were getting an
older, and inferior, model.
Not so, as the Mk.VIII had been
on the drawing board for a longer
time, when the necessity from the
field was not so great. The VIII’s rate
of climb was measurably improved
and it was quickly considered to be
a wonderful machine... and flown
with even more confidence than the
other models.This era was short-lived. In
April 1944, the 31st gave up its
Spitfires immediately after it had
relinquished the base at Castel
Volturno and moved to San Severo
and became a part of the Fifteenth
Air Force.
At that point, the pilots had a
total of 192 victories, 39 ‘probables’
and 124 damaged in 19 months of
combat – ten ‘kills’ per month. The
other group flying Spitfires was the52nd, which had a total of 164.33
kills, 22 probables and 72 damaged.
Both units eventually converted to
P-51 Mustangs and they went on to
produce many more aces.TOP-SCORING 31ST FG PILOTS
Rank/name Squadron Victories
Maj Frank A Hill 308th FS 7
Capt J D Collinsworth 307th FS 6
1st Lt Richard F Hurd 308th FS 6
Maj Virgil C Fields Jr 307th FS 5
1st Lt Charles R Fischette 307th FS 5
Col C M McCorkle (Group CO) 5
Capt Carl W Payne 309th FS 5
Lt Col Harrison Thyng 309th FS 5
1st Lt John H White 307th FS 5
Capt Leland P Molland 308th FS 4
Maj Dale E Shafer Jr 309th FS 4Colonel Fred Dean (left) and Major Frank Hill with a 31st FG Spitfi re at Ponte
Olivo, Sicily in 1943. FRANK HILLSeptember 2018 FLYPAST 111Bottom
A Spitfi re and a P-51B side
by side at Castel Volturno
in April 1944. BILL SKINNER