WORLD WAR 2 EIGHTH AIR FORCE
An old razor-back trooper that had
been in the 82nd FS prior to July 1944
was normally assigned to 1st Lt Warren
V Van Dyk and bore his Queen Mu nose
art. After getting married, Croy arrived
from Seattle, Washington and came to
the 82nd FS on July 29, 1944. He rose to
fi rst lieutenant on October 10, 1944 and
to captain in April 1945. He was killed in
action on April 16, 1945 strafi ng the airfi eld at Straubing, Germany,
in a P-51 Mustang.
‘S tax Blue 4’ – 2nd Lt Manford O Croy Jr
P-47D-11-RE 42-75551 ‘MX-M’
Test pilot Hans Fay took Messerschmitt Me 262A-1a 111711 for a sortie
from Hessental – where it had been assembled – on March 31, 1945.
Instead of returning, he landed the jet at Rhein-Main airfi eld, Frankfurt,
and defected.
The prize was shipped to the USA and re-assembled at Wright Field,
Ohio – the present-day Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. It was
fl own again on August 29, 1945 and was evaluated until an engine
caught fi re on August 20, 1946 and it crashed. The pilot baled out
successfully.
Gifted Me262
Me 262A-1a 111711 during testing from Wright Field. USAF
transports to the Russian Front. He
was transferred to Kampfgeschwader
(KG) 30 in the winter of 1942
for conversion to Ju 88s and took
part in many missions in the
Mediterranean and against shipping
in the English Channel in 1943.
He was transferred to the Me
262 programme in the spring of
1944 and assigned to the specialist
Kommando Schenck unit. Flying
Me 262A-2as of the 3rd Staffel of
KG(J) 51, Lauer was based in turn at
Châteaudun, Étampes, Juvincourt,
in France and then to Chièvres,
Belgium.
Lauer had completed six bombing
missions in the Me 262A-2a before
his fateful August 28 flight. On that
day he was on a ferry flight from
St Astier in France to Chièvres in
‘9K+GL’. He’d had a malfunction
with the jet’s troublesome landing
gear and had to force it down, usingthe compressed air system.
On his next sortie out of Chièvres,
the undercarriage would not fully
retract. Returning south to base
with this serious handicap, Lauer
quickly decided to crash land the
Messerschmitt when he sighted the
P-47s coming after him.
Just as Major Myers opened
fire, Lauer put the Me 262 on the
ground, sliding on its belly across
several fields. He jumped out and
ran, throwing himself to the ground
faking death when the Americans
strafed him and his aircraft.In re eat
Unharmed, Lauer rejoined his unit.
On September 1 Luftwaffe I and III
Gruppen, KG(J) 51 moved to the
Volkel and Eindhoven in Holland
from where they attacked British
positions around Antwerp. RAF
Bomber Command raids forced
Below
Left to right: 2nd Lts Wayne Coleman, Manford Croy
and Wilbur Coss Jr of 82nd FS, in front of P-47
226020 of the 83rd FS.Me 262A-1a 501232 is preserved at the National
Museum of the USAF at Wright-Patterson, Ohio. It
wears similar colours to those carried by Lauer’s
machine on August 28, 1944. NMUSAF58 FLYPAST January 2018