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Colonel Gabby Gabreski
Gabby Gabreski was the top scoring 8th Air Force fighter Ace in Europe with 28.5 victories in World War II, plus further 6.5 in Korea. Flying P47s with the 56th Fighter Group, his illustrious career in Europe came to a spectacular end, when, strafing an airfield his aircraft touched the ground. He crash landed and was taken prisoner. The story of this American hero from Oil City, Pennsylvania begins in 1942. Gabreski dropped out of his pre-med studies at the University of Notre Dame to become a flyer. Anxious to get into action quickly Francis Gabreski got himself assigned to the 3-1-5 Polish fighter squadron of the RAF in 1942. Although Gabreski flew many combat missions with the Polish fighter squadron he attained no victories. In February of 1943 he was reassigned to the U.S. Army's Eighth Air Force. On August 24, 1943 he got his first victory (a Focke-Wulf 190) over France. Flying the P-47 Thunderbolt or 'Jug', Gabreski continued to achieve victory after victory. He was officially credited with 28 confirmed aerial victories, and that excludes the scores of aircraft, tanks, and other vehicles destroyed by Gabreski during ground attack missions. For many weeks leading up to and following D-Day in June of 1944 Gabby had been on numerous missions involving the dive bombing and strafing of German trains, bridges, armored convoys, and gun emplacements. On July 20,1944 Gabby was scheduled to depart for a much-deserved leave, during which he planned to marry his girl, Kay Lochran. Shortly before his scheduled departure Gabreski was given the opportunity of leading the 61st Squadron of the 56th Fighter Group on an important mission. This was a challenge this ace could not resist. Near Cologne, Gabby spotted an airdrome and began a high-speed low-level attack. Defying his own axiom to 'hit them hard, hit them fast, hit them low, but never come around for a second pass,' Gabby made an ill-fated second pass over the field. On this second pass his propeller hit the tarmac, and Gabreski was forced to make a crash landing in a wheat field adjacent to the German airfield. For five days he was able to elude the German army, but he was finally captured and sent to Stalag Luft 1 in Barth Germany. In 1945 with the end of the War Gabby was released and he married Kay Cochran on June 11. Not long after the Korean War broke out, Gabby found himself in command of the 51st Fighter Wing, where he flew the F-86 Sabre jet. In Korea Gabreski attained 6.5 more confirmed aerial victories in engagements with Migs, earning the unique distinction of ace status in two different wars. Following his retirement from military service in 1967, Gabby worked for several years for Grumman Aircraft on Long Island. Later he was to become the President and General Manager of the Long Island Railroad. Two of his nine children are Air Force Academy graduates and pilots with the U.S. Air Force. At the time of his retirement from military service in 1967 Gabby is believed to have flown more combat missions than any other American fighter pilot. Gabreski lived in Long Island New York where the American flag proudly flew each day atop the Gabreski family flagpole. Colonel Francis 'Gabby' Gabreski passed away on 31st January 2002.
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Opening Sky by Robert Taylor. With the morning sun glinting on their fuselages, P-51 Mustangs of the 78th Fighter Group cross the Dutch coastline far below, as they head back towards their base at Duxford, England at the end of a long sweep east of the Rhine crossing, Spring 1945. The final months of the war in Europe lie ahead, and for the P-51 pilots victory is within sight. Finally, after years of toil, the sky was theirs. |
The Wolfpack by Robert Taylor. The 56th Fighter Group was led by some of Americas greatest fighter leaders of World War II and was home to many of its leading fighter Aces. Under successive commanders Hub Zemke, Robert Landry and David Schilling, the 56th destroyed more enemy aircraft in combat than any other fighter group in the Eighth Air Force. Arriving in England in January 1943 under the command of Colonel Hub Zemke, a master tactician and fearless leader, the 56th quickly emerged as an outstanding fighting unit. The only Eighth Air Force Group to fly P-47 Thunderbolts throughout the war, the 56th spawned more fighter Aces than any other USAAF group - legends such as Gabby Gabreski, Robert Johnson and the colourful Ace Walker Bud Mahurin. Under Hub Zemkes mercurial leadership they became known and feared as Zemkes Wolfpack. On 26 November, 1943, the P-47s of the 56th Fighter Group were tasked to escort B-24 Liberators of the 392nd Bomb Group on a dangerous mission to attack the heavily defended industrial and dockyard facilities in the German port of Bremen. Zemke knew the Luftwaffe would be waiting for them as they approached the target, and they were - in force! It was to become a day of high drama. With the Luftwaffe throwing all the fighters they could muster at the American heavy bombers, a massive aerial battle ensued. In the running dogfights high over Bremen, the Wolfpack claimed their most successful action of the war with 23 confirmed kills, 3 probables, and 9 damaged, creating an all-time record in the European Theatre. The 392nds B-24 Liberators could not have been in safer hands on that eventful day. |
Outward Bound by Robert Taylor. 78th FG Thunderbolts preparing to depart Duxford - with two visiting 361st FG Mustangs in the background while overhead other 361st FG Mustangs climb away from Bottisham. |
Zemkes Wolfpack by Robert Taylor. Hub Zemke was a fighter pilot and commander who led from the front. A great tactician too, it was in no small measure due to the air combat tactics introduced to the 56th Fighter Group by its mercurial leader that by the end of WW2 it had become the top-scoring Fighter Group in the USAF. This highly successful unit spawned some of the top fighter aces in the European theatre : Gabby Gabreski with 34.5 victories, Robert Johnson with 28 victories, and the colourful Ace, Walker Bud Mahurin who shot down 21 German aircraft. High over Germany at the extremity of its range, the P-47 of Hub Zemke is seen leading his pilots in to defend a stricken B-17 against the persistent attacks of marauding Fw190s. Already damaged, the B-17 has dropped from the relative safety of the formation, and protection from the P-47s is now its only chance of survival. |
| Colonel Gabby Gabreski Aircraft details |
 Spitfire Manufacturer : Supermarine Built : 20351 | Spitfire Royal Air Force fighter aircraft, maximum speed for mark I Supermarine Spitfire, 362mph up to The Seafire 47 with a top speed of 452mph. maximum ceiling for Mk I 34,000feet up to 44,500 for the mark XIV. Maximum range for MK I 575 miles . up to 1475 miles for the Seafire 47. Armament for the various Marks of Spitfire. for MK I, and II . eight fixed .303 browning Machine guns, for MKs V-IX and XVI two 20mm Hispano cannons and four .303 browning machine guns. and on later Marks, six to eight Rockets under the wings or a maximum bomb load of 1,000 lbs. Designed by R J Mitchell, The proto type Spitfire first flew on the 5th March 1936. and entered service with the Royal Air Force in August 1938, with 19 squadron based and RAF Duxford. by the outbreak of World war two, there were twelve squadrons with a total of 187 spitfires, with another 83 in store. Between 1939 and 1945, a large variety of modifications and developments produced a variety of MK,s from I to XVI. The mark II came into service in late 1940, and in March 1941, the Mk,V came into service. To counter the Improvements in fighters of the Luftwaffe especially the FW190, the MK,XII was introduced with its Griffin engine. The Fleet Air Arm used the Mk,I and II and were named Seafires. By the end of production in 1948 a total of 20,351 spitfires had been made and 2408 Seafires. The most produced variant was the Spitfire Mark V, with a total of 6479 spitfires produced. The Royal Air Force kept Spitfires in front line use until April 1954. |
 Thunderbolt Built : 15683 | Thunderbolt Alexander Kartveli was a engineer with Seversky Aircraft who designed the P-35, which first flew in 1937. With Republic Aviation Kartveli supervised the development of the P-43 Lancer. Neither of these aircraft were produced in large numbers, and neither was quite successful. However, the Republic Aviation P-47 Thunderbolt, also nicknamed the Jug, was quite a different story. The Jug was the jewel in Kartvelis design crown, and went on to become one of the most produced fighter aircraft of all time with 15,683 being manufactured. The P-47 was the largest and heaviest single seat fighter of WW II. The P-47 immediately demonstrated its excellent combat qualities, including speed, rate of climb, maneuverability, heavy fire power, and the ability to take a lot of punishment. With a wingspan of more than 40 feet and a weight of 19,400 pounds, this large aircraft was designed around the powerful 2000 HP Pratt and Whitney R-2800 Double Wasp radial engine. The first P-47 prototype flew in May of 1941, and the primary variant the P-47D went into service in 1943 with units of the U.S. Armys Eighth Air Force. The Jug had a maximum speed in excess of 400 MPH, a service ceiling in excess of 42,000 feet, and was heavily armed with either six or eight heavy caliber machine guns. With its ability to carry up to a 2,500 pound bomb load, the Jug saw lots of use in ground attack roles. Until the introduction of the N model, the P-47 lacked the long range required for fighter escort missions which were most often relegated to P-51 Mustangs or P-38 Lightnings. In his outstanding painting entitled Bridge Busting Jugs, noted aviation artist Stan Stokes depicts Eighth Air Force Jugs in a ground attack mission in the Alps in June of 1944. The top P-47 ace was Francis Gabreski who had flown with the 56th Fighter Group, the first unit to be equipped with the P-47. In August of 1943 Gabreski attained his first aerial combat victory (over an Fw-190) and by years end he had reached ace status with 8 confirmed victories. As Commander of the 61st Squadron, Gabreski continued to chalk up victory after victory, and on seven different occasions he achieved two victories during the same mission. However, in July of 1944 Gabreski damaged the prop on his Jug during a low level attack on an airfield near Coblenz. Forced to make a crash landing, he was captured and remained a prisoner of war until Wars end in 1945. Following the War Gabreski returned to military service with the Air Forces 4th Fighter-Interceptor Wing in Korea. Flying the F-86 Sabre Jet, Gabreski attained 6.5 more aerial victories in 1951 and 1952 becoming an ace in two different wars |
| Colonel Gabby Gabreski Squadron details |
56th Fighter Group Country : US | 56th Fighter Group |
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