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William B McChessney Jr

Lieutenant Colonel William H McChessney Jr DFC. Name : William B McChessney Jr Air Victories : 1.00 Awards : Distinguished Flying Cross (US)

One of the original pilots of the Hell Hawks, joining in August 1943, he flew two sorties on D-Day, Market Garden, Bastogne and Operation Bodenplatte in his P-47 Judy Ann. He finished the war with 121 combat missions and a Ju88 destroyed.

Known Service Details :
Squadron	Rank	Start of Service	End of Service	Known Dates	Aircraft	Airframes	Notes
365th Fighter Group	Lieutenant Colonel	August 1943	unknown		Thunderbolt
388th Fighter Squadron	Lieutenant Colonel	August 1943	unknown		Thunderbolt

Photos Submitted Through Our Directory

Lieutenant Colonel William H McChessney Jr DFC.

Aircraft for : William B McChessney Jr
A list of all aircraft associated with William B McChessney Jr. A profile page including a list of all art prints for the aircraft is available by clicking the aircraft name.
Aircraft	Info
Thunderbolt Click the name above to see prints featuring Thunderbolt aircraft. Production Began : 1943 Number 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

Squadrons for : William B McChessney Jr
A list of all squadrons known to have been served with by William B McChessney Jr. A profile page is available by clicking the squadron name.
Squadron	Info
365th Fighter Group Country : US Click the name above to see prints featuring aircraft of 365th Fighter Group	365th Fighter Group Full profile not yet available.
388th Fighter Squadron Country : US Click the name above to see prints featuring aircraft of 388th Fighter Squadron	388th Fighter Squadron Full profile not yet available.

Last edited : 17:30, July 29, 2014
Last editor : kc
First created : 16:48, July 24, 2014
Created by : kc

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