57th Fighter Group: First in the Blue

Aviation Elite Units #39

by Carl Molesworth, Jim Laurier (Illustrator)

Organized in January 1941, just as the United States was building up military forces for its inevitable entry into World War II, the 57th Fighter Group was the first USAAF fighter unit to go into action in North Africa. It went on to establish a number of other "firsts" during its illustrious combat history in this theater.

Flying P-40 Warhawks, the pilots of the 57th entered combat in August 1942 and fought throughout the final Allied advance from El Alamein through the Axis surrender in Tunisia, the capture of Sicily and the invasion of Italy.

Converting to the P-47D Thunderbolt in late 1943, the 57th continued pounding the retreating Axis forces in Italy until the end of the war in Europe. The 57th Fighter Group produced a number of aces during the war, and was also recognized for its pioneering achievements in the fighter-bomber role.

128 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2011

Reviews

[KOMET · Rating 5 out of 5]

Although the 57th Fighter Group was one of the less known fighter units in the U.S. Army Air Force (USAAF) to see combat during the Second World War, it played a significant role in the development and refinement of fighter-bomber tactics that continue to be used by fighter units in the U.S. Air Force (USAF) today.

Seven months after the U.S. entry into the Second World War, the 57th Fighter Group --- then equipped with P-40 fighters --- was sent abroad to North Africa aboard the U.S. Navy aircraft carrier, the Ranger. Upon arrival in Egypt and Palestine (via a circuitous flight route extending from the Gold Coast to Northeast Africa and the Middle East), its 3 squadrons (the 64th, 65th, and 66th Fighter Squadrons) were integrated into some of the veteran combat units of Britain's Desert Air Force (DAF), where they learned first-hand the reality of air/ground combat. The 57th would later go on to take part - with the DAF - in the Battle of El Alamein in October 1942. Several pilots within the 57th Fighter Group by the time of the Anglo-American victory over Italo-German forces in North Africa the following May would qualify as 'aces' from the numerous aerial battles the unit waged against both the Luftwaffe and the Regia Aeronautica.

As the war in the Mediterranean continued into Sicily and Italy, the 57th Fighter Group acquired a reputation as a top-notch fighter-bomber unit, first with the P-40 and by the end of 1943 with the vastly superior and redoubtable P-47 Thunderbolt, which it flew on operations through V-E Day.

Osprey has again produced a first rate book about an outstanding combat unit that hitherto had been little known. The reader is treated to diary extracts and personal interviews the author had with former unit personnel (pilots and ground crew alike). There are also lots of illustrations and photos of 57th Fighter Group aircraft (several of them in original Technicolor). I highly recommend "57th Fighter Group: First in the Blue" to any military history enthusiast or any reader with a cursory interest in the Second World War.

[Shrike58 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Molesworth is something of a specialist in the Curtiss P-40 and the pilots that flew them so this is a life and times of a unit that was the first significant U.S. fighter unit that served against the Germans and was famous for, if nothing else, the so-called "Palm Sunday Massacre." This is where elements of the group decimated a mass formation of German transport aircraft trying to evacuate German personnel from the wreckage of Hitler's North African adventure. I still rather like this series more than Osprey's companion "Aircraft of the Aces" but one can understand that there was too much overlap to justify two series.

Originally written: May 1, 2020.