page_title: RAF Boxted
section_title: 56th Fighter Group
hierarchical_section_title: RAF Boxted / History / United States Army Air Forces use / 56th Fighter Group
caption_attribution_description: English: P-47 of the 61st Fighter Squadron, 56th Fighter Group, at RAF Halesworth, England, World War II.
context_page_description: Royal Air Force Boxted or more simply RAF Boxted is a former Royal Air Force station located 4 miles north-northeast of Colchester, Essex England.
  Opened in 1943, it was used by the United States Army Air Forces. RAF Boxted has the distinction of having been the airfield for the two most successful USAAF fighter groups in air-to-air combat. After the war it was used by the Royal Air Force for jet aircraft testing. It was closed in 1947.
  Today the remains of the airfield are located on private property being used as agricultural fields. It also has a small grass private airstrip. It also has a museum opened in 2011. www.boxted-airfield.com
context_section_description: With the departure of the 354th, its place was taken by the 56th Fighter Group which was transferred from RAF Halesworth on 19 April 1944 to enable that base to be converted to a heavy bomber installation.  Its operational squadrons were:
  61st Fighter Squadron (HV)
  62d Fighter Squadron (LM)
  63d Fighter Squadron (UN)
  Flying the Republic P-47 Thunderbolt, the 56th Fighter Group was the most successful of the Eighth Air Force groups in air-to-air combat, and the second most successful in the USAAF with 665.5 (the 354th FG had 701 while the Pacific-based 49th FG had 664).  It engaged in counter-air and interdictory missions during the invasion of Normandy in June 1944.  Supported Allied forces for the breakthrough at Saint-Lô in July and participated in the Battle of the Bulge, December 1944-January 1945. Helped to defend the Remagen bridgehead against air attacks in March 1945.
  While at Boxted, the group received a Distinguished Unit Citation for strikes against antiaircraft positions while supporting the airborne attack on the Netherlands on 18 September 1944, an operation in which 16 P-47s were shot down or crashlanded in Allied territory.
  The commander of the 61st FS, Lieutenant Colonel Francis Gabreski, destroyed his 28th enemy aircraft in air combat, a record unequalled by any American fighter pilot in Europe. On 20 July 1944, Gabreski had to make a belly landing in his P-47 Thunderbolt after his propellor clipped the ground while strafing an airfield near Koblenz, Germany.  Although he avoided capture for five days before being finally arrested and interrogated by the Germans, he was greeted with the words: 'Hello Gabby, we've been waiting for you for a long time!'
  The 56th remained at Boxted until October when it returned to Camp Kilmer, New Jersey, being inactivated on 18 October 1945.
caption: Republic P-47D-28-RE Thunderbolt Serial 44-19770, 61st Fighter Squadron
exif: {}