page_title: 20th Operations Group
section_title: P-51 Mustang
hierarchical_section_title: 20th Operations Group / History / World War II / RAF Kings Cliffe / P-51 Mustang
caption_attribution_description: English: P-51D-20-NA Mustang Serial 44-72519, of 77th Fighter Squadron, 20th Fighter Group, at Kings Cliffe airfield, England.
context_page_description: The 20th Operations Group is a component of the 20th Fighter Wing, assigned to the United States Air Force Air Combat Command. It is stationed at Shaw Air Force Base, South Carolina.
  The 20th Operations Group is a successor organization of the 20th Pursuit Group, one of the 15 original combat air groups formed by the US Army before World War II.
  During World War II the 20th Fighter Group was an Eighth Air Force fighter unit stationed in England. Assigned to RAF Kings Cliffe in 1943. It was the oldest USAAF group to be assigned to the Eighth Air Force for an extended period, flying 312 combat missions. It was awarded a Distinguished Unit Citation for a sweep over Germany on 8 April 1944.
context_section_description: The 20th FG converted to P-51s in July 1944 and continued to fly escort and fighter-bomber missions as the enemy retreated across France to the Siegfried Line. The group participated in Operation Market Garden, the airborne attack on the Netherlands in September 1944. It also escorted bombers to Germany and struck rail lines, trains, vehicles, barges, power stations, and other targets in and beyond the Siegfried Line during the period October–December 1944.
  By November 1944, Allied air superiority had been so firmly established that the Luftwaffe attempted only two more full-scale interdiction missions against Allied bombers before the end of the war. On 2 November, a German force of about 250 fighter aircraft intercepted 1,121 Eighth Air Force bombers and their fighter escort en route to the synthetic oil plants in Merseburg, Germany. In the ferocious air battle that followed, Eighth Air Force fighters destroyed 148 German planes, more than half the attacking force. Aircrews of the 20th Group contributed to the elimination of 33 enemy aircraft on that day. Lieutenant Colonel Robert P. Montgomery led the 20th's assault, destroyed three aircraft himself and was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross for his performance.
  The unit took part in the Battle of the Bulge by escorting bombers to the battle area. Germany launched its final major air defense operation on 19 January 1945. This last full-scale attack against Allied bombers lasted approximately 20 minutes. In that time, over the German homeland, aircraft of the Eighth Air Force downed a total of 121 out of 214 attacking aircraft without the single loss of a fighter aircraft. Only nine B-17s, two percent of the total force, were lost.
  The late introduction of Luftwaffe jet aircraft, far superior to the P-51 mainstay of the Allied fighter force in both speed and high altitude performance, came too late to alter the course of the air struggle over Europe. The Me-262 twin jet and Me-163 single rocket engine aircraft first appeared in small numbers at the end of 1944. Although not a great threat in air-to air combat, (they lacked maneuverability), these aircraft proved almost impossible to stop when they attacked the heavy bombers.
  The group flew patrols to support the airborne attack across the Rhine in March 1945, and carried out escort and fighter-bomber missions as enemy resistance collapsed in April. In the last month of the war, aircrews of the 20th downed their first Me262s. On 10 April 1945, during airfield attacks around Potsdam and Brandenburg, 20th pilots destroyed five Me262s in individual encounters, while the group as a whole eliminated a total of 55 German fighters (mostly on the ground) without a single loss.
  Following the war, the 20th FG returned to the United States for inactivation at Camp Kilmer, New Jersey and was inactivated on 18 December 1945.
caption: North American P-51D-20-NA Mustang Serial 44-72519 (LC-D) "Grumpy" of the 77th Fighter Squadron, flown by Colonel Robert P. Montgomery, 20th FG Commander (18 December 1944 – 3 October 1945). Col. Montgomery was credited with 3½ air victories and three on the ground. He was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross on 2 November 1944 for leading the group on an escort mission to Merseberg and deliberately selecting the more hazardous of two acceptable and honorable courses of action – namely leading the group into a gaggle of 250 Me-109s. A furious battle took place from 27,000 ft. to ground level.
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