AIR COMMANDO Mustang

THE AIR MUSEUM PLANES OF FAME'S RARE NORTH AMERICAN P-5IA MUSTANG IS BACK FLYING AND CARRYING A SPECIAL PAINT SCHEME TO HONOR A HEROIC GROUP OF AMERICAN AVIATORS

"In 1943, British Maj. Gen. Ode C. Wingate led a daring campaign against the Japanese in Burma," wrote Gen. H.H. "Hap" Arnold.

"He proved that Allied ground troops could operate behind the enemy's lines, cutting off his supply system and upsetting his schedule. General Wingate marched fast and struck hard. The enemy, never knowing where he was going to strike next, was completely thrown off balance. Indeed, this British general's behind-the-lines operations in Burma brought to mind the brilliant cavalry maneuvers of Nathan Bedford Forrest in our own Civil War.

"In 1944, Gen. Wingate wished to lead another expedition into Burma on a larger scale. Previously he had to leave some of his sick and wounded behind his swiftly moving columns, but in 1944 he wanted to fly all of them to safety.

"We promised we would do that - and more.

"We visualized an Air Commando Force, the first in military history. Large numbers of Allied ground troops would be conveyed by aircraft deep into Burma and, once there, they would be wholly supplied by air. General Wingate believed that, while the Japanese were excellent jungle fighters, well-trained Allied troops could defeat them at their own game, provided they were mobile, in sufficient force, and exploited the military value of surprise.

"We would not only evacuate all wounded by air; we would replace them with fresh combat troops. Furthermore, none of the soldiers would have to make long marches through tough jungle to get inside Burma. They could start fighting in top physical condition. In the same project, the Army Air Force would gain air bases from which we could fight the Japanese at closer quarters and relieve the threat to our aerial life-line to China over the Hump.

Obviously, the men to lead this unprecedented project had to be aggressive, imaginative, and endowed with organizational talent of a high order."

ENTER PHIL COCHRAN

In his search for commanding officers, Hap Arnold recalled, "To Army Air Force headquarters in Washington came two young men who were strongly recommended.

"One was a 34-year-old fighter pilot who had shown remarkable leadership in North Africa - Col. Philip G. Cochran of Erie, Pennsylvania. In my office Cochran still wore his Natal leather boots with the trouser tops stuffed in. In North Africa he had originally headed a unit of replacement pilots, but before anyone was aware of it, he had them up at the front fighting as a unit. Later he commanded a squadron of fighter pilots who were frequently so far ahead of our other forces that it was humorously remarked they were fighting a war of their own."

The other pilot called in with Cochran was John Allison, who recalled, "We were both air cadets when we met at Randolph Field in Texas, in 1936. He [Cochran] was short, square-jawed, smiling, his thick wavy hair already prematurely gray. His name was Phil Cochran and he looked anything but what he was: A former choirboy from Pennsylvania. He had instinctive strut and dash, and you felt in him immediately the qualities of leadership that were to make him one of the legendary figures of World War Two.

"Phil was 26 then, and just learning to fly, but his rich vocabulary, his irreverence, and general savvy caused the rest of us cadets to look upon him as the Old Man. 'I am an old man,' he used to say with a grin. 'A smart man ages fast, the way the rest of you jokers fly.'

"As we moved along in oui training to Langley, Virginia, and Mitchel Field, New York, Phil worked ceaselessly to perfect himself and the squadron he now commanded. He loved to experiment, to try the unorthodox. Phil turned his fighters into fighterbombers by strapping bombs to them and then used the technique of skip-bombing."

Cochran had attended Ohio State and graduated with a degree in business administration. Graduating in the mid1930s, the young man found it difficult to find a job in the midst of the Great Depression. Selling his grandfather's gold watch for fare, he traveled to Detroit, Michigan, where he passed the entrance exam to get into the Air Corps.

Cochran eventually became extremely proficient in flying the P-40 and, in November 1942, then-Maj. Cochran led a group of 35 replacement pilots and planes to North Africa. Subsequent transfers found Cochran taking over the 58th Fighter Squadron then based near Kasserine Pass.

Cochran, a disciple of close air support, had his squadron concentrate on attacking Axis truck and train routes to take the pressure off French and American forces. Cochran's raids were so successful that the Germans were forced to move most of their supplies by night.

Cochran relished leading his men into action, and almost always led their low-level attacks. On one mission near the Tunisian city of Kairovan, Cochran made a low-level attack on a German divisional headquarters at dawn. With the Nazi general and his staff sleeping, Cochran made his bombing run so low he had to pull up to get over the building. After releasing the bomb, Cochran looked back just in time to see the enemy headquarters explode in a shower of debris. "Just like in the movies," he later recalled.