AIR: First and Foremost

Five days after the landings on Mindoro, U.S. fighter planes in the Philippines briskly turned their main attention to knocking out Japanese air power on the far richer target of Luzon. Joining in the fun, as usual, were the "Forty-niners," men of the Fifth Air Force's famed 49th Fighter Group, first expeditionary unit of the Army Air Forces to go overseas.

Formed in January 1941 at Selfridge Field, Mich., the Forty-niners went through the usual training in P-40s, were shipped out less than two months after war began. Under command of young, keen-eyed...

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