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THE QUARTERS OF THE 56TH FIGHTER GROUP
Four fighter groups sent to England in the summer of 1942 as part of the Bolero buildup had been transferred to the Twelfth Air Force to support the invasion of North Africa, leaving the U.S. VIII Fighter Command with a single fighter group. To rebuild the fighter forces, the 56th FG was assigned for overseas duty in England. Major Hubert A. Zemke, a pre-war Air Corps pilot with experience as a combat observer with the RAF and a P-40 instructor to the Soviet Air Force, became group commander on September 16, 1942.[8] The 56th FG was alerted for overseas deployment on Thanksgiving Day, ceased all air operations, and moved to Camp Kilmer, New Jersey, on December 28.
The 56th Fighter Group sailed from New York on the RMS Queen Elizabeth on January 6, 1943. Arriving at Gourock, Scotland, on January 11, the personnel of the 56th FG moved by train to their first station at RAF Kings Cliffe in Cambridgeshire to await arrival of new P-47C's in late January. Shortly after its arrival in the UK, the 61st Fighter Squadron received a new pilot, Captain Francis S. Gabreski who had been seconded to No. 315 Squadron RAF, a fighter squadron of Polish Air Force pilots, to acquire combat experience. Bad weather prevented the group from flying its new aircraft until February 10.[9
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