UNITED STATES ARMY AIR FORCES
FLAGS, COLORS & GUIDONS
65th FIGHTER WING • EIGHTH AIR FORCE • WORLD WAR II
In June 1944 the Eighth Air Force's 65th Fighter Wing, VIII Fighter Command, was headquartered at Saffron Walden, Essex. Of its five subordinate fighter groups, the 4th was based at Debden in Essex, the 56th was based at Boxted in Essex, the 355th was based at Steeple Morden in Cambridgeshire, the 356th was based at Martlesham in Suffolk and the 479th was based at Wattisham in Suffolk. The groups each embodied a headquarters squadron, three fighter squadrons and various attached service units. The groups flew either P-38, P-47 or P-51 aircraft. Also assigned to the wing were two aviation signal companies.
The group, usually composed of three or four squadrons, was the color-bearing echelon of the US Army Air Corps (USAAC). Organizational standards for groups were of the standard Army pattern for mounted and mechanized units, made of silk, 3 feet at the hoist by 4 feet on the fly, plus 2 1/2-inch fringe. The field of the standard was ultramarine blue and the fringe was golden orange. The standard was always carried or displayed with a National Standard of the same materials and dimensions. Squadrons of groups and separate squadrons had flags and guidons based on the colors ultramarine blue and golden orange, the Air Corps branch colors. Guidons were made of wool bunting, 20 inches at the hoist by 27 3/4 inches on the fly with a 10-inch fork. Guidons of squadrons assigned to groups had the group number above and the squadron number below the branch insignia.
Service units assigned to groups that were not part of the USAAC had flags and guidons of the designs authorized for their parent branches. Click on the SERVICE UNITS link under each group to view these.
Note: The enormous expansion of the USAAC during the war makes it doubtful that all groups received a coat of arms and a unique organizational standard. Shown below are the National and Organizational Standards of the 8th Pursuit Group, a prewar unit. Wartime units that did not receive a coat of arms may have had a standard with the eagle's breast feathered and a badge above its head, as authorized by AR 260-10 for color-bearing units with no coat of arms. Pursuit Groups were retitled Fighter Groups in 1942.
Credits: The drawings on this page are based on the specifications given in Army Regulation 260-10 dated 25 October 1944, a copy of which was kindly provided by FOTW Mailing List member Joseph McMillan. Order of battle information was taken from Dr. Leo Niehorster’s outstanding and essential website, World War II Armed Forces: Orders of Battle and Organizations.
Images Added April 2020
52nd Signal Company • 327th Signal Company
