History of the 390th - The Boars Head
This article appeared in: The Wing Spread Thursday July 31, 1986
Project Warrior Former 390th commander visits base, talks about flying and fighting in WWII.
Editor's note: Retired Col. Marvin W. Miller, 390th Fighter Squadron commander in 1946, and his wife Ethel visited Mountain Home AFB July 16-18. While here, TSgt. Larry B. Reetz, non-commissioned officer in charge, public affairs, had a chance to interview Colonel Miller about his career in the Air Force and with the 366th Fighter Group during World War II.
When and where did you enter the Army Air Corps?
My family was living in a small town in southern California called Dinuba near Fresno. I started college at Fresno State and the war was going on and I couldn't wait any longer. I went the airfield near Fresno and enlisted in the Army Air Corps in 1942 as an aviation cadet.
How long was your training to become a pilot?
Well, I graduate as a pilot early in 1944 and was commissioned as a second lieutenant at the ripe old age of 19. I was immediately assigned to P-47 Thunderbolt-transition and combat-pilot training.
From training where did you go?
My first assignment as to the 390th Fighter Squadron, 366th Fighter Group at Laon, France, in the summer of 1944 where I flew 65 combat missions before the war ended in May 1945.
What was the role of the 390th FS during World War II?
As part of 9th Air Force, we were a fighter bomber outfit flying missions in support of ground troops. We flew mission preparing the way for them, knocking out gun emplacements, working on troop concentrations, tanks and so forth. We tried to soften the way for them. At other times, we would go out to destroy German supply lines. Many of our targets were trains, trucks, bridges, barges, flak installations and industrial centers.
How did you accomplish these missions?
We did dive bombing,' strafing, napalm drops and air-to-ground rocket firing. In fact, we pioneered the air-to-ground rocket.
You pioneered the air-to-ground rocket?
Yes. We were supplied with five-inch, high-velocity air-to-ground rocket that had never been used before by a combat aircraft. They equipped us with the racks, the rockets and no instructions on how to fire or use them. But we soon learned to use them quite accurately and effectively. When our eight 50-caliber machine guns couldn't knock out a tank, you hit it with one of those rockets -it was finished.
Of all your missions, what was your most memorable one?
Every mission was a thrill. It's not hard to recaIl a mission of significance; it's hard to put your finger on one in particular that stands out above the others. I could talk about every mission and make it colorful because it was. You rarely came back from a mission without holes in the airplane from the flak encountered. Sometime you wouldn't believe the airplane got back. One time, I had three cylinders shot off the engine and it got me back. It was a very fine machine. The calling card of the P-47 was that it was so rugged. It could take so much beating, so much damage and still fly. I can recall flying through tree tops deliberately to stay out of the flak.
What then do you think was the most interesting flying you did?
Probably the most interesting flying we did was during the Battle of the Bulge. The Germans made their last thrust and got back into Belgium Luxembourg and parts of France. They got as far as the Nice River and our airfield was a quarter-of-a-mile away. When we would take off in that direction they were shooting at us from the ground while we were taking off. They were pretty close.
Did you lose a lot of pilots from the 39Oth?
Of the original members who went overseas with the 390th we lost about 65 percent of them.
Did you find it difficult spending all of your time in air-to-ground support and not engaging the enemy in an one-on-one situation?
Air-to-air combat is the epitome of being a fighter pilot. It was hard to swallow sometimes -that we weren't able to engage fighters on a regular basis. Once in a while, we would find some German airplanes and make contact with them. It was very rare. In my case it was only one time. That was when I destroyed two Focke-Wulf 190 fighters.
Did anyone destroy more than that?
We had one guy, 2nd Lt. Melvyn R. Paisley, who was just plain lucky. Just about every time he went up he ran into them. He wound up with nine kills which was unprecedented for anyone in 9th Air Force. We all wanted fly with him. In fact, on one occasion, he had run out of ammunition, but still had one of his rockets and used it to shoot down the German. No one had tried that before.
Editor's note: Retired Col. Marvin W. Miller, 390th Fighter Squadron commander in 1946, and his wife Ethel visited Mountain Home AFB July 16-18. While here, TSgt. Larry B. Reetz, non-commissioned officer in charge, public affairs, had a chance to interview Colonel Miller about his career in the Air Force and with the 366th Fighter Group during World War II.
When and where did you enter the Army Air Corps?
My family was living in a small town in southern California called Dinuba near Fresno. I started college at Fresno State and the war was going on and I couldn't wait any longer. I went the airfield near Fresno and enlisted in the Army Air Corps in 1942 as an aviation cadet.
How long was your training to become a pilot?
Well, I graduate as a pilot early in 1944 and was commissioned as a second lieutenant at the ripe old age of 19. I was immediately assigned to P-47 Thunderbolt-transition and combat-pilot training.
From training where did you go?
My first assignment as to the 390th Fighter Squadron, 366th Fighter Group at Laon, France, in the summer of 1944 where I flew 65 combat missions before the war ended in May 1945.
What was the role of the 390th FS during World War II?
As part of 9th Air Force, we were a fighter bomber outfit flying missions in support of ground troops. We flew mission preparing the way for them, knocking out gun emplacements, working on troop concentrations, tanks and so forth. We tried to soften the way for them. At other times, we would go out to destroy German supply lines. Many of our targets were trains, trucks, bridges, barges, flak installations and industrial centers.
How did you accomplish these missions?
We did dive bombing,' strafing, napalm drops and air-to-ground rocket firing. In fact, we pioneered the air-to-ground rocket.
You pioneered the air-to-ground rocket?
Yes. We were supplied with five-inch, high-velocity air-to-ground rocket that had never been used before by a combat aircraft. They equipped us with the racks, the rockets and no instructions on how to fire or use them. But we soon learned to use them quite accurately and effectively. When our eight 50-caliber machine guns couldn't knock out a tank, you hit it with one of those rockets -it was finished.
Of all your missions, what was your most memorable one?
Every mission was a thrill. It's not hard to recaIl a mission of significance; it's hard to put your finger on one in particular that stands out above the others. I could talk about every mission and make it colorful because it was. You rarely came back from a mission without holes in the airplane from the flak encountered. Sometime you wouldn't believe the airplane got back. One time, I had three cylinders shot off the engine and it got me back. It was a very fine machine. The calling card of the P-47 was that it was so rugged. It could take so much beating, so much damage and still fly. I can recall flying through tree tops deliberately to stay out of the flak.
What then do you think was the most interesting flying you did?
Probably the most interesting flying we did was during the Battle of the Bulge. The Germans made their last thrust and got back into Belgium Luxembourg and parts of France. They got as far as the Nice River and our airfield was a quarter-of-a-mile away. When we would take off in that direction they were shooting at us from the ground while we were taking off. They were pretty close.
Did you lose a lot of pilots from the 39Oth?
Of the original members who went overseas with the 390th we lost about 65 percent of them.
Did you find it difficult spending all of your time in air-to-ground support and not engaging the enemy in an one-on-one situation?
Air-to-air combat is the epitome of being a fighter pilot. It was hard to swallow sometimes -that we weren't able to engage fighters on a regular basis. Once in a while, we would find some German airplanes and make contact with them. It was very rare. In my case it was only one time. That was when I destroyed two Focke-Wulf 190 fighters.
Did anyone destroy more than that?
We had one guy, 2nd Lt. Melvyn R. Paisley, who was just plain lucky. Just about every time he went up he ran into them. He wound up with nine kills which was unprecedented for anyone in 9th Air Force. We all wanted fly with him. In fact, on one occasion, he had run out of ammunition, but still had one of his rockets and used it to shoot down the German. No one had tried that before.
Retired Col. Marvin W. Miller, 390th Fighter Squadron Commander in 1946, poses with the well-remembered boar's head at the 390th Electronic Combat Squadron. The mounted head was recovered from a bombed out hunting lodge In Laon, France, by a member of Colonel Miller’s squadron In 1944and has been with the squadron ever since.
According to your biography you were once commander of the 39Oth. When?
We had moved the 390th into Germany at the end of the war and I arranged for a short "rest and recuperation" leave in the United States. When I returned to the 366th in January 1946, the Group had been drained of all the experienced "old timers." This opened the door and I became commander of the 390lh Fighter Squadron until the group was redesignated the 523rd Fighter Squadron and reassigned to the 27th Fighter Group in August of that year.
The 390th Electronic Combat Squadron here has a mounted boar's head. I understand you may know something about that. When we were at Laon, France, we were Conducting our operations from buildings that had been virtually destroyed by our bombing. The Squadron didn't establish their operations very close together. We kind of made a place for ourselves where we could find one. Near our operation was an old hunting lodge that had also been hit pretty hard. One of the guys was rummaging around there one day and found this mounted boar's head and brought it back to the squadron. That same boar's head that he found in the summer of 1944 is the same one the 390th Electronic Combat Squadron has today.
What did you do after the 390th was re-designated and reassigned in Germany?
I returned to the United States in 1947 and began a series of assignments associated with fighters. The Air Force became a separate service about this time, what did that mean to you? For me it meant the Air Force would now be able to establish its own doctrine on the use of air power. It moved us from the control of the Army that wanted to suppress the progress of air forces. The progress of air power was no longer hampered.
Your 31 years in the Army Air Corps and the Air Force spans a period when a lot of advancements in aviation were made. You already mentioned the air-to-ground rockets you pioneered in WWII, were there others?
Yes, there were. When I returned to the U.S., we spent a lot of time upgrading our instrument systems. Up to this time, precision flying was quite an experience. Many of the aircraft were equipped with vacuum instruments that would spill when you went into a bank over 55 degrees. You no longer had an artificial horizon. It didn't take long for them to develop an artificial horizon that could go through 360 degrees where you could do roll and loops and, of course, it wouldn't spill.
When the Korean War started I was at Hamilton Field, near San Francisco, when the Air Defense Command was created. I had the opportunity to fly the P-80, F-84, F-86. F-89 and F-94 as we developed an all-weather fighter equipped with a radar system. The F-94B was the first all-weather fighter with an afterburner. I started out flying open cockpit biplanes and
finished up flying F-4s. The P-47 still had iron sights. Then we got some gun sights that projected an image on a plate behind the wind screen but it was not computing sight. You had to compute mentally how much lead to take on a moving target. It was nothing like today. The P-84 had a computing gun sight -no instructions and no one knew how to use it. Even the representatives from the factory couldn't tell you how to use it or maintain it. We learned how by trial and error.
Did you ever fly any experimental aircraft?
As a matter of fact I did. I spent three months at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif. where I did service testing on the F-86 and F-89. At the same time I was able to fly some of the experimental model they were testing.
Throughout your career were you always qualified to fly?
With the exception of four-year side track to the Air University at Maxwell Air Force Base, La. I was always combat ready in some type of fighter aircraft -mostly single-engine fighter and all accident-free. I new virtually every Air Force fighter, from the P-40 through the Mach 2 F-4, F-104 and F-I06.
How does it feel to be back visiting with the same wing you flew with more than 40 years ago?
It's great to be back. This is a special moment for me after all these years, to visit with the 390th. A lot of changes have been made in air power over the years, but the primary goal is still the same - Peace.
We had moved the 390th into Germany at the end of the war and I arranged for a short "rest and recuperation" leave in the United States. When I returned to the 366th in January 1946, the Group had been drained of all the experienced "old timers." This opened the door and I became commander of the 390lh Fighter Squadron until the group was redesignated the 523rd Fighter Squadron and reassigned to the 27th Fighter Group in August of that year.
The 390th Electronic Combat Squadron here has a mounted boar's head. I understand you may know something about that. When we were at Laon, France, we were Conducting our operations from buildings that had been virtually destroyed by our bombing. The Squadron didn't establish their operations very close together. We kind of made a place for ourselves where we could find one. Near our operation was an old hunting lodge that had also been hit pretty hard. One of the guys was rummaging around there one day and found this mounted boar's head and brought it back to the squadron. That same boar's head that he found in the summer of 1944 is the same one the 390th Electronic Combat Squadron has today.
What did you do after the 390th was re-designated and reassigned in Germany?
I returned to the United States in 1947 and began a series of assignments associated with fighters. The Air Force became a separate service about this time, what did that mean to you? For me it meant the Air Force would now be able to establish its own doctrine on the use of air power. It moved us from the control of the Army that wanted to suppress the progress of air forces. The progress of air power was no longer hampered.
Your 31 years in the Army Air Corps and the Air Force spans a period when a lot of advancements in aviation were made. You already mentioned the air-to-ground rockets you pioneered in WWII, were there others?
Yes, there were. When I returned to the U.S., we spent a lot of time upgrading our instrument systems. Up to this time, precision flying was quite an experience. Many of the aircraft were equipped with vacuum instruments that would spill when you went into a bank over 55 degrees. You no longer had an artificial horizon. It didn't take long for them to develop an artificial horizon that could go through 360 degrees where you could do roll and loops and, of course, it wouldn't spill.
When the Korean War started I was at Hamilton Field, near San Francisco, when the Air Defense Command was created. I had the opportunity to fly the P-80, F-84, F-86. F-89 and F-94 as we developed an all-weather fighter equipped with a radar system. The F-94B was the first all-weather fighter with an afterburner. I started out flying open cockpit biplanes and
finished up flying F-4s. The P-47 still had iron sights. Then we got some gun sights that projected an image on a plate behind the wind screen but it was not computing sight. You had to compute mentally how much lead to take on a moving target. It was nothing like today. The P-84 had a computing gun sight -no instructions and no one knew how to use it. Even the representatives from the factory couldn't tell you how to use it or maintain it. We learned how by trial and error.
Did you ever fly any experimental aircraft?
As a matter of fact I did. I spent three months at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif. where I did service testing on the F-86 and F-89. At the same time I was able to fly some of the experimental model they were testing.
Throughout your career were you always qualified to fly?
With the exception of four-year side track to the Air University at Maxwell Air Force Base, La. I was always combat ready in some type of fighter aircraft -mostly single-engine fighter and all accident-free. I new virtually every Air Force fighter, from the P-40 through the Mach 2 F-4, F-104 and F-I06.
How does it feel to be back visiting with the same wing you flew with more than 40 years ago?
It's great to be back. This is a special moment for me after all these years, to visit with the 390th. A lot of changes have been made in air power over the years, but the primary goal is still the same - Peace.