September 10 & 11, 2011
Lincoln, Nebraska
- Ruff Stuff/ Priv Image 1
P-38 Ruff Stuff/Priv
The 80th Fighter Squadron was originally constituted as the 80th Pursuit Squadron (Interceptor) on January 6, 1942. It was activated on January 10, 1942 at Mitchel Field, NY, and assigned to the 8th Pursuit (later, 8th Fighter) Group. The squadron was redesignated the 80th Fighter Squadron on May 15,1942; the 80th Fighter Squadron (Two Engine) on 22 July 1943; and the 80th Fighter Squadron, Two Engine, on August 20,1943. Flying the P-39 and P-400 aircraft, the squadron converted to the P-38 in 1943 and saw combat in Southwest and Western Pacific, from July 22, 1942 to August 16, 1945, deploying to Australia, New Guinea, the Schouten Islands, Morotai, Leyte, Mindoro, and Japan. The 80th inactivated on December 26, 1945 at Fukuoka, Japan. One of the early squadron commanders, Edward "Porky" Cragg named the Squadron "The Headhunters" after the local New Guinean Headhunter tribes who helped to rescue downed pilots. He also commissioned crewchief Yale Saffro, who was once offered a job to work for Walt Disney as a cartoonist but turned it down, to design the 80th's patch.