YOXFORD BOY by Simon Atack

CAPTAIN CLARENCE E. ‘BUD’ ANDERSON/P51-B MUSTANG ‘OLD CROW’ AT WAR 29TH JUNE 1944

Exclusive to The Colours Call

When a radio broadcast by Lord Haw-Haw sneeringly announced the deployment of the 357th Fighter Group to England in 1943 as the ‘Arrival of the Yoxford Boys’ it became the nick-name of one of the most potent air combat wings of WWII.

Primarily tasked with fighter escort for the 8th Air Force B-17 Fortress and B-24 Liberator daylight bombing missions over occupied Europe, the 357th FG was the first USAAF unit to re-equip with the North American P-51 Mustang for this purpose and, under the superb leadership of Col. Don Blakeslee, ultimately prove the P-51 Mustang as the supreme long-range escort fighter of the war.

Around 25 percent of the US 9th Air Force’s Mustang aces were ‘Yoxford Boys’, and in a stunning debut for The Colours Call we are proud to present Simon W. Atack’s magnificent portrayal of one of the 357th Fighter Group leading aces in action.

Based at Leiston, East Anglia, P-51.B Mustang ‘OLD CROW’ was the personal aircraft of Captain Clarence E ‘Bud’ Anderson, 362nd Fighter Squadron/357th Fighter Group.

On 29th June 1944 ‘Bud’ and his squadron engaged enemy fighters in combat over Leipzig. In the ensuing fight this day ‘Bud’ Anderson shot down no less than three Focke-Wulf 190s.

Simon’s painting depicts ‘Bud’s’ first ‘190 kill’, made as the course of the fight took friend and foe further out over open country, OLD CROW’s six .05 inch machine guns blasting at another FW190 down and ahead of her diving attack. ‘Bud’ claimed this second FW190 in the climb back to altitude where he found and successfully engaged his third opponent of the day.

Captain Clarence E. ‘Bud’ Anderson claimed a total of 16.5 enemy kills with ‘Old Crow’. Later, in a low-back, P51-D Mustang, christened with the same name and similarly marked, he became the 357th Fighter Group’s fourth highest scoring ace of the war.