The Villages Daily Sun

LEESBURG - They called themselves “The Lucky Puppies,” but most of the heroic deeds performed by the

313th Fighter Squadron had little to do with good fortune.

They were exceptional pilots - among the best sky jockeys the Army Air Forces had during World War II.

“The Lucky Puppies” of the 50th Fighter Group distinguished themselves by bombing German trains, bridges and troops; providing air cover during the invasion of Normandy; and supporting Gen. George S. Patton’s

3rd Army in its push across France.

The 313th earned a Distinguished Unit Citation for destroying bridges, communications, supply depots and ammo dumps amid heavy enemy opposition and inclement weather; and another for destroying an enemy airfield while under intense anti-aircraft fire.

Obviously, the training “The Lucky Puppies” received in Leesburg served them — and America — well.

“We followed Patton wherever he went,” recalled 84-year-old Jean Rabbino, who served as an aircraft armer with the 313th in 1943 and returned to retire in Leesburg 55 years later.

That he lived to see retirement is something of a wonder.

Even though Rabbino was a member of the engineer crew that equipped fighter planes with ammo, in the summer of 1944, during the air offensive in Europe, Rabbino faced dangers pilots lived with on every sortie.

“We could see our planes drop the bombs and watch them come back. That’s how close we were to the fighting,” Rabbino said. “And the enemy used to drop bombs on us. Many times I went running for cover. And we were strafed, too.”

Rabbino is quick to minimize the danger he felt.

“Of course, it was nothing like what the pilots went through,” he said in a small voice as he looked at the floor.

What the “Lucky Puppies” went through during campaigns in Normandy, Northern France, Rhineland, Ardennes-Alsace and Central Europe from April 5, 1944-July 28, 1945, was devastating — only 29 of the 80 combat planes the 313th flew returned to base.

Combat was unlike any training exercise Rabbino had participated in. In Leesburg, the 18-year-old kid from Teaneck, N.J., only faced danger when an officer got the urge for Florida’s liquid sunshine.

“Right across from the airfield was a big orange grove,” Rabbino said. “Old Sgt. Barkin would send a detail of us to get oranges. We’d have to sneak over and steal oranges, and the guy who owned the grove would be riding on horseback with a shotgun, shooting into the air.”

Most days were, well, a bit boring. About the most exciting thing Rabbino did was clean the guns of pilot Phil Loring’s P-40 after strafing practice.

“Leesburg didn’t prepare us for going overseas,” Rabbino said.

Loring and his fellow pilots might disagree. They seemed very well-prepared for combat.

“Leesburg was a hot field. It was an advanced fighter base where pilots learned advanced combat tactics,” said Jay Wisler, 61, owner of Warbird Parts, a Tampa-based supplier of parts and memorabilia for vintage and military aircraft.

The Army Air Forces School of Applied Tactics in Orlando had oversight of the 803-acre Leesburg air base, which was designed to function as an air service center near the front lines, right down to the jungle growth camouflaging base buildings.

In layman’s terms, Leesburg was where Army Air Corps pilots and support personnel played war games.

The base even had foxholes and dugouts for simulated air strikes and jungle-combat training.

In Leesburg, “The Lucky Puppies” learned to pilot the most modern, powerful and sophisticated aircraft produced in America at the time.

Making the vault from 600-horsepower AT-6s (“AT” stands for advanced trainers) to 1,200-horsepower P-40 Curtiss Warhawks was akin to trading a Yugo for a Ferrari.

And increased power wasn’t the only difference — The AT-6 was a two-seater, which allowed instructors to fly with beginners. With the P-40, the pilot was on his own — he had to know his instruments and controls backward and forward before taking to the sky.

Later, pilots of the 313th were challenged by new radial-engine Republic P-47 Thunderbolts (the largest and heaviest World War II fighter built) and mighty P-51 Mustangs powered by 1,695-horsepower Packard V-1650s capable of flying at 425 mph.

“There were four different kinds of aircraft there, which was unusual. For instance, Bartow had P-51s, and St. Petersburg had P-40s. Leesburg was a very neat field,” Wisner said.

Neat? Pilots who trained at Leesburg probably would use less complimentary adjectives.

The airstrips on the south side of U.S. Highway 441, six miles east of the city (today, the Leesburg Municipal Airport occupies the site) presented unique challenges. For one, the air base was surrounded on three sides by lakes.

“Several pilots had ground loops whereby the plane would spin around on the ground, and one pilot went off the runway into Lake Harris and flipped, drowning the pilot,” recalled retired Capt. Ed Hubbell, who flew P-47s at Leesburg.

If the water didn’t get you, towering pine trees at the end of a runway just might.

“Planes would have to climb to get over those trees,” recalled Dick Pfahler, whose stepfather owned and operated Frisch Brothers fish camp near the base.

Leesburg was an airfield unlike any other.

The uniqueness of the Leesburg base was at least partially due to its proximity to the Army Air Forces School of Applied Tactics in Orlando, which trained fighter pilots under simulated combat conditions.

The simulations were stunningly real.

According to a May 11, 1942, United Press International article: “In demonstrations for reporters today, we were taken in 20 fighter bombers to attack an ‘enemy’ field at Leesburg, where we were ‘intercepted’ and technically ‘shot down’ by fighter planes assigned to protect the Leesburg field.”

The 375 enlisted men and 30 officers of the 313th, who were housed in barracks where Lake-Sumter Community College is today, also were heavily involved in developing gunnery and bombing tactics, including strafing and dive-bombing.

“In Leesburg, pilots learned how to drop bombs,” Rabbino said. “And we had a gunnery target. We used to paint the bullets a different color for each pilot so we could see how well each guy shot.”

Rabbino’s guy, Loring (each aircraft armer was assigned to a pilot), was one of the best.

He proved it on the afternoon of Aug. 1, 1944, while dive-bombing barges on the Seine River near Carentan, France.

The late U.L. Hudson recalled the mission in the 313th newsletter nearly 20 years ago: “Our flight, climbing, was evidently in line with the route back to the German base because a lone MD-109 came diving out of the fight and headed straight for us,” Hudson wrote. “I saw him first and called, ‘Bogey, 10 o’clock high.’ He was diving. ‘Got ’im,’ was Phil Loring’s immediate reply, and he jammed all power toward the target … ‘Boy, O boy,’ I thought … Phil will miss him this first pass and I’ll get him!’ And, boy, was I wrong! The scene from 800 feet above: practically a head-on pass, and Phil came out shooting. The ME-109 never saw him ’til the last minute. It looked like 100 axes chopping the 109 to bits!”

Loring had to be good. He had more at stake than most men.

“Loring was Jewish and we knew what the Nazis did to Jews. He had his name changed on his dog tags in case he got shot down by the Germans,” Rabbino said.

A number of tactics “The Lucky Puppies” learned came straight from Army Air Force intelligence about enemy maneuvers and combat information. At Leesburg, military leaders developed, tested and refined countermeasures in simulated war settings.

Secrecy was essential. The base was closed to civilians.

In November 1943, “The Lucky Puppies,” bound for Normandy, France, by way of Lymington, England Airfield No. 551, cleared the tall pines at the end of the Leesburg runway for the final time.

But the base on the lakes didn’t close. In mid-1944, the Leesburg Army Air Field barracks became “home” to 250 German prisoners of war from the African Theater.

Leesburg was one of 13 POW satellite camps of Camp Blanding, the main POW base in Florida. In 1945, after the war ended, the German prisoners were returned to their homeland.

The Leesburg Army Air Field, which had served the 313th Fighter Squadron and German POWs so well, had one remaining use.

On June 26, 1945, most of the personnel, equipment and functions of a Signal Corps Ground Signal Service contingent, which was activated in Clermont two years earlier, was transferred to the present Lake-Sumter Community College site.

The primary purpose of the Signal Corps group was to field-test newly developed radio and radar equipment for the Army-Air Force Board.

Personnel would buy standard car radios and convert them to mobile receivers. After testing, plans were sent to large companies like Motorola, which manufactured the product and sold it back to the Army.

The Signal Corps, which was civilian-run but directed by military personnel, began operation in Clermont with four officers and 79 civilians. In Leesburg, the unit was increased to eight officers and 156 civilians: professional engineers, aides, radio mechanics, stenographers, typists, administrative assistants, cabinetmakers, machinists, guards and firefighters.

When the Clermont/ Leesburg Florida Field Station closed in 1947, personnel was transferred to installations throughout the United States.

After it closed, the Army declared the Leesburg Army Air Field war surplus, and turned it over to the War Assets Administration for disposal. On March 23, 1948, the property was officially deeded to the city of Leesburg, which subsequently opened the Leesburg Municipal Airport.

In 1962, the property north of U.S. Highway 441 was deeded to the Lake County School Board for the future construction of LSCC.

Gary Corsair is a senior writer with the Daily Sun. He can be reached at 753-1119 or gary.corsair@thevillages media.com