Colonel Joseph Laughlin and Officers of the 362nd Fighter Group in Front of the Chateau Outside Reims

Colonel Joseph Laughlin and Officers of the 362nd Fighter Group in Front of the Chateau Outside Reims

Colonel Laughlin acquired a chateau outside of Reims in France to house the pilots of the 362nd Fighter Group

From left, 1st Lt. Joe Lane, Colonel Laughlin, 1st Lt. John Hill, and an unknown pilot stand in front the the chateau outside of Reims. Colonel Laughlin managed to "acquire" it, and it was large enough to house all of the pilots of the 362nd Fighter Group. These were the most comfortable accommodations the men would see during the war, and they never wanted to leave. The officers appear to have just come from the airstrip, as all of them are wearing their flight suits, with the two officers in front, both from the 377th Fighter Squadron, also wearing their leather jackets.

National Museum of the United States Air Force - Research Division

United States Air Force

October 1944