down in air-to-air combat during the war, for a victory-loss ratio of 2.35-to-1. Pilot losses were 125 killed-in-action (including missing-presumed-dead) and 105 prisoners-of-war, of 553 pilots serving, or 42%. The group was credited by VIII Fighter Command as having the most combined victories over German aircraft (583 air, 469 ground against 248 combat losses) of any group in the Eighth Air Force, and scoring the fourth highest number of air-to-air victories in Europe. Aircraft losses totaled 248 planes: 8 Spitfire VB, 28 P-47C and P-47D, and 212 P-51B and P-51D. The group moved to RAF Steeple Morden from July to November, 1945 and returned to the U.S. and was inactivated on November 10, 1945. Top aces Top aces (aerial victories) in the group were Dominic Salvatore Gentile (21.83), Duane Beeson (17.33), John T. Godfrey (16.33), James A. Goodson (15), Ralph K. Hofer (15), and Donald Blakeslee (14.5). Don Gentile joined the RAF 133 Eagle Squadron after going to Canada for training in 1940. He was with the squadron when it converted to the 336th Fighter Squadron in 1942. General Dwight D. Eisenhower referred to Gentile as a one-man Air Force. John Godfrey was Gentile's close friend and wingman; Winston Churchill referred to the pair as Damon and Pythias of the twentieth century. Duane Beeson joined the Royal Canadian Air Force in 1941 and was transferred to Britain to join RAF No. 71 Eagle Squadron in 1942. He was assigned to the 334th Fighter Squadron in September 1942. He was shot down over Germany on April 5, 1944 and was held in Stalag Luft I until April 1945. James Goodson joined the Royal Canadian Air Force in 1941 before transferring to No. 43 Squadron RAF, followed by No. 416 Squadron RAF, then the No. 133 Eagle Squadron, based at Debden. In September 1942, he transferred to the 4th Fighter Group, 336th Squadron. He was shot down near Peenemünde 20 June 1944 and was held in Stalag Luft III until liberation in 1945. Ralph Kidd Hofer was a light heavyweight boxer who joined the RCAF in 1941 and transferred to the 4th Fighter Group, 334th Squadron at Debden in July 1943. Hofer and his plane were lost July 2, 1944 near Mostar, Yugoslavia after a bomber escort mission to Budapest. Commanders Col Edward W. Anderson, September 1942 Col Chesley G. Peterson, August 20, 1943 Col Donald J. M. Blakeslee, January 1, 1944