October 21
1943:
I flew a P-39N on convoy patrol for 1:25 hours.
(From Hugh Dow's history of the 350th Fighter Group)
The overflight of the convoy off Algeria by a German JU-88 (and
possibly the receipt of an Elint report) caused the 345th Fighter
Squadron's Commanding Officer, Captain Charles F. Hoover, to
believe that an enemy attack on the convoy was probable. He and three other old-timers took off in a 4-ship flight of P-39Ns (in
place of the usual two-ship flight) to cover the convoy during
the last hour and half of daylight.
The convoy was attacked just about dark by a force of glide bombers (radio controlled) and torpedo bombers. Hoover managed to damage one of the glide bombers (Do217) before it escaped into clouds. 1st Lt. Edward J. Gabor, #2 (Hoover's wingman), got hits on the same bomber. Capt. Edgar A. Tharpe, #3 (element leader), engaged an He-111 torpedo bomber, scoring a probable against the enemy aircraft. 1st Lt. John S. Waterman, #4 (Tharpe's wingman), engaged another torpedo bomber, shooting it down. The pilots reported that they were blinded temporarily from the flashes of the cannon and 50 caliber machine guns.
1944:
I led a flight of 6 P-47s on a dive bombing mission to bomb the
Ferrara-Poggio Rusco rail line, but the target was obscured by
clouds. We dropped our bombs on the secondary target, the
marshaling yards at the southeast edge of Bologna, with 4 direct
hits and 8 near misses on an overpass over the railroad.
Strafing targets of opportunity, we destroyed two westbound staff cars and one truck that exploded. Another truck was left smoking north of Bologna. We strafed a haystack with doors at each end and a motor transport vehicle parked next to the haystack. Three people ran away from the vehicle which we left burning. My flight time was 2:45 hours.
earl
