Quoting 370th FG, 9th AF P38 pilot Lt. Al Bouffard, found in the 370th Fighter Group History.
“I got jumped several times, but they would never fight. They always came in high. They must have been under radar control. They’d try and get into the sun before they jump you, but you could keep your eye on them and kind of maneuver so you’d know they could only come down this way or that way and pretty soon down they’d come.
As far as leading a flight, I would wait until they got six or seven hundred yards or eight hundred yards from us before I’d call for a break. If you call too soon they could pick you right up. If you call too late you’re going to get shot down. You’d have to kind of figure out when can you break so that they were not going to be able to pick you up. I’d wait, but I’d tell the guys ahead of time we’re getting jumped, and then I’d call the break and we’d all break at once. I think that would shake them up when they saw you all break at once and they saw they just couldn’t get a bead on you they would just keep on going right down. By the time you came around through your 360 they were ten miles away and you had no chance of catching them. They wouldn’t stay and fight.”
The guy could have been posting on the AH boards
Dan/Slack
