• 78th Razorbacks •

[Trukk]

[Trukk]

May-23: The 78th and friends flew two Rare Bird missions. The first was pretty quiet, but the second was a hard fight. At one point a Me-262 attacked the bombers but was hit by Kten's 20mm, after that the speed of the Ki-67s meant that it was actually a harder fight for the Zeros than it was for the bombers. All the way home, the buff drivers listen to the escort try and work their way out of the hot zone and to their credit only one escort was lost. Bomber losses would have been even lighter if it wasn't for a jet that followed the group all the way home and vulched the bombers as they tried to land. Trukk got revenge however by launching in another jet and shooting him down.  For more mission details see the War Diary.

[Trukk]

May-24: The 78th launched a strat mission and before the group even made it to altitude it was engaged by the enemy. The group had to divert to a secondary target when it was engaged by jets, but the target was hit and most of the bombers made it home.  For more mission details see the War Diary.

[Trukk]

May-30:  The 78th flew the last two Rare Bird missions for the month.  The first one was a milk run but just as the group was going to land a flight of Hellcats came into radar range.  The Zeros quickly aborted their landing and moved to engage, shooting down three of the bandits.  The second mission was an all bomber low altitude airfield run.  The group dropped on the field, destroying several targets including one fighter and on the way out ran right through a mass of bandits.  The high speed of the Peggy's kept the losses to only one bomber with several bandits being shot down.  It was hairy for a while but the group pulled through!  For more mission details see the War Diary.

[Trukk]

May-31:  The 78th flew a strategic run to an enemy AAA factory.  The group was engaged shortly before the target and pretty much continuously until about 10 miles out from the home field, but the escort was able to fend off all the bandits except for a Ta-152 which was able to take down one bomber before Lothmog tore off his wing.  The factory itself was hit hard and taken down to 15% capacity.  For more mission details see the War Diary.

[Trukk]

Jun-01:  The 78th escorted the 484th on a two target strat mission.  Bandits were spotted shortly after crossing into enemy territory but they didn't really press home any attacks until the bombers were over the targets.  The main group did well but a couple of stragglers got shot down pretty quick.  The group was pursued all the way back to home base, losing a couple more bombers as they tried to land, but all the bandits were shot down as well.  For more mission details see the War Diary.

[Trukk]

Jun-03:  The 78th and 484th flew a strat mission to a munitions factory.  Enemy activity was very light and the bandits that did approach the group were quickly driven off.  For more mission details see the War Diary.

[Trukk]

Jun-15:  The 78th was tasked with bomber escort as the 484th, 100th and other squads ran simultaneous strategic bombing missions in the AvA BoA.  Opposition was non-existant until just before the target when a few bandits tried to get to the bombers, but they were so few in number they were easily forced off or shot down.  As the bombers neared home the group started flying loose escort and got into some scraps with low bandits that were trailing the group.  The night started off slow but by the end it was much more interesting.  For more mission details see the War Diary.

[Trukk]

Jun-19 (AvA):  The 78th launched in an effort to interecept the sporadic raids that were being reported along the front line.  After much futile chasing after contact reports the group was finally able to chase down a flight of P-51s and engage them.  The mission was a success with five Mustangs brought down for the loss of one Bf-109.

[Trukk]

Jun-24 #1: The 78th escorted the 484th (Ju-88) on a level bombing run to an Allied munitions factory. Originally targeting the troop training facility at Nice the group had to divert to the secondary target due to reports of strong enemy activity at the primary target. With the help of other German fighters who engaged the P-51s before they found the bombers, all the Ju-88s hit their target and made it home. Once the bombers were clear the 78th moved to engage the incoming bandits. The scrap started high but ended up on the deck with the group shooting down several bandits for no losses.

Jun-24 #2: Just as the 78th landed from the first mission of the night, a large enemy force was reported inbound. Launching in Bf-109s, the group got lucky and was able to get a classic bounce on the enemy formation of around ten Mustangs. The 78th blew through the enemy formation knocking down two Mustangs in the process. Three of the four Bf-109s were able to climb up and away from the enemy but one was caught and as the fight moved downwards, one pilot was lost but several more P-51s were brought down as well.

For more mission details see the War Diary.

[Trukk]

Jun-26:  The 78th launched an extended patrol along the southern front.  For over ninety minutes the group defended German facilities and fought off American P-51 fighter sweeps.  When it was all said and done six P-51s had been shot down for the loss of one aircraft.  For more mission details see the War Diary.

[Trukk]

Jun-27:  The 78th flew four missions with the first two seeing the two Kill Board leaders going down.  The first saw Trukk collide with a P-38 after flying eight sorties with 10 kills.  The second had Tango crashing while trying to land in a cross wind after flying nine sorties with 7.5 kills.  Other than these two losses, the group didn't run into any significant opposition, other than trying to bring down a vic of B-17s with the Bf-109f which had the pilots wishing they were in Fw-190s!  For more mission details see the War Diary.

[Trukk]

Jun-28:  The 78th flew a Jabo and an intercept mission with Fw-190s.  The Jabo mission saw the group hit a troop training facility but Tango was hit by flak (wounded) and had to head home where he bailed out. The group was then engaged by two P-51s, but both were downed.  The second mission saw the group engage a vic of B-17s, which were brought down.For more mission details see the War Diary.

[Trukk]

Jun-29:  The first mission of the night saw the group intercept and down a vic of B-17s, a couple of aircraft were hit but the only loss was a pilot in a landing accident.  For the second mission the group headed out in the Fw-190F, opposition quickly mounted but the group was able to bomb an airfield and fight it's way home downing two P-51s in the process.  The third mission was the tough one!  Moving to intercept what looked like a bomber mission, it instead turned out to be a P-51 squadron and to make matters worse the fight drifted next to an enemy airfield!  Only Trukk and Tango made it home, Lothmog had to bail out and Maj was KIA.  For more mission details see the War Diary.

[Trukk]

Jul-07: The 78th launched three patrols along the front lines. The first saw the group intercept a vic of B-17s, all of which where shot down. The second was cut short so the group could refuel as radar indicated a bomber mission inbound. Three vics of B-17s were intercepted at over 30,000 feet. The Bf-109G14 with gondolas does not like to be that high and the group really struggled to engage the bombers. In the end, no pilots were lost but several of the Bf-109s were shot up badly requiring either emergency landings or in some cases the pilots just had to bail out over the field, and eight enemy bombers were brought down.