Originally posted by Hangtime:
The 357th put the first allied fighters over Berlin on the 4th of March 1944 (along with one squadron of the 4th Group).
Not to split hairs, but the P-51 was not the first American escort fighter to fly to Berlin and back. P-38s from the 20th and 55th Fighter Groups own that honor. They had the "over the target coverage" on March 3rd. All the P-51s aborted with the bulk of the bombers due to poor weather. In contrast, the 75 B-17s being covered by the 20th FG continued on to Berlin and dropped their bombs. Jack Jenkins took his 55th FG over the city never having located their bombers who had long since turned for home. The 357th's Mustangs finally made it the next day, however, like the 55th the day before, the bombers they were supposed to be escorting had already diverted to secondary targets, once again due to heavy cloud cover over Berlin.
Any claim by Mustang pilots is little more than wishful thinking. The facts can be found in the official record.
The 55th earned the sobriquet of The Berlin Buzz Boys for their low level beat-up of the German capital on March 3, 1944. If Goering had looked up that day, he would have seen Lightnings whistling by, too low to be engaged by the heavy flak batteries guarding the city.
My regards,
Widewing
