One day after bombing something or other from 13,000 Ft in my beautiful B26's and managing to stay ahead of the guys in pursuit until they found more entertaining things to shoot at I turn toward home. I set my course, take a quick glance out the rear gun and see a con high on my 6 in the sun.
"Just great" I think to myself. I've found over the years that guys who set themselves up in such a way usually know what they are doing when attacking bombers so I prepare for some tough gunning. Finally the moment arrives, icon range.... I almost smile as I look back and see this.
I continue to fly on toward home strait and level pretending not to notice. I get a check 6 from a friendly in the area. I reply with "Yeah I see him." along with a slight chuckle. My B-26's may be smaller than the giant birds swooping down on me but they are built like tanks and I know they can take some punishment.
Closer and closer they come, my 50's aimed right at him, finger resting on the trigger. 2000.... 1500.... 1000.... 800 and FIRE!!!
The first 29 blows up as he passes under me leaving no trace of the colossal aircraft. I then focus fire on the remaining 29. He's moving fast but I manage to get some good hits on him as he flies out 1000 in front of me. Either he got going to fast or I managed to hit him enough but he seemed to shed a few important parts as he passed out of range and then a wing finally went.
I continued on home with just a few holes in my flight but no major damage, having a friendly chat with the 29 pilot along the way.
What lesson did we learn from this? Well there are probably several but the one I always think of most in situations like this is... ALWAYS ALWAYS assume there is someone watching you from the rear gun! I've seen it happen time after time where someone thinks they are being sneaky but in reality are just being baited in.
Well <S> all, until my next episode. Hope you enjoyed the story and pics.
