After some invective by Red 2 on channel concerning our inability to locate him, Blue 2 spotted them and we went diving down and engaged 6 Me109Gs which had 3 of our guys cornered. (7 on 6) An all white Me109G rolled out in front of me as I dove on his 9 Oclk passing through 10000 feet. I opened fire on him at 400yds and he barrel rolled and flopped right in front of me and I missed ramming him by feet, as I scored hits on his left wing. I let him go and turned into a Me109G which I had spotted in front of me outside gun range. He turned into me inverted and I shot a burst at him from 500yds and his 10 Oclk. I pulled vertical and rolled over onto a third Me109G dropping down onto his six. He broke hard into me and I did not get a shot off. Red 2 continued to complain the whole Luftwaffe was on him and after another Immelman I was dropping on the second Me109G and noticed him with 2 Me109Gs on his six, but not in firing position, cutting across my front from left to right. I broke left cutting throttle then cut back right onto the tail of a Me109G that was on Red 2. At almost tree top level I opened up on him from 200yds getting solid hits with a single short burst. He immediately began leaking radiator fluid and puffs of smoke from his engine. He broke up and left and I overshot as I had too much speed despite my having cut throttle seconds earlier. I immediately pushed full throttle and pulled back on the stick as another Me109G had barrel rolled in behind me to my right. My wingman who had remained with me throughout all of this engaged this Me109G as the one I had hit shot up shot Red 2 in the nose from dead ahead which really filled the radio with invective as his engine began to leak. Blue 2 engaged this Me109 as he followed me up. I rolled over and back down looking at 3 Me109Gs, there were still 6 E/A in the area all low. At this point White 3 and 4 rejoined and the odds went to 9 to 6. Red 2 went down shortly after this with three of them on him. A Me109G was shooting at my wingman and I turned onto it opening up at 400yds from his low 9, I scored no hits but I noticed his engine was dead and I pulled up and away as Red 1 and Blue 4 opened up on him. I believe that Red 1 collided with him as he spun into the ground. The E/A pulled up and shot at Blue 4 as he went by. I pulled up and around as Blue 1 engaged a Me109G low and behind me. Blue 3 pulled in on the E/A as Blue 2 pulled clear. I saw another Me109G pull in behind Blue 3 so I dove down at him from his high 11 letting rip a good burst which unfortunately hit nothing but the ground behind him. While this was going on White 4 was firing at another E/A above and to my right. About this time Red 2 went down which considerably freed up the squadron’s vox channel. As I pulled up and leveled at 2000 feet I spotted a single Me109 away from the fight about a mile away. As I closed I noticed a thick trail of smoke from the E/A and I turned back to the main fight sure he would not make it to a base. At this point I began to try and get the Group to disengage as we were deep in enemy territory and getting low on beans and bullets. As I closed back in on the main fight I noted 4 E/A left and 7 of us. A smoking Me109G went down my left side about a half mile out with Blue 4 on him. I closed back in on the main fight with Blue 3 and White 3 and 4 engaged with 3 109s in the dirt. A smoking Me109G pulled up in front of me and I shot at him from directly beneath him getting a couple hits on his engine. Apparently Red 2 had bellied in as he reappeared on the radio again filling the airwaves with curses. White 2 was trying to contact me in the middle of this to report that he was with the bombers. I barrel rolled and noted a 109G behind Red 3 and I closed on him from dead astern as he was brushing the ground with his belly he was so low. I pulled lead as he banked to the right and shot a 90 degree deflection shot and I miraculously got a good long burst on his fuselage from aft of his cockpit to his tail as he rolled to his left to level his wings which blew his tail off. As I pulled up and rolled right to drop on his six, he was pitched up, stalled and fell back down striking the ground in a huge explosion. (Claim 1 Me109G destroyed)
As I turned west I saw the rest of the Group with the single remaining Me109G, which was on Red 4’s tail. Blue 3 was on him and I went in to cover in case he broke right. He was particularly good and evaded passes by Blue 3 and Blue 2. I noted a dead stick 109 attempting to land under me and shot a burst at him, missing as he impacted heavily and tumbled and exploded. I then noticed the remaining Me109G which had turned on Red 3. I pulled hard right and shot yet another 90 degree deflection shot getting strikes on this outer left wing blowing it off. He was barely above treetop level and he rolled violently and struck the ground nose first. The pilot did not get out. (Claim 1 Me109G destroyed)
At this point I called all the E/A were down and our survivors were turned west for home regrouping on the way. For the loss of 2 P-51s we had destroyed 6 Me109Gs.
It was a long flight home.
The flight home consisted of numerous Me109s and Fw190s attempting to cut us off. Lt Dogfart was very low on gas and we tried to cover him, although several of us were down to less than 200 rnds in our single pair of 50cals.
We had not traveled 25 miles when we ran into 3 Fw190s from our north and more 109s piled in from the east. Red 1 and 3 were lagging behind and we turned into the 190s to cover them. One 190 ran the other pulled straight up. At this point 5 Me109s joined the fight. Red 3 flamed a 109 and it was on. I shot a 109 off of Blue 4. A 190 impacted the ground and it got very confusing, worst than the previous fight. I pulled up and met a 109G head on and barrel rolled with him as we both tried to gain an advantage. As he pitched up I rolled low under him and headed back toward the rest of the 4FG. Red 4 shot a 109 off of Red 2. A 109 pulled in on me and I pushed the nose down to head west as we all tried to get clear. We had shot quite a few down despite our low ammo and fuel as there were but four of the 9 left. I drug the 109 out of the main fight and Blue 3 dropped on him. He pulled up and I went hard right to get on him as he tried to pull onto Blue 3. At this point my wingman, Blue 2, who had done a magnificent job the entire mission was hit by the remaining Fw190 and went down. The 109 broke hard right and Blue 3 and I worked our way west as I continued to call the rest to get clear.
We managed to fight our way back to the coast without further losses. We were down to 6 out of the original 9 but had knocked down over 12 E/A since engaging the 6 on our 3 south of Stuttgart. As the survivors continued west we were again jumped but by 2 109Gs from dead ahead level. I called that we were going to blow through them. They came at me from my 10 and 11 oclk trying to turn onto me. The trailer took a 90 degree deflection shot. Strangely this is the first time all mission that I had been shot at. He pulled up right as I went left and his wingman turned and shot at me from 800yds dead astern. Blue 3 brushed him off and we continued west for home.
I am sure that Red 1 Lt PH was killed in his collision with the E/A, Red 2 Lt Bswin was sure alive based upon his lung capacity. Blue 2 might have gotten out but no one saw a chute.
While the whole group did well I want to bring to the attention of Command Blue Flight which performed exceptionally well.
Blue Flight:
Blue 1 Capt Fencer
Blue 2 Lt Pitzer
Blue 3 Lt Frodo
Blue 4 Lt Killjoy
J. Pilot/Aircraft Type/Callsign – Position/Rounds Expended:
Captain Fencer / P-51D 44-13732 QP-F / Horseback – Pectin Blue 1 / 1648 rnds fired