Posted by Wade Meyers on the Warbirds Worldwide board on May 15, 2001 at
20:19:07:
This goes with my recent article, "Don Gentile's 1944 Logbook" posted at
MustangsMustangs.com and other places. I finally got around to typing it
up! Enjoy!
Unofficial Mission Narratives
written by Don Gentile in the back
of his WW II Logbook
From photocopies via Joe Gentile, son.
[ . . . ] indicates the word is not clear, and
my comments in ( ) parentheses.
Saturday - March 4, 1944 - Since this is a day of rest for me I feel
that now is a good time to note, what I feel has been my roughest
mission, so far, and hope the last of that kind (anyway). Yesterday
morning I took off (Don was flying P-51B VF-W) in the roughest weather I
have yet to see - couldn't even see down the runway. We were scheduled
to escort "Big Boys" to Hamburg, Germany. I took off with my wingman -
Johnny Godfrey - and the rest of the flight was to join me (Don was "B"
Flight commander at this time) but due to weather we never met. So
Johnny and I set course for Hamburg hoping the rest would join us above
overcast. While on course I could hear different boys calling on R.T.
(Radio/Telephone: RAF slang for "radio") saying they were returning
because of trouble one way or the other on their aircraft. Johnny and I
continued on course hoping that when we broke overcast that at least a
few planes would join us. J. G. and I finally broke overcast at 33,000
feet after flying instruments for an hour with the gas slanging away at
the tanks. I was ready to quit and return to base. After being on course
for a couple hours - still no one joined us. So we decided to continue
on alone. As we were approximately 100 miles from target the weather
seemed to clear up as if you would take a knife and cut it. Looking back
now I wish the soup would have been all the way around the target and
back. In the distance I spotted approximately 50 D.O. 217's in formation
- climbing for altitude and above them were about 100 F.W. 190's. They
were getting ready to attack the "Big Boys" head on. I called Johnny on
the R.T. and asked him if he wanted to go ahead and attack knowing there
were no other friendly fighters in this area. So as usual Johnny said
"You're the boss."
I then dove down to engage the D.O.'s - hoping to break up the German
fighters' formation, so the "Big Boys" could bomb before the German
fighters could get organized again to attack, which they never did due
to our breaking their formation. I began firing at tail end "Charlie"
and the D.O.'s started diving in formation for the deck. About this time
Johnny started screaming that the 100+ F.W.'s were coming down on us -
The D.O.'s were cross-firing on us at the same time. I had one D.O.
smoking badly when I had to break away - due to the 100+ coming in on
us. J. and I met them head on going through the complete German
formation - from then on all "hell" broke loose. Planes were going up
and down and every which way. F. W.'s were firing at us from all
directions - I thought this was it. In the midst of twisting and turning
I managed to get on an F.W., who overshot me, and was lucky enough to
get him. Johnny started to scream on the R.T. saying 50+ was coming in
at 6:00, so I started to aileron roll for the deck. They were closing in
so I had to pull up in a vertical climb into the F.W.'s. At this time I
noticed a brightly painted F.W. on my tail blazing away and Johnny
screaming for me to break. I broke so hard that my plane started doing
snap-rolls - when I got the aircraft under control the F.W. was slightly
ahead and above. So we ended up with me on his tail diving and twisting,
which lasted a good ten minutes. I managed to get his aircraft on fire
and noticed he had it, so I broke away. Johnny's and my ammo was
expended so we tried to head for home but the F.W.'s kept coming in on
us and we kept breaking into them - each time we broke into them we got
closer to the cloud bank - my gas supply was getting so low, and also
Johnny's, so we had to dive for the clouds with them on our tail, of
course we were skidding at the same time - by the grace of God we
reached the cloud bank, and after flying instruments for a while we let
down through (the bottom of the cloud deck). During the combat I lost my
maps so I didn't know my position, and Johnny didn't know either so we
took the general direction home. When we hit the coast line, it didn't
look familiar for we were supposed to come out over the Dutch coast. I
finally recognized the Jersey Islands which meant we were 200 miles
south of our course, and with only 20 gals. gas left I thought I'd never
make it, of course Johnny was in the same fix. I throttled back to
nothing, just barely staying in the air. (We were) running out of gas on
the English coast. Thus making a forced landing on Hurn Airdrome, after
refueling I headed home. Thank God for a good wingman, or I wouldn't be
able to write this today.
(A few days later . . .)
I was just notified that the brightly colored F.W. --- couple of days
ago (see above) was a German ace - who had [ . . .] victories to his
credit. Kurt Von Meyer. Thank God I didn't know it was him or I'd
probably passed out. (This short entry was written with a shaky hand -
Don probably just came from post-mission interrogation and was still
pumped up with adrenalin).
(Another mission narrative . . .)
March 10, 1944 - Wednesday (March 8th mission to Berlin) was another day
of excitement for me - because I stuck out my neck as usual - and of
course having the Good Lord on my side paid off. I know my prayers were
being answered. It was a [ . . . ] day for a flight to Berlin, but the
weather cleared off in the Berlin area.
We were escorting about 1000 Fortresses and Liberators. We - Johnny and
I - didn't see any Jerries until about 40 miles from Berlin. We hit
Berlin about noon - flying about 28,000 feet. The Jerries - all F.W.'s
and M.E.'s struck just as we joined the "Big Boys" - coming down from
30,000 in shallow head on dives. Johnny and I were covering the rear box
of 300 "Big Boys". I saw a tiny speck flashing in the sunlight far ahead
- then I saw 12 to 15 of our bombers going down in flames and blowing
up. Then the Jerries broke off to the left for another pass. Since there
were no other friendly fighters in this area but Johnny and I, the
question again came to my mind whether I should get in the same fix as a
few days ago. Knowing our boys were depending on us - and also wanting
to return home in one piece, I said, "Come on Johnny, let's go up there
- they're getting set for another pass." I managed to get in front of
the oncoming Jerries to break up a head on pass, which consisted (of)
about 60 or 80 (enemy aircraft). We both fired head on and latched onto
them. Then it seemed the world came to an end, so as usual I asked the
Good Lord not to forget me - I got two or three bursts onto an F.W. - he
went down, burning, at 20,000 feet without bailing. Johnny shot ahead,
took the lead and [ . . . ] with another [ . . . ] we made a tight turn.
The Jerry popped out of his blazing fuselage. We were down to 15,000
feet by then so we climbed - twisting and turning - breaking into F.W.'s
and M.E.'s from getting on our tail. I saw two M.E.'s flying abreast,
and told Johnny to take the one on the right and I'll take the left one.
As usual Johnny said "You're the boss, let's go". In a flash we were on
the Jerries. Johnny's blew up and mine caught fire and began to
disintegrate fast, so the pilot bailed out. No more than we finished
with them when two more M.E.'s were below us. Johnny turned and got his
killed right away - but I went round and round for at least five
minutes. I kept clobbering him but I guess it was not enough. Suddenly
he gave up and went in a vertical dive and that enabled me to blow him
apart. Then I looked around and saw an M.E. coming around for Johnny's
tail. I yelled "break into him Johnny" he did and the Jerry overshot. I
got a few bursts in the Jerry but he snap rolled and got away from me,
so Johnny got him smoking but his ammo was gone, so I climbed aboard
again with the Jerry split S'ing and with a few more bursts he was
burning viciously with flames shooting 15 feet in back of him - he must
have been tough for he continued fighting for a couple minutes with his
craft a burning inferno - but he finally rolled over on his back and
bailed out. With my ammo practically gone we caught up with our "Big
Boys" - in the meantime breaking into Jerries who were attacking us. I
noticed the bombers had dropped their load and the Jerries we broke up
in formation hadn't reformed yet.
There was a crippled Fort staggering behind the rest so I suggested we
join up and escort him home - so we covered him home, not that we could
have done much for Johnny's ammo was gone and I with a few rounds left.
We broke off a few attacks on this Fort but we managed to scare off the
M.E. All the way back the boys in the Fort kept throwing kisses at us.
Another mission like my last couple and I'll be ready for a pencil
pushing job - if I can hold a pencil.
Seeker adds:
(Just to clarify, this is pure cut and paste. I didn't write this, but I know who did. A good story, no?)
