We were slotted with attacking A43 and an industrial city near by A43. Rumor had it that Rommel had a meeting going on their so it was important we level as much as that as possible. We should have had 36 bombers, but due to other problems we lost quite few in the first few minutes.
Over the English Channel we ran into a few 109’s. The had alt on our escorts and managed to make a pass. They shot down 2 of our buffs in a pass and damaged two others I think. After that Midnight and the 412 with Warloc and the 880th were all over them. Last we saw the 109’s were all smoking and running for the deck with Mustangs in hot pursuit.
About 40 minutes later we were near our target. The 412th had disobeyed orders and taken drop tanks. It turned out to be a very wise call on the part of the C.O. since they were able to escort us all the way to our target. The 880th were fuel critical and were not able to stay with us as much as they would have liked. On our calibration run several of us had miscalculated and extended south for another pass. TeeeRex has lost his bombardier and he dropped when ghosth told him to. Ghosth, TeeeRex and Sour were all able to take out the fighter hangers at 43 which was a target. The rest of us dropped on the city in two passes, but the city was only moderately damaged due to miss drops. By now we were scatted and heading home. Some bombers ran north heading for home, others kept their altitude. The few that were on the deck managed to make it home without incident, but had spotted some high cons. It was unknown if they were enemy or friendly. banana, Starbird, Nifty, and myself grouped together. Once over the Channel we broke radio silence and began to chat feeling pretty safe. Suddenly one of my gunners called out to warn Starbird who had a 190 trailing him. Moments later another 190 appeared. We called to our escorts for help. The 190’s took their time setting themselves up for a good pass out of the sun. That gave Midnight and Cobra time to get on the scene. The 190’s only had one chance for a pass. I warned Midnight to get some alt before he engaged, but he said something about waiting all day for this.
It was a pleasure to watch and listen as Midnight and Cobra worked the 190’s. Even without alt they quickly turned the tables on the enemy LW pilots. I was very impressed and thankful they were on the scene. Within a minute or two they were out of range and we could only see their dots.
The rest of the trip was without incident. Nifty had to ditch only 2 miles from our base due to his Aux tanks being dry. Not sure if it was ack or enemy ac that caused the damage on him. All other managed to land without any problems.
------------------------
CO CM daddog
Squad Operations 332nd Flying Mongrels 332nd RosterSpecial EventsNoses in the wind since 1997.daddog@hitechcreations.com
Don't accept your dog's admiration as conclusive evidence that you are wonderful. Ann Landers
