On January 14, 1945, the 357th Fighter Group shot down 56.5 German fighters during a single mission. That day commands an entire chapter in my book on the 357th Fighter Group, but it includes only the aces’ stories from this mission. Here’s the long version of what happened in the skies over Derben.
Lt. Col. Irwin Dregne was leading the group in his Mustang “Bobby Jeanne,” escorting the first three boxes of bombers, when he spotted two large groups of contrails, obviously fighters massing for an attack from 1 o’clock. “I led Greenhouse Squadron (the 364th) toward the contrails, instructing the other two squadrons to stay close to the bombers. As I got closer to the contrails, I noticed a large gaggle coming in at our level, which turned out to be Fw 190s flying company front formation in waves of eight. The contrails I first spotted were Bf 109s giving top cover.”
Irwin Dregne's "Bobby Jeanne/Ah Fung Gu"
The 364th’s Blue Flight Leader, Maj. John Storch, was astonished to see the top cover separate from the Fw 190s, “and we were able to make a diving turn onto the tails of the 190s as they passed under us without worrying about their top cover,” he said.
Dregne ordered the 364th to drop tanks, “and we turned into the 190s. The 190s broke formation and scattered, some of them rolling, some split-S’ing, but the majority broke right and then went into a Lufbery. I got my sights on a 190 and strated firing, observing strikes on the fuselage and tail. He broke left and then went into a spin. I broke left and continued turning, finding myself in a Lufbery with eight or 10 Fw 190s. I started a tight climbing spiral, the 190s following, but I was able to outclimb them. My flight was broken up on the initial attack by the enemy flying through us. I noticed a bomber box under attack, so I started climbing toward it. When I got to the box, the fight was over and the Huns had left. I picked up a P-51 and told him to be my wingman.”
This was Lt. Col. Andy Evans, the deputy group CO; Evans had already shot down an Fw 190 and a Bf 109, then flew another Fw 190 into the ground, then climbed after another Fw 190 which abruptly collided with a fifth German plane.
“We went to the front of the force and started escorting again,” Dregne continued. “My wingman informed me he was low on gas so I set course for home. I then spotted a Bf 109 below me at 20,000 feet. I chopped my throttle, slid in behind it and started firing. I observed strikes around the cockpit, and the plane started smoking and burning, spinning down. The Bf 109 crashed.”
Storch singled out his own Fw 190 and his opponent broke for the deck. “I followed him from 24,000 feet to 2,000 feet straight down, firing intermittently,” he said. “He was taking wild evasive action. I did not think I was hitting him at all, but at 12,000 feet smoke began to pour out of the enemy aircraft. I had to break off as my plane was out of control due to air speed in excess of 500 mph. As I broke off, my wingman observed black smoke coming from the enemy aircraft and saw him go into the ground.”
As Storch recovered from his dive, he spotted a fight below him and led his wingman over. “I singled out an Fw 190 on the outside of the scrap and he went for the deck. I followed, and at this point my wingman observed an Fw 190 firing at us and had to break off to take care of him, which he did to the tune of one Fw 190 destroyed. In the meantime, my Fw 190 was going balls out on the deck. I had enough excess speed to pull up behind him and fired for some time with no effect. I finally managed to get close enough so I couldn’t miss and saw the strikes center on the fuselage and left wing. He burst into flame and suddenly snap-rolled, and large pieces flew off. I overshot, and he went into the ground burning; I did not observe the pilot get out before he hit the ground. I pulled up and my wingman pulled off his 190, and we rejoined and started to climb back to the bombers.”
Before they could regain altitude, they spotted two Bf 109s below them and dived to attack yet again. “They separated and hit the deck,” said Storch. “I picked one and chased him for about five minutes. I finally caught him and he went into a turning circle. My gunsight had burned out and I was a picture of confusion trying to turn, fire, fix my sight, put down flaps, pull up flaps and work my throttle. Finally, after giving up on my bad gunsight, I once again got close enough so I couldn’t miss and got strikes; coolant and smoke came from the enemy aircraft. He tried to belly in just short of a forest, hit and bounced almost over into a clearing but hit the last few trees on the fringe of the forest and the pieces scattered into the clearing.”
Meanwhile, White Flight of the 364th Fighter Squadron dove into the same mass of fighters, reported as “150 Fw 190s with 109s as top cover” by Capt. Thomas H. Adams. “There were so many fighters it was hard to pick a single target, but I caught one coming head on and gave him a burst as he came by but didn’t get strikes. I swung around and latched on and he gave me a good demonstration of snap rolls, etc., then went into a rolling dive for the deck. My airspeed was past 450 mph and I was almost in the ‘walking stick’ stage when the 190 snapped and disintegrated. He went into the ground and exploded. No chute was seen.
Tom Adams' "Arkansas Traveler"
“As I pulled away, I lost my wingmen and was trying to pick them up when I noticed a lone plane circling around all alone. He was so far away that I couldn’t distinguish much except the black smoke trail and I knew he was a Jerry. No one else was in the area, so I started after him, and by this time he had set a northeasterly course and hit balls out for home. Situating myself between him and the sun, I poured on the coal and proceeded to either catch him there or over his field because he was the only one lacking from my big ‘five.’ I chased him for about 15 minutes, cursing and raving because I thought I was never going to catch the bastard. Apparently, he thought he was safe because he throttled back and settled down for a nice ride – to hell. I closed and had to put down full flaps in order not to over-run him. My first burst hit him in the port wing root and he sort of turned as if to look behind him, but I was still between him and the sun and he leveled out again. This time I turned on the heat, getting hits in the cockpit, blowing his canopy off, and he turned on his back and went straight in from 10,000 feet. He did not get out. I would have taken pictures of the crash but light flak kept me on the move.”
Blue Flight’s Lt. Paul Hatala dove on the enemy formation with his flight, then climbed with two Fw 190s that were foolish enough to start up toward the bombers. “I closed into range and one broke away as I fired at his wingman,” said Hatala. “I observed strikes and he burst into flames and went down spinning. I didn’t follow because the other Fw 190 came back and I started turning to the left with him. I fired and got strikes on him. He then split-S’ed and went down to the deck. I followed him, and after he did a couple of maneuvers I got into position and gave him another burst of fire. He burst into flame and I saw him crash into the ground on fire.”
Yellow Flight was down to two planes because of aborts, and Yellow Leader, Lt. Robert Winks, lost his wingman in the initial turn toward the fighters. “I found myself making a head-on pass at an Fw 190, guessed the bead, fired and observed many strikes on the engine, cockpit and left wing root,” Winks said. “I wheeled around just in time to see the left wing collapse up over the canopy, evidently as a result on the enemy aircraft’s reefing it in with a badly damaged wing. I didn’t see the pilot get out.”
Winks circled to gain altitude and soon encountered another Fw 190 trying to make a head-on pass. “He was damned aggressive, so we started our affair with another head-on pass,” Winks said. “Neither of us fired as I remember it. Soon we found ourselves S-ing back and forth on a common course, chopping throttle, adding throttle and dropping flaps, both trying to get the advantage. A sad situation! Finally, I out-S’ed him, got on his tail, fired and watched as he obligingly blew up.
“By now, I was sure that being alone was nor the preferred thing, so I began searching for other friendly aircraft while I climbed back to the bombers. I joined several and continued climbing. As we reached the bombers, a single Bf 109 was making an attack. I covered as the leader shot him down. I didn’t recognize the group colors on said leader. I then heard Dryden say he was with the bombers over the target, so I went alone to join my squadron. At the target I saw a lone Bf 109 several thousand feet below me with another lone Fw 190 several thousand feet below me. I thought it was a trap, so cautiously I began to drop down on the Bf 109. He saw me coming and broke into me, whereupon I fired in another head-on pass and observed many strikes between the cockpit and tail. He lost control and started spinning. The 190 had made a turn and was now directly over us so I kept an eye on each. Soon I decided that the Fw didn’t intend on coming down so I lit out for the 109, who had since regained control. It took me some time to close on him as he was quite far below by this time. He started a turn to the left and as soon as my range was correct I gave him a rather long burst, observing a few strikes on the left wing. As soon as I had let up on the trigger his tail disintegrated, and a yellow-nosed P-51 shot through my sights. I closed along with the yellow nose, called him on the R/T and continued on out with him as I was low on gas.”
Lt. Dale Karger, flying in Green Flight of the 364th, called in bandits at 12 o’clock high, specifically “a jet (Me 262) bouncing our flight, and that he was firing at the No. 2 man,” said Lt. Raymond Bank. “The enemy aircraft overshot and made a slight turn to the left. I turned on my gun switches and pulled my nose up and fired at the Me 262, observing no strikes, and then rejoined my flight. The Me 262 kept on going and disappeared from sight. Capt. Chester Maxwell got on the tail of some 25 to 30 Fw 190s and a Lufbery to the left began.” Maxwell had been so eager to break up this group’s attack that he had simply peeled off and dived in among them without radioing the rest of his flight “and was forced to engage this gaggle alone,” he said. “As I approached the formation, part of them broke to the left and the remainder split-S’ed toward the ground. None, I believe, reached the bombers. I got a 20-degree deflection shot in on one of the Jerries who broke to the left. I noticed several strikes around the center of the fuselage and wing root. He started down, out of control and smoking . Almost immediately, one wing came off and he burst into flames.”
Dale Karger's "Karger's Dollie"
Bank had entered the Lufbery, and “the 190s got on my tail and one was firing at me but I received no hits. I broke into him and as he overshot me I closed to about 100 feet and set him on fire. I did not observe the pilot bail out.
“I then jumped the other Fw 190 and shot him down in flames. At first, several pieces came off and then he caught on fire. No pilot was seen to come out of the plane. Flying to rejoin my flight, I bounced a 190 which gave me a hard time as I only got a few strikes on him in snap shots. He dove down and came up into a loop; at the top of it, he kicked it into a hammer-head so as to try to make a head-on pass. He was going fairly slowly at the top of it, and as he kicked over he gave me a perfect target. I continued firing until he burst into flames. No pilot was seen to bail out.”
Meanwhile, Karger had also begun to turn with the Lufbery, and soon a Bf 109 dove for safety. “I followed,” said Karger. “I kept getting strikes on him on the tree tops for about two minutes. He then belly landed in a field and caught fire. When I started to make a pass at him, I saw the pilot trying to get out of the burning plane, so I let him have the full effus, which caused the ship to explode and Jerry had it. It’s a rough war.”
Maxwell had been unable to reform the flight because of “excessive chatter on the R/T,” so he continued fighting alone. “I spotted 12 more 190s making a pass on the rear element of bombers from about 5 o’clock,” he said. “I bounced them and the entire group made a diving urn to the left, failing to penetrate the bombers. I climbed on another Jerry’s tail, gave him one long burst and he flopped out of control, hit the ground and burst into flames.
“There was a fight going on down below me. I dove and attacked another 190 who was on the tail of a black-nosed P-51. This was at about 6000 feet. I fired on him from 60 degrees on a head-on pass, closing to about 100 yards. I observed good strikes and the pilot bailed out.
“I then observed a single 190 attacking the bombers. I pushed everything forward. He split S’ed and I followed him down, gradually closing. At about 12,000 feet, I looked back and saw another P-51 trailing me. Confident that I had my tail covered, I pressed the attack. The next thing I knew, I felt strikes on the plane and my canopy was shot off. I tried my radio and evidently it was shot up as it was not working. I observed several strikes on my right wing. The clobbering I got evidently cut the aileron cable as my ship went out of control. The ship handled sluggishly. My coolant gauge needle went up to 150 degrees and the engine began to smoke and I figured he had also shot out my coolant. The P-51 then closed and I saw it to be a yellow-nosed job (probably from the 361st FG). He made no further passes at me but flew off.
“I cut my engine and put the plan in a shallow glide. I cut it back in at about 6000 feet, using 1000 RPMs and 322 inches of Mercury. I figured I didn’t have a chance in Hell of getting back as I was about an hour and a half from friendly territory.
“Two other ships in my group flew up and investigated me and apparently thought I was okay, although the canopy was off and belts of ammunition were hanging out of the wing. I made it back to Antwerp with low RPM and low manifold pressure, arriving there at tree-top level, and bellied the plane into an English Army parking lot.”
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Flat Spins and Milk Runs 
Hi Chris,
My name is Sarah and I’m producing an educational interactive timeline of the Strategic Bombing Campaign for the American Battle Monuments Commission. I wanted to see if we could incorporate the photograph of Tom Adams’ “Arkansas Traveler” from your website into the interactive as visual accompaniment to the history of the 357th Fighter Group.
Please let me know if you have any questions about our project.
Thanks,
Sarah