69 years ago: 25 victories for the 357th Fighter Group

The Luftwaffe was back up to challenge the 357^th Fighter Group on April 11. Just after rendezvousing with bombers headed for Sorau, the 364^th Fighter Squadron’s Green Flight ran across a single Bf 109, which dove for cover “After approximately five minutes of chasing, firing numerous bursts and observing numerous strikes, I shot the engine out of the Bf 109,” said Lt. John Carder. “The enemy pilot tried to crash land at in excess of 200 mph. The enemy aircraft hit the ground, bounced over high wires and a road, and crashed into the ground and exploded.”

Lt. Fletcher Adams had been with the bombers for about 20 minutes when he spotted a trio of Bf 109s below him. His flight leader, Lt. John England, took the tail-end plane; Adams took the second one and both chased their quarry to the deck. “The enemy plane took evasive action, turning and skidding,” said Adams. “I fired several bursts when he was going in an out of the clouds. A light stream of black smoke came out of the plane and he went into a cloud. I went over the cloud and next saw the pilot in a parachute. I saw a plane behind me, which I assumed to be my wingman. When I turned, however, he began to shoot at me from about 500 yards. I went down in evasive action to about 20 feet and pulled up sharply to the right. The enemy plane tried to follow this maneuver. After I had nearly completed a 360-degree turn, I saw the enemy plane spin into the ground explode and burn. I saw no parachute this time.”

White Flight of the 363^rd spotted an He 111 “sneaking along right on the ground,” said “Bud” Anderson. “The first pass wasn’t so good,” he said. “I pulled up and the rest of the flight came in.” After Lt. Henry Kayser put a burst into the cockpit and Lt. William Overstreet shot up the plane from dead astern, Anderson stitched the He 111 from tail to cockpit, then Lt. Edward Simpson came in and set the left engine ablaze. “He tried to crash land, and did,” said Simpson. “The ship burst into flames after hitting a pole and sliding along the ground. The crew jumped out.” Simpson, Kayser and Anderson each added individual victories during the mission

In all, the group destroyed 25 planes. The victors included Lts. Gilbert O’Brien, John Pugh, Arval Roberson, Charles Peters, Richard Peterson, William Reese, LeRoy Ruder, and Robert Shaw, who each downed one. Half-credits went to John England and Don Bochkay

69 years ago: The 357th Fighter Group cleans up over Berlin

The 357th Fighter Group again went to Berlin on 6 March. Among the 15 aborts was the new group commander, Lt. Col. Don Graham, placing Maj. Tommy Hayes, the CO of the 364th Fighter Squadron, in charge. The continent was completely socked in by cloud, hampering navigation. At the designated time for rendezvous with the bombers, Hayes broke radio silence, asking Capt. William O’Brien, “Where’s Berlin, Obee?”

“I think Berlin is behind us,” O’Brien radioed back. The group executed a 180-degree turn within an opening in the clouds, and just as it completed the turn the bombers broke out of the clouds seven miles away and just off to the left. Before anyone could exult in the near-perfect rendezvous, another voice broke in – “Bogies, two and three o’clock level!” More than 100 German aircraft headed for the bombers, led by seven Bf 110s of III/NJG.5 commanded by Maj. Hans Kogler. Behind Kogler’s nightfighters were 41 Me 410s and 72 Bf 109s.

“The Bf 110 that I latched on to was easy pickings, which was O.K. with me,” said O’Brien. “I got him burning in his left engine area, and we were in a very steep diving right turn, when my machine guns started jamming.” As O’Brien tried to clear his guns, the Bf 110 dived vertically, smashing into what O’Brien described as a building resembling a factory. “You never saw such a fine explosion!”

William O’Brien

Capt. Leroy Ruder was flying Lt. John Carder’s wing, and he also attacked a 110. “Carder overshot and I fired a burst from close range that blew the canopy to pieces and must have killed the pilot,” Ruder wrote in his diary. “The plane went into a steep dive from 20,000 feet and we followed it down to 5,000 feet where Capt. O’Brien fired at it until it burst into flames.”

Meanwhile, the 362nd Fighter Squadron’s Capt. Davis Perron and wingman Lt. Rod Starkey spotted a damaged B-17 under attack by two Fw 190s. The Germans turned and ran, but Perron caught one and opened fire. “His wing tank blew up and he caught fire and went into an inverted spin.” Perron broke off and the second Fw 190 inexplicably flew in front of him, only to meet a similar fate. Returning to the bombers, Perron spotted a twin-engined fighter he identified as a Me 210 and shot it down as well. Starkey added a Bf 109 of his own.

William O’Brien, his Mustang’s guns jammed, formed up with Leroy Ruder for the flight home. A few minutes later, Ruder called a bogey at two o’clock, another Bf 110, armed with rockets and still looking to get a shot at the bombers. “I attacked from dead astern at about 200 to 150 yards and hit the left engine,” said Ruder. “I next fired at the fuselage and right engine striking both of them. I had only one gun firing at the time but it did the job. Oil from the enemy aircraft covered my canopy and he started into a spin with both engines smoking badly.” The Bf 110, from III/NJG.5, managed to crashland and its pilot, Leutnant G. Wolf, survived the encounter.

As Hayes’ flight headed home, he spotted a single Bf 109 flying the opposite direction and a few miles to his right. Hayes reversed his course and held his fire until he had closed to 200 yards before opening fire. Strikes sparkled around the cockpit area and the Bf 109 lurched into a dive, exploding against the German soil. Uffz. K. Pelz of JG.302 was killed in the crash.

Shortly, another member of Hayes’ flight, Lt. John Howell, spotted a Bf 109, this one flown by Oberleutnant Gerhard Loos, a 92-kill ace and Staffelkapitan with JG.54. Howell opened fire and overshot Loos, but Carder closed in to finish the German ace’s plane off. Loos may have bailed out before this attack, but he fell out of his parachute and plunged to his death.

After each of them had downed a Bf 110, Capt. Glendon Davis and wingman Lt. Tom Harris were headed home when they spotted a B-17 straggler with an Fw 190 on its tail. “We dove down on the enemy aircraft but couldn’t close on him as the tail gunner of the bomber was firing at him,” said Davis. “We broke to the side of the enemy aircraft and at that time he saw us and broke into us. We turned into him and he started for the deck in a tight spiral. We followed him down, indicating from 450 to 500 mph. At 10,000 feet he dropped his belly tank. At 5000 feet his airplane appeared to be stalling as he tried to pull out. His canopy flew off but the plane went right into the ground without the pilot getting out.”

In all, the group scored 20 kills – including victories for Don Bochkay, Joe Broadhead and Morris Stanley and a half-kill for Arval Roberson – without a single loss, its first of what would be many big days.

69 years ago: two victories for the 357th FG near Frankfurt

On March 2, 1944, the 357th FIghter Group was escorting the heavies north of Frankfurt when Maj. Tommy Hayes spotted two Bf 109s that “must have attacked the rear of the box,” he said. “We dropped our auxiliary tanks and started down, having several thousand feet on them. Still not in range, they split at about 9000 feet, with myself and my wingman taking the leader, who kept a straight course in a gradual dive. I started to fire at about 350 yards. Very few strikes were observed. At 1000 feet I was firing dead astern and had his engine smoking. Suddenly, he dumped almost straight down and crashed in a wooded area. The pilot crashed with the plane and I believe he was hit from the astern attack through his armor plate.”

Tommy Hayes and the crew of his P-51B

John Carder and wingman LeRoy Ruder stalked the second fighter, which “went into a valley, with a steep tree-lined hill on the far side,” he reported. “At the bottom of the hill I fired a burst and saw strikes on the right wing. The 109 pulled up sharply above the horizon and I saw his wingtip was crumpled. I believe he hit a tree, unless I had damaged his wing spar. He did a slow climbing half roll and went down again inverted and crashed on top of the hill. I could see part of the wing and a wheel that slid into the main street of the town. I did a roll and believe civilian morale is lower now.”

68 years ago: The 357th Fighter Group knocks down 25

The Luftwaffe was back up to challenge the 357^th Fighter Group on April 11, 1944. Just after rendezvousing with bombers headed for Sorau, the 364^th Fighter Squadron’s Green Flight ran across a single Bf 109, which dove for cover “After approximately five minutes of chasing, firing numerous bursts and observing numerous strikes, I shot the engine out of the Bf 109,” said Lt. John Carder.  “The enemy pilot tried to crash land at in excess of 200 mph. The enemy aircraft hit the ground, bounced over high wires and a road, and crashed into the ground and exploded.”

While the flight was reforming, they spotted two Fw 190s ahead of them. Lt. Mark Stepleton entered into a turning fight with one of them, making six turns and firing bursts the entire time, “observing hits on the engine, cockpit and wings,” he said. “My guns jammed after every burst but due to an experimental hydraulic gun charger, I was able to clear the jam and fire again. I overran the enemy aircraft, at which time Lt. Charles Sumner closed and observed hits on the enemy aircraft, which crashed and exploded.”

Lt. Robert C. Smith was flying wing to Capt. G.D. Currie in when they too spotted two Bf 109s and dived on them. The chased continued from 23,000 to 4,000 feet, when Smith was forced to break into an approaching Bf 109. About 10 minutes later, Lt. Robert Shaw, also in this flight, heard Currie call for his flight to reform, but Currie himself failed to return to base. He was downed by flak and became a POW.

Lt. Fletcher E. Adams had been with the bombers for about 20 minutes when he spotted a trio of Bf 109s below him. His flight leader, Lt. John England, took the tail-end plane; Adams took the second one and both chased their quarry to the deck. “The enemy plane took evasive action, turning and skidding,” said Adams. “I fired several bursts when he was going in an out of the clouds. A light stream of black smoke came out of the plane and he went into a cloud. I went over the cloud and next saw the pilot in a parachute. I saw a plane behind me, which I assumed to be my wingman. When I turned, however, he began to shoot at me from about 500 yards. I went down in evasive action to about 20 feet and pulled up sharply to the right. The enemy plane tried to follow this maneuver. After I had nearly completed a 360-degree turn, I saw the enemy plane spin into the ground explode and burn. I saw no parachute this time.”

White Flight of the 363^rd Fighter Squadron spotted an He 111 “sneaking along right on the ground,” said “Bud” Anderson. “The first pass wasn’t so good,” he said. “I pulled up and the rest of the flight came in.” After Lt. Henry Kayser put a burst into the cockpit and Lt. William Overstreet shot up the plane from dead astern, Anderson stitched the He 111 from tail to cockpit, then Lt. Edward Simpson came in and set the left engine ablaze. “He tried to crash land, and did,” said Simpson. “The ship burst into flames after hitting a pole and sliding along the ground. The crew jumped out.” Simpson, Kayser and Anderson each added individual victories during the mission

Also failing to return from the mission was Lt. William Gray, who became a POW after his engine failed, and Capt. Arthur Lingo, who was probably shot down by fighters and killed. But, in all, the group destroyed 25 planes. Capt. Paul DeVries and Montgomery Throop, Lts. Gilbert O’Brien, John Pugh, Arval Roberson, Harold Kenney, Charles Peters, Hollis Nowlin, Richard Peterson, William Reese, LeRoy Ruder, Robert Shaw and Robert Smith each downed one, Harry Ankeny and John England shared one, and half-credits went to Don Bochkay and Maurice Postle.

67 Years Ago: the 357th Fighter Group in action over Eschwage

During the 357th Fighter Group’s escort to Eschwage on 19 April, 1944, just after the lead box of bombers hit the target, the Luftwaffe struck another box farther back in the stream. “We made a 180-degree turn and found this box under attack by approximately 20 Fw 190s and Bf 109s,” said Capt. Glendon Davis, “with other P-51s engaging them. I saw two Fw 190s shoot down a B-17 and then get on the tail of a lone red-nosed P-51,” probably a member of the 4th Fighter Group. As Davis led the flight down, Lt. Morris Stanley spotted two Fw 190s making an attack on his leader from 9 o’clock. “I turned into the two Fw 190s and they started a steep turn to the left,” Stanley said. “I fired across the noses of both, and the 190 on the right started a fast roll to the right; he seemed to stall and half-snap to the right and hit the trees and then went into the ground and exploded.”

Unaware of the action behind him, Davis chased down the two Fw 190s menacing the 4th Fighter Group Mustang. “We caught them at about 5000 feet and I got in a good burst in one of them, seeing strikes all over him. They chased the lone P-51 down to the deck, where we got them off his tail. I got a short head-on burst on my man as he was trying to get on my wingman, Lt. (Morris) Harris’, tail. I immediately reversed my turn to find the two 190s straightened out. I called to Lt. Harris to take the left and I would take the right. Just as I was getting into firing position, (my Fw 90) made a perfect peel-off and went straight into the ground from 50 feet, exploding and burning.” Harris finished off his Fw 190 as well.

The lead flight of the 364th, led by Maj. Tommy Hayes, also turned and went after these fighters. “I found seven Bf 109s lined up abreast for a tail attack from below,” Hayes reported. “I was unable to prevent an attack where one B-17 caught fire, but did drive off the attack. We chased them and after several turns they started for the deck from 23,000 feet. The seven split into four and three. At 15,000 feet the four I was pursuing at 700 to 800 yards split; three went to the right. My sights set on the one going straight, I continued after him. At 250 yards my bursts cut his entire tail assembly away.” John Carder also scored a kill.

67 years ago: Henry Spicer and the 357th FG draw blood

During an escort to Bernberg, the 357th Fighter Group made a late rendezvous with the bombers, catching them only after they had reached their initial point. Lt. Col. Henry Spicer took his 11 planes to the front of the formation, and after his other two flights had broken off to engage other threats, he led his flight to intercept six Bf 109s forming to attack the bombers head-on. “This attack was broken up, one of the 109s breaking over me at 180 degrees,” Spicer reported. “I hauled it around in a tight turn (later learning that the other members of my flight had all spun out in the turn) and gave chase. The Hun was climbing into the sun, about two miles ahead and above me. I did not seem to be closing, so I dropped my tanks and put everything to the firewall. The high blower cut back in at 21,200 feet, giving me ample power to overtake him. He lent me further assistance by leveling off, so I closed from dead astern and below, waited until he filled the sight, put the dot on him and gave him the Gen. Kepner one-two. All guns responded heartily. He immediately blew up and became obscured in a browninsh-orange cloud of smoke. I pulled up and passed over him at about 10 feet, distinctly seeing the black crosses on the wings (thank God), then rolled over to watch him go down, always keeping my tail clear. The ship completed a 180-degree diving turn, leveled off, and as it did not seem to be on fire I took out after him again, but before I could close the second time he began flopping, turned over and dove straight down. I could see his shadow rapidly coming in from the south, and as the two merged, a beautiful explosion took place, sullying the otherwise tranquil and pastoral snowscape with vivid red flame and billowing black smoke.”

Col. Henry Spicer and his ground crew

The enemy planes made a pass at the bombers; Capt. Jack Warren peeled off after one Bf 109, closed to about 500 yards and fired a short burst, “which seemed to hit the cockpit and the plane started a steeper dive to the left,” the pilot said. “I fired several short and long bursts at about 300 to 400 yards and observed smoke trailing. I was indicating about 525 mph so I pulled out at about 5000 feet and circled. I saw the Bf 109 go into the ground and explode.”

Lt. John Carder identified a Bf 109G at 24,000 feet and in a dive. He dove after it and fired at 600 yards; “I believe I got a few strikes, causing the left landing gear to partially extend,” he said. Several minutes were spent in a dogfight going down to approximately 12,000 feet. I lost sight of him, and found him again going through some clouds in a long straight dive. I split-S’ed onto his tail and fired three bursts from 400 yards to 100 yards or less. The first two bursts had no effect. The third burst got him and he blew up as I passed over him. Debris damaged my spinner and the blast blistered paint and burnt the fabric on my elevator, causing replacement.”

Lt. Alvin Pyeatt spotted a formation of Bf 109s below him climbing to strike the bombers. Pyeatt peeled off, along with two other Mustangs, and dove 6000 feet on the enemy planes. “The other P-51s overshot, but I hung on to a Bf 109,” said Pyeatt. “He made a tight turn and I fired a short burst, but I did not observe strikes during the turn. Then he leveled out and I followed up his tail to within 50 yards. I could plainly see his tail wheel. I commenced firing again and saw my tracers moving over the enemy aircraft from right to left. I saw strikes on his fuselage. The plane rolled over on its back and its nose went up. It made one and a half turns in an inverted spin, then dished out and jerked several times. Then it oscillated violently and went into another spin and plunged down through the haze at about 14,000 feet. It was still spinning at 4000 feet so I am certain he must have crashed.”

In all, the group scored seven victories, but lost two pilots, including Lt. Darwin Carroll, who was lost in P-51B-7-NA 43-6576 after suffering an engine failure.