At 1152 hours, Major Glenn Duncan led 50 P-47s up from Metfield with the key task of escorting the 1st Task Force of B-17s during penetration. Six P-47s aborted the mission, and the remaining 44 rendezvoused with the bombers over mid-Channel at 1302 hours. The bombers were ten minutes late, due to clouds and haze over England, and although their boxes were intact their formations were considerably strung out.

As the escorting 353rd approached Walchren and Schouwen Islands, some 20 Me 109s and FW190s that were flying at 32,000 feet, came after the fighters. It was the only time that day that the Luftwaffe disregarded the bombers and went for the fighters. The German fighters dove to attack the 352nd Squadron, flying on the left side of the bombers. Major Bailey, Wakeford White 1, turned his four flights to engage the enemy.

Four Me 109s came in on Yellow (the fourth) Flight, and Lt. Wilbert H. Junttila with Blue (the third) Flight turned into the leader and dispersed the attack. Then Junttila saw eight more 109s and four white 190s turning sharply in on Yellow Flight from 3 o’clock. He got on the tail of a 109, fired and saw damaging strikes on the wings. This plane and nine others broke down and back, and Junttila went after the remaining two, emptying his guns into one. The 109 pulled up at 15,000 feet and then spun all the way down. His wingman, Lt. Keywan, Blue 2, attacked the other 109, damaging it.

Wakeford Red Flight was also attacked, by six Me 109s. Its first element turned right and the second element turned left, splitting the enemy attack. Wakeford Red 3, 1st Lt. Robert A. Newman, got in one good burst, head-on, at about 150 yards range, 31,000 feet. The 109 made a sharp downward turn and Newman followed, firing and getting more hits as he closed to 75 yards in a sharp turn. Suddenly both aircraft stalled out. Newman recovered to see the 109’s engine explode and the plane go plummeting down. Red 4 called for him to turn left, and Newman got on another 109 which he damaged. Having lost the Squadron, Wakeford Red 3 and 4 headed home.

With the initial enemy attack broken up, Bill Bailey noticed a 109 on the tail of a P-47, called for his pilot to break and followed the enemy plane down and into a climb. He caught him in the climb, fired two bursts from 200 to 100 yards and observed strikes. There was a large flash, pieces fell off, and the aircraft spun down out of control as Bailey flew through the pieces, getting oil on his windshield.

Through this action, Wakeford White 3 and 4 covered his tail. A 109 then came in on White 4’s tail, and White 3, 1st Lt. William F. Streit, called for his wingman to break. Streit then came in behind the 109 and followed him through a roll, a dive and a pull up into the sun. The 109 rolled again, and Streit fired from 300 yards, his first shots setting the Messerschmitt on fire. He kept firing until the enemy plane spun down, burning all the way in.

As Wakeford (352nd) Squadron was jumped and engaged, Major Duncan took two flights of the 351st Squadron back to help and cover the rear box of bombers. Another flight leader, Capt. Orville A. Kinkade, Roughman Red 1, saw two 109s bounced by P-47s and break away. He turned and followed one, opening fire at 10 degrees deflection from 300 yards. He got strikes and closed to 200 yards, hitting the engine and then the cockpit. The canopy flew off and disappeared, the rest of the 109 going down in one burning piece. While Kincade finished off his plane, Lt. George F. Perpente, Red 4, came in and shot another 109 off his tail, damaging it. No P-47s were lost in these engagements, but the Luftwaffe lost five Me 109s and four more were damaged.

With the sky clear of enemy aircraft, the escort then continued onto the vicinity of Duren, Germany, its farthest point. There, 30 FW 190s were discovered attacking a B-17 which went down under the attack before Major Ben Rimerman, Pipeful White 1, could lead the 350th Squadron into the battle. Rimerman picked out a 190, opened fire at 300 yards and continued firing until the Focke Wulfs engine, cockpit and fuselage were shattered. It went down in flames with the landing gear having fallen into an extended position. Behind him, Capt. Newhart, Pipeful Red 1, came in and destroyed an FW 190 and Lt. Walsh, Pipeful Red 2, probably destroyed another. Almost immediately behind these two were Red 3, Lt. Wayne K. Blickenstaff, and Red 4, First Lt. Dwight A. Fry.

As Newhart was destroying his 190, two others came in on Blickenstaff’s tail. Fry called for Blick to break but was not received. He came down on the two 190s from about 5 o’clock high and forced them to break in opposite directions. He followed one to the right, opened fire at 500 yards and closed to 75 yards where the right wing and tail of the 190 blew off and the pilot bailed out.

Fry (Pipeful Red 4) then turned to rejoin his flight, but the 190 that had turned the other way had come around onto his tail and opened fire. Fry took evasive action and was chased to the deck. In an attempt to outrun the Hun he centered the ball, and the result was a 20mm hit in his supercharger. He then got into a turning fight with the 190 and made a fatal mistake; in the middle of it he reversed his turn. The instruments began disintegrating one by one and a cannon shell exploded in the cockpit, ripping into his side and tearing his Mae West in two. He zoomed the stricken plane and managed to bail out at 800 feet but hit the tail with his ankle, breaking three bones in his foot. (Fry’s chute opened at just 50 feet above the ground and he landed safely. He then survived three strafing passes by the German pilot. Within an hour he was in bed with a doctor in attendance. (Later he toured Belgium, bought some perfume and things for his wife in Paris, reached Spain and returned to England about the 1st of February 1944, thanks to the Belgian and French undergrounds.)

At about the same time the 350th Squadron was engaged in keeping enemy fighters off the bombers, Capt. Beckham Roughman Blue 1 of the 351st, called in twenty plus 190s coming in at the bombers from 3 o’clock at his altitude of 28,000 feet. The Focke Wulfs were flying in a line abreast formation. Beckham led his flight out toward them, made a steep diving turn to the right and came out almost on top of the second flight.

With Lt. Maguire, Blue 2, covering his tail he opened fire on one, hit its belly tank and the 190 went down in pieces. Beckham then made a slight turn to the right as Maguire again cleared his tail and opened fire on a second 190 from close range. It, too, broke up and went down, the seventh enemy plane he had destroyed.

At this point, Maguire found a 190 coming in on him from 7 o’clock and called Beckham for help. Beckham turned as sharply to the left as he could, and Maguire pulled up and over him, starting to go around the 190. Before Beckham could make a head-on attack, the FW pilot nosed down, avoiding the attack. This allowed Maguire to swing around and close on the enemy plane. He opened fire at 350 yards dead astern and knocked pieces off the 190. He shot off its belly tank, moved in to 200 yards and fired again, hitting the wings and tail and causing the enemy plane to break up at 24,000 feet. The FW 190 was Maguire’s second enemy aircraft destroyed.

Having now gone to the limit of their range the 353rd planes turned for home, and 37 P-47s landed at Metfield at 1511 hours. One came in on a single wheel, the other having been shot out by enemy fire. Five P-47s landed at other fields, one at Bradwell Bay badly damaged, and Lt. Peters of the 350th was killed in a crash landing at Hornchurch.

Behind the returning planes and still over Germany, the B-17s were taking a terrible pounding, but their bombs went down on the target with devastating effect. Later, the bomber crews were highly honored for their work and resoluteness, and the 353rd was also honored. From General Kepner came these words:

“Three Five Three Fighter Group is to be especially commended for the superior support afforded the bombers and the destruction wreaked on the German Air Force.”

For the remainder of October, the 8th’s heavies carried out only one bombing operation. The 353rd flew four bomber escorts, giving withdrawal support to the heavies on the 20th and escorting mediums of the newly English-based 9th Air Force on the 18th, 22nd and 24th. Only claims were one probably destroyed and three damaged on the 20th. And so the month of October of 1943 came to a close.

Ch 8

Ch 10