November
1943
In
November, the 8th’s heavies resumed their attacks on a significant
and increasing scale. This in spite of the astoundingly horrible losses
during the "Black Week" raids on Regensburg and the ball bearing
factories at Schweinfurt where 600 bomber crew were lost on one mission.
There were missions on 11 days. More often than not the attacks were
carried out above undercasts with bombing by pathfinder. The winter weather
retarded the efforts on both sides. During November, the 353rd had combat
claims on three days, flying missions on only ten days.
On
11 November Major Glenn Duncan led the Group on an escort of 3rd Division
B-17s. The heavies were picked up over the Zuider Zee, escorted through
heavy clouds to their target, Munster, and then back out over Holland.
Several forces of enemy fighters rose to attack the bomber formations,
and the Group destroyed three without loss. Major Beckham shot down an
FW 190 for his ninth victory, and Duncan destroyed a 109 and a FW 190:
Following are the entries from Duncan's after-action report.
“I
was leading the 351st Squadron and flying alongside a box of B-17s at
24,000 feet under a misty cirrostratus cloud layer. As bombers approached
their target at Munster, Germany, I saw 20 to 25 FW 190s coming up from
the west over a low layer of cumulus clouds at about 10 o’clock
to our position. I came in behind the E/A with White Flight and attacked
one bunch of four. They rolled over and evaded, not giving any of us
much of a shot.
"We
then zoomed up to the left as other E/A were coming in position to make
attacks. After pulling up and looking the situation over,
I led White Flight down on four more FW 190s and was able to pull a bead
on the number three man. He was carrying a belly tank and the ship
was painted a motley dark gray. I pulled into about l0 degree deflection
and about 300 yards, squirted a few and saw strikes, then closed on in
and let him have a large burst in the cockpit and left wing root. The
FW 190, after taking a large load, rolled over and went straight down.
I pulled up sharp and zoomed up to about 23,000 feet and, having cleared
my tail, looked down at the FW 190 still going straight down (as
straight as gravity could pull him because the prop was just windmilling).
I saw him hit and could almost feel the pleasure of the thud.
“After
this scrap my Flight had become split up due to our being outnumbered,
so there I was all alone. About this time some more P-47s came in and
split the E/A up quite a bit, so I followed on out to catch up with the
bombers. I gave a recall for the Group and proceeded on the course
out.
“As
I passed under the bombers I joined a flight of P-47s that were going
out at 16,000 feet. As we were passing over Oosternout, Holland I received
a call on ‘A’ channel 20 from my number four man saying that
he needed help and his position was under the bombers. I
turned around immediately and flew back to the bombers that were now
over Hertogenbosch. I circled several times carrying on conversation
with Lt. Albert while trying to locate him. At this time I saw
about 12 to 15 Me 109s attacking the bombers. I climbed to 22,000 feet
up sun and dove into the bunch. They scattered but continued their passes
on the bombers as soon as I passed on through. I went back
up sun in my zoom and saw four Me 109s, line astern, beginning another
pass. As these E/A had no friends behind them I slowed down and pulled
in astern of the number three, who was out to one side of the others.
I closed to about 250 yards until I could see his insignia good and clear,
and opened fire. He sparkled up nice all over and tried to roll over
but my slight touch of rudder moved my burst into his cockpit causing
him to just wobble around. A large flash and burst of smoke
obscured the target for a moment before he sluffed off and crashed down
in Holland.
"I
pulled down and out toward the coast after shooting up the 109, and ran
into four FW 190s shooting up a lone Fortress. I made two passes at them;
but make no claims. Somewhere in the melee I picked up two .303 slugs,
one of which cut my left hydraulic line.”
For
these actions Major Duncan received the Distinguished Service Cross,
and his two victories brought his total to four destroyed.
An
escort to Bremen on November 13 was uneventful for all but the second
flight of the 350th Squadron. The flight leader, Capt. Dewey Newhart
(Red Leader), aborted and Lt. Charles W. Dinse took over. Then Red 2,
Lt. Hart, dropped behind when his engine didn’t catch after his
belly tank ran out. He went down to 8,000 feet before it
started again, with Dinse and Red 4, Lt. Winder, leaving formation to
try and cover him. They lost contact with him and ran into two FW 190s
with Dinse damaging one. They were then jumped by a flight of Me 109s
and evaded by taking advantage of the Jug's superior diving ability and
going to the deck before returning individually. Both planes
were damaged. Nevertheless, Lt. Dinse shot up a locomotive he chanced
across. Lt. Winder had a gash in his left shoulder from a 20 mm’s
shrapnel which would bring him the first Purple Heart in the Group.
Bringing
up the Luftwaffe
Although
the 8th Air Force’s P-47s were still meeting the Luftwaffe on bomber
escorts, where they could engage and destroy it, fighter sweeps and other
missions found the Luftwaffe staying on the ground and avoiding combat
with American Fighters if possible. This left the 8th’s
fighter pilots looking for other ways to force the Germans into more
engagements. One way was to go down and get them on the ground,
but this was ruled out by the accepted conclusion that the Thunderbolt
could not match the performance of the 109s and 190s below 18,000 feet.
(The the installation of paddle blade propellers later made the P-47
more than a match for any enemy fighter.)
About
this time, Colonel “Hub” Zemke of the 56th Fighter Group, came
to the conclusion that the way to bring the Luftwaffe up was to bomb
its fighter fields in France and the Low Countries. Hub then
talked a B-24 outfit into loaning him a crew and a B-24. The 56th started
to practice flying formation with the big bomber and dropping bombs on
its signal. Over at Metfield, Mac McCollom started the 353rd on another
approach to hitting German airfields. The Group began practicing dive
bombing from high altitude - flying at 18,000 to 20,000 feet, going into
a dive of about 5,000 feet and releasing the bomb before a quick pull
out. This practice soon promised effective results, and a “dive
bombing” mission was laid on. There was no intention of creating
heavy damage to an enemy airfield with the bombs, the idea was merely
to bring up the German fighters.
The
airfield picked for the first dive bombing mission by fighters of the
8th Air Force was at St. Omer/Ft. Rouge. McCollom, flying in Shannon
Christian’s plane, “Cookie”, led 16 P-47s of the 351st
Squadron, each carrying one 500lb demolition bomb. The date was November
25. The plan was to approach the target at 15,000 feet and to dive bomb
by flights of four, releasing on the flight leader’s command - at
whatever altitude he felt his flight had a good chance of hitting the
airfield but the higher the better.
Escort
for the 16 bomb carrying P-47s was provided by 36 P-47s from the 350th
and 352nd Squadrons and by the 78th Fighter Group from Duxford. Takeoff
was at 1024 hours and rendezvous with the 78th Group was made at Cape
Griz Nez at 1102 hours. The 351st Squadron then proceeded immediately
to the IP (5 miles south of the target) at 15,000 feet - the escort being
stepped up at higher altitudes. Immediately after the IP the 351st planes
ran into heavy flak but proceeded to the target. McCollom then ordered
his lead flight to start its diving turn and had gone through about 15
to 20 degrees of roll when a burst of flak made a direct hit on his P-47.
This hit exploded the main fuel tank, tearing away the skin of the belly
from the cowling to the tail and engulfing the plane in flames.
The
353rd loses another C.O.
With
flames everywhere, Mac immediately slid back the canopy over his head,
unbuckled and, with his eyes closed, clawed his way out of the plane
as it made two complete turns to the right. In his desperation he pulled
the ripcord right after leaving the plane (about 10,000 feet) and had
a long, but pleasantly cool, ride to earth. As he hit the ground a Luftwaffe
enlisted man was there to meet him.
Col.
McCollom’s face was pretty badly burned where it was exposed outside
of his helmet and oxygen mask, and his wrists were burned where his leather
jacket and gloves shrank in the heat and exposed them. After capture,
the Group’s second Commanding Officer to be lost over Europe since
operations began in August, spent five weeks in Hohe Mark, the interrogation
hospital before his burns healed well enough for him to be shipped out
to spend the remainder of the war in Stalag Luft 1.
Despite
the loss of their leader, 14 of the remaining 15 P-47s dropped their
bombs on St. Omer/Ft. Rouge. Most of the bombs were released between
eight and ten thousand feet and most fell short of the target. Only three
hits were seen on the airfield, in the south dispersal area. One P-47
jettisoned its bomb in the Channel, and of the 15 returning dive bombers,
six had sustained flak damage. The mission had not been a success, but
a start at bombing operations had been made and the idea had been shown
to be practical. It is of interest to note that on the same 25th of November,
the 56th Fighter Group carried out their first fighter bombing mission,
dropping 500-lb bombs on the signal from a B-24 over St. Omer/Longunesse
Airfield.
A New
Commanding Officer for the 353rd
The
loss of Colonel McCollom was a severe blow to the Group and one that
could have destroyed the all important cohesiveness as a fighting unit
it had developed under him. However, there was another man in the 353rd
who had displayed his skill as a leader and as a fighter, and it was
the great fortune of the Group to have its command turned over to this
man - Major Glenn E. Duncan.
Until
the beginning of combat, little had been said or thought of the tall,
lean Texan who was the Group Executive Officer. By nature, Glenn Duncan
was soft spoken and easygoing, a nondrinker and a nonsmoker. He was also
a man of few words who sometimes seemed almost bashful. Yet he had an
abiding hatred of the Nazi system and all of the evils for which it stood,
as was witnessed by the way he relished having at and destroying the
enemy. In the air he was a pilot’s pilot and a born
leader because of his frequently demonstrated ability to do the job better
than anyone else. Of great importance to his taking command, was that
he was highly respected and well liked by his officers and men. On the
other hand he was not an administrator and avoided office work like the
plague, but he did have an adjutant who could and did handle these chores
with care and ability. Thus he could do what he loved best, fly and lead.
(It was said that his idea of an afternoon off was to experiment, doing
something like dropping belly tanks full of octane gas with an incendiary
grenade wired to them.)
For
his Executive Officer, Duncan took Ben Rimerman who thus gave up command
of the 350th Squadron. Capt. Stanley R. Piduck, Jr. then took over the
350th. Nicknamed "Pappy", he was gentle and sensitive, a tall,
lean man of 28 who was a competent and cautious pilot. He had been Squadron
Operations Officer when the Group came overseas.
Earlier
in November, there had been another change in Squadron Commander. Major
Christian was moved up to a new job in Wing (66th Fighter Wing) Headquarters,
and Capt. Walter C. Beckham had taken over the 351st Squadron. At five-eight
and about 125 pounds he was one of the smallest pilots in the group.
Beckham was a very quiet man who said little and was most retiring on
the ground. In the air he was a superb pilot and a brilliant marksman
- his gun camera film being considered by many as the best in the ETO.
When he arrived in England he studied the manual on air gunnery and started
calculating - later the manual was rewritten along the lines of his theories,
such was his demanding and incisive intellect.
As
a fighter pilot he was not as aggressive as Duncan. Where Duncan would
go anywhere to get at the Hun in a fight, Walt would seek the right opening
and then exploit it to the fullest with his flying and gunnery skill.
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