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The 50th Mission On
the first day of December, 1943, the 353rd Group flew its fiftieth mission, escorting
B-17s to Solingen, Germany. Just after rendezvous at 1200 hours, Captain Beckham
spotted three FW 190s attacking a lone B-17. With his wingman he went down to
the aid of the Fortress, caught up with one 190 and opened fire at 600 yards.
He continued firing as he closed in until the Focke Wulf caught fire and went
down as he passed. He then swung after the other two FW’s which were making firing
passes on the B-17. He caught one coming back in and shot it down for his 11th
victory. Fifteen minutes later, Major Rimerman, Slybird leader, took his flight
and went to the aid of B-24s being attacked by rocket firing Me 110s and 210s,
with FW 190 top cover. They broke up the attack and 1st Lt. Robert A. Newman got
onto a single Me 210 which launched rockets at the B-24s, was hit by their return
fire, then turned off and was exploded by Newman.
From Lt. Blickenstaff’s diary for 1 December: “I
led Yellow Flight with Rosenberg on my wing. Saw no E/A until time to turn around.
We were already overtime. Mixed it up for awhile and for the first time fired
my guns. Got a damaged 109. Came back on the deck again, sweated more than I ever
have. Thought I couldn’t possibly get back. Landed at another base. Could have
made it home, but I didn’t believe the gas gauges. Had a hole the size of a watermelon
in the bottom of the plane. Flak seems to be pretty good!”
The 353rd carried out its second high altitude dive bombing mission on December
4, 1943. Ben Rimerman led 16 P-47s of the 351st, each with a 500-lb HE,
to Gilze-Rijen Airfield in Belgium with the 350th and 352nd Squadrons,
and Zemke's 56th Group, giving escort. Flak did not
begin until bombing was under way and was weak and inaccurate. Dives
started at 16 to 18,000 feet, diving angle was 55 to 70 degrees, and
pull out varied from 6 to 10,000 feet. The bombs burst in good concentration
in the northwest dispersal area with 3 to 5 bursts near runways.
Bombing was better than the first mission, but they still were not
bringing the Luftwaffe into the air. For the remainder of December and
all of January, weather was the main factor in holding down the number
and scope of 8th Air Force operations. The 353rd flew its third December
mission on the 5th and then for the remainder of the month flew only
6 escorts, one patrol and one bombing mission. The target for the latter
was again Gilze/Rijen, and this time the 350th and 352nd Squadrons bombed,
with good concentrations. The Luftwaffe was met on only three occasions
during the entire month. On the 20th of December, Lt. Col. Duncan destroyed
an FW 190, becoming an ace and at the same time destroying the 353rd
Group’s 51st enemy plane in the air.
On the 22nd, Capt. LeFebre destroyed an Me 109.
Finally, on 30 December, three enemy planes were destroyed with Lt. Gonam shooting
down a 109 that was on the tail of three P-47s and sharing in the destruction
of another 109 with 1st Lt. Gordon L. Willits while damaging yet another 109.
From this mission, Lt. Odom of the 350th and Lt. Morarity of the 352nd
failed to return. January 1944 saw the 353rd flying 11 missions (the same number
as in December) of which seven were escorts, two were patrols and two bombed.
The first dive bombing mission, on January 23, returned without bombing due to
cloud conditions. The second saw all three squadrons drop 44 500-lb bombs from
14,000 to 16,000 feet and score some hits on an airfield near Leeuwarden which
was mostly hidden by clouds. There was no flak. Claims against the Luftwaffe for
January totaled 17-2-3, and only one plane and pilot were lost during the month.
Ch 10 Ch
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