Subsequent Normandy Operations

Bad weather called a halt to air operations on June 9th, but thereafter the 353rd operated on 20 of the last 21 days of the month. During that time, it flew 33 missions of which 14 were bombing and strafing, 7 were patrols that usually involved strafing, and 12 were escorts, some of which evolved into strafing attacks on ground targets. Fourteen aircraft and thirteen pilots were lost, from only four missions, and claims were for 19-3-12 enemy aircraft in the air and 17-12 on the ground.

Captain Newhart

At 0434 hours on the 12th of June, Col. Duncan led three squadrons of 12 planes with an escort of eight 351st and 352nd P-47s on a bombing and strafing mission against enemy communications in the Evreux-Dreux area. At Evreux, the squadrons went their separate ways to attack specified targets. The 352nd Squadron, led by Lt. Col. Bailey, went after a truck convoy. The 351st, led by Duncan, went after trucks and rail targets. The 350th Squadron, led by Capt. Newhart, went after a truck convoy near Dreux.

Captain Newhart leading the first flight down, attacked this convoy. As the two trailing fights started down on their strafing runs, over thirty Me 109s bounced the Squadron, and in the ensuing fight six of "Seldom" (350th) squadron pilots, were shot down. Dewey Newhart (flying Blickenstaff's plane) was hit and headed for the coast. He was hit again trying to nurse his crippled plane home, as he was calling for help. That was the last that was heard from him. Lt. Peters made it as far as the Channel, but lost a foot in bailing out.  He was picked up by ASR and earned a ticket home. A description of what befell the 350th Squadron, is contained in the encounter report of 1st Lt. James O. Ruscitto.

“Reaching our target area, Dreux, at 10,000 feet, the lead flight of our Squadron went down below the scattered clouds which were from 2,000 feet to 3,000 feet. The number two flight and our flight, which was number three, stayed at 5,000 feet for top cover of the first flight which sighted a truck convoy. This flight went down below the clouds, bombed and strafed the trucks, inflicting hits. Capt. Newhart, our Squadron Leader, called for number two and number three flights to come down and hit the target area. While diving down through holes in the clouds, we were attacked by thirty-plus Me 109s at about 2,500 feet, coming from 9 o’clock about 1,000 feet higher than our flight. These E/A came out of the clouds in group echelon to their right, with tight formations of 9 ship flights in a V with elements of 3 ships in tight V’s also.

“I called out the E/A to my flight leader, dropping my wing bombs and belly tank at the same time. My flight leader started to turn to the left which put the flight with their tails to the E/A. I was flying Number 2 on his right wing and seeing where the flight was being positioned and having excess speed from our dive, I started a skidding chandelle to the left, which put me about 1,500 yards behind the last element of three E/A.

“As I tried to position myself in range on the three E/A, I saw two P-47s hit the ground and explode and one white parachute floating down about 500 feet from the deck. At the same time, I also sighted a lone Me 109 on the tail of a P-47 on the deck. This E/A was firing and getting strikes on the P-47. Seeing this, I gave up the three E/A and dove down and positioned myself on the Me 109’s tail, as it closed in to about 200 yards on the P-47. The P-47’s left wing was getting strikes all over it, and it appeared to be on fire. At this time, I closed to about 1,000 yards, fearing that the Me 109 was set for a good burst into the P-47."

“I gave the Me 109 a short burst which appeared to strike his left wing tip. This scared him off the P-47’s tail, and he started a steep climbing turn to the left for some clouds. I closed to about 500 yards and figured he would get into the clouds before I got into range, therefore, I gave him a long burst at a deflection of about 30 degrees and saw strikes at his nose which traveled to his wing root up to the cockpit, and then he flew into the cloud and I followed. As I hit the cloud, I saw a puff of black smoke and the outline of the E/A as it started for the ground. I dove out of the cloud, sighting the E/A about 50 feet from the ground on fire, and as he hit, the E/A blew up in a ball of fire which rolled along the ground for about 200 yards."

“As I chandelled up into the clouds, I ran head on into 9 Me 109s which were about 2,000 yards in front of me. I headed for the leader and his two wing men and fired at them when I thought I was about 200 yards away. The leader dove down and his wing men split each way as I fired. I flew through the flight and into a cloud. The (other) six Me 109s did a 180 degree turn and started after me at about 3,500 feet. I flew from cloud to cloud and then dove for the deck. As I started to dive someone yelled on the R/T, ‘There goes a P-47 with six on his tail.’ I tried to locate the owner of that voice, but didn’t see anyone so I continued on down to the deck and took a heading for home."

“Near Heronchelles, which is NE of Rouen about 10 miles, I saw what appeared to be a hay stack moving on a road. I approached it, and it appeared to be a tank which was camouflaged. This tank stopped and turned into me as I fired on it. Continuing on my heading for home base, I flew right into a freight yard at St. Saens which had a goods train and power house in it. I fired into the locomotive and up into the power house. As I made a turn, I noticed a cloud of steam coming from the locomotive.”

Ruscitto’s claims of 1-1, plus a 109 damaged by Lt. Benjamin, were the only ones from the 350th. The six men lost by the Squadron included all three flight leaders, two element leaders and a wing man.

Meanwhile, the 352nd (Jockey) was bounced by some 50 Me 109s and lost two pilots. In that action 1st Lt. Richard V. Keywan destroyed one and damaged two Me 109s before he was shot down, and Lt. Harold O. Miller destroyed an Me 109.

While the 350th and 352nd Squadrons were being hit, Col. Duncan was alone in another area. When he heard on the R/T that Seldom Squadron was being attacked, he moved toward the action and ran into six 109s. He shot one down and then got into a rat race with four of the 109s, finally slipping free into a cloud. Climbing, he picked up two other P-47s and the three found a pair of 109s. Duncan shot down one of these and then shot down the second, which the other P-47s had unsuccessfully engaged. The three victories brought his claims up to a total of 18.5 in the air.

"Grudge Sweep"

The loss of eight men was a stunning blow to the Group. As soon as he was back and had the facts, one outraged Group Commander by the name of Glenn H. Duncan called up Wing Headquarters and got them to give the Group a sweep “to go in there and clean out those guys!”

This “grudge sweep” was a patrol east and south of Paris led by Lt. Col. Rimerman. Near the end of the sweep and south of Paris, the 350th Squadron, flying top cover at 15,000 feet, was engaged by forty-plus Me 109s that came in from above. The 351st, with some elements readying to strafe as they began to head for home, climbed up and joined in the action.

“We came head on to about 40 109s - same characters,” wrote Capt. Blickenstaff of the 350th in his diary. “They were about 2,000 feet above us. Tried madly for a long time to catch them - seemed like they were all over the sky. Finally, after I was alone, I got on the tail of one and followed him through a split-s to the deck. Such evasive action I have never seen! After fighting for about 5 minutes he lost me in a cloud. Never did hit him! He was pretty much a hot rock.”

Other 350th pilots had better luck, destroying four 109s and damaging one, while the 351st shot down five and damaged two 109s. Lt. Tanner destroyed a pair to bring his total air victories to four, and Major Gallup, flying with the 351st, also got two to up his score to three in the air. Ben Rimerman shot down a 109 at 1,000 feet over Paris and then saw Lt. William J. Frank firing at another with tracers coming from his guns, denoting his last rounds, so Rimerman came in and finished off the 109, sharing it with Lt. Frank. Thus, with the destruction of 9 enemy aircraft and damage to 3 more, the Group avenged to some degree the grievous losses of that morning.

With Dewey Newhart gone, Major Kenneth Gallup took over command of the 350th Squadron. Born in Hope, New Mexico and educated in Texas, Gallup had joined the Air Corps in 1940, served in the Panama Canal Zone and had come overseas as a Squadron Commander with the 36th Fighter Group, 9th Air Force. In May 1944 he was transferred to Headquarters, 353rd Fighter Group. A handsome, dark haired man of average stature, 25 years old, he was aggressive in the air but stayed somewhat to himself on the ground. This was not atypical of combat pilots. Many tended to not get close to one another as they never knew who would not be coming home the next day. It took all the fortitude they could muster to fly the missions.

Ch 18

Ch 20