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I
was flying Vactric Leader, Red Flight, escorting two
squadrons of
P-47's
on a dive bombing mission. At Dreux the
two
squadrons took separate routes and I covered
Toga squad-
ron
with Vactric Red and Yellow flights to a
target east of
Chartres.
As we approached Dreux at 18,000 feet on our
re-
turn
from the target Toga leader called some
bandits closing
in
behind him and I took both our flights down.
I noticed
one
flight of four Me. 109s with a flight of
P-47s turning
into
them, and another flight of two Me. 109s
which were
heading
southeast with no one chasing them. Vactric
Red
flight
followed these two and when one of the
Jerries broke
to
the right I followed him while Red Three and
Four attack-
ed
the other. I closed in to about 150
yards and as the
Me.
109 banked to the right I shot a four second
burst into
the
fuselage and cockpit section, observing
strikes on the
fuselage
followed by a flash which was probably the
gas tank
exploding.
The E/A went into a steep dive and began to
spiral
earthward as I followed it down. At about
6000 feet
the
pilot jettisoned the hood and bailed out
successfully.
I
observed the plane crash about one mile
south of the air-
field
just south of Dreux and then I turned into
my wingman
and
climbed up just as Red four shot down the
second Me.109.
I
observed the second pilot bail out and then
called Red
flight
together at which time Yellow leader also
joined our
formation.
Failing to find any more E/A about the area
we
started
for home. As we passed over Evreux at about
10,000
feet
I observed two Me. 109s in the haze below.
We dived
after
them but lost them in the haze as they were
flying in-
to
the sun. Red 2 called in about 20 aircraft
on the air-
field
just east of Evreux and we went down and
strafed some
He
111s. During my strafing run I noticed that
most of the
He
111s and two Me. 109s on the field had
already been strafed
and
were pretty badly battered. I called the
flight to cease
strafing
and as I pulled up noticed a Me. 109 diving
on Red
4.
I called for Red 4 to break and got on the
E/A's tail.
The
E/A went into a Lufberry on the deck in the
center of
the
airfield and most of the flight took turns
in shooting
(second
page)
deflection
bursts in a tight turn. I took about
three
two second bursts which were trailing. There
was
intense anti-aircraft fire from ground
positions
on
the airfield so I broke upwards and saw
about 8
aircraft,
which appeared to be Me.109s, diving at us.
I
called a break and identified the bogies as
P-51s
as
we zoomed upwards. Looking down I saw the
Me.109
streaking
along on the deck toward Paris. Red 3
attacked
from the rear and got several bursts from
long
range. As he broke away I fell in behind the
E/A
and
took two short bursts from about 350 yards
at which
time
I believe there were some strikes and damage
to
his
fuselage. I decided to hold my fire until
minimum
range
was reached as I realized my ammunition was
just
about
expended. We flew on the deck for about 20
miles
until
I had closed in to about 50 yards at which
time
the
E/A pulled up over some trees and I
carefully sight-
ed
and pulled the trigger only to find my
ammunition
was
totally expended. I broke away and let two
P-51s
behind
me take over the chase. Red flight re-formed
and
landed at the beach-head to refuel.
I claim one Me. 109 destroyed and one
damaged.
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