March 11, 1999
by Brooke, GL, I/JG3
I/JG3 lost 4 of 8 of its FW's but shot down 13 B-25's and damaged some more (that, I hope, didn't make it home).
MVP to Whip for 4 B-25 kills and landing his plane safely thereafter. (Coach got 3 and lived -- Yoj got 2 and lived -- honorable metion, lads!)
I/JG3 consisted of me, Soggy, Whip, Yoj, Coach, Vono, Rdnk1, and Lee. We took off from Lobnitz, way out east, and climbed west.
After a couple of sectors of flying, that clot of allied planes was heading in toward the Dunkirk area, so we got permission to replane and come up at Soesterburg.
While climbing SW toward the impinging allies, we started to suspect that the clot contained only allied fighters. Also, a radar report came in that some enemies were sighted up north, along rows 20-21.
I reversed I/JG3 and headed N to Amsterdam, then NE toward Bremerhaven. Some more radar reports came in sighting enemy aircraft up at 20-23 or so, heading E. We levelled off at 35k and raced toward Bremerhaven.
About a sector NE of Amsterdam, I zoomed my map way out and spotted lots of enemy counters about 10 sectors WNW of Bremerhaven. I put out a radio report and was quickly dumped.
I came back in to AW and was dumped again on selecting a field. I came back in again, and selected Kaltenkirchen for takeoff.
I finally made it back up and saw a huge collection of enemy counters headed E in rows 23-24 and reported it. It looked from the row they were in that Kiel was a likely target, so I asked I/JG3, which was out over water at that point in row 23, to come back E over land. That way, 109's could mix it up with any escorts, and I/JG3 could hit the bombers as they came on land escortless.
As it turned out, the bombers (and there were lots and lots of them -- all B-25's as far as I heard) were unescorted. Also, as they got to a position N or NW of Bremerhaven, they turned south -- Bremerhaven and its surroundings were the target.
I/JG3 had come back E to rendezvous with me and wait with me near the coast. Once they overflew my position (I was about 10k lower than they were), we all headed W and ran into the bombers as they were about a sector from target.
Man! There were a lot of them, and they were in nice, tight formations, making their gunners all that more effective, and making frame rates drop.
I flew above and to the side of the first formation in -- about 12 bombers. They were going pretty fast, but I eventually got out in front, of course, and then did a diving left turn into the front of the formation, firing headon at a couple of them, but probably missing. Headons are pretty hard to line up, and if there is even a little bit of a warp, you have blown your pass. Mainly, I was trying to see if I could break up the formation at all.
Right after my pass, I rolled and jinked to throw off all the gunners that were shooting at me. I don't think I got hit.
I zoomed back up and saw another 12-or-so-plane formation of B-25's coming in. I reported it. And saw another! Oh, man. The sky was full of B-25's.
I picked out a formation being attacked by a few other fighters and flew along its side. Seeing that headon attacks were just too unlikely, I was going to do a slashing side attack. I lined up abreast of the formation and turned left into the last bomber in the formation. I raked it over, debris all over the place, and rolled hard and dived out after I passed that last bomber. I didn't take any hits -- seems the slashing side attack is decent.
I zoomed back up and saw a B-25 down low being attacked by 3 other planes. I dove in on the attack. As I closed to within firing range from its rear, there were no tracers, so the gunner was dead or out of ammo. I closed in farther and opened up right into its tail. At that point, a friendly came zooming down from above me into my line of fire. The bombers blew up -- just an assist for me -- and the friendly took some hits from me as he entered my bullet stream. Sorry, guy!
I came in on another B-25, relatively isolated, with a side/rear attack. I got a good angle on him, but he warped out of my sights, and I went into an immediate evasive rolling dive in case he warped close enough for the gunner to hit me. I didn't take any hits.
I zoomed back up again, and came upon a another relatively isolated B-25. I decided to come up this one's tail, as he would only have one gunner -- deciding that I'd dive out if I started to take hits. I closed and started to pour the shots into his tail. And I did start to take hits, too. I put a good long burst into the bomber and then rolled and dived out hard after taking 2 pings from the gunner.
I dove for Stadt, and replaned. Coming back up, I headed W to that action again. I came upon some bombers down low. I dove on one and put a good burst into him -- it looked like he was spinning in, but he didn't crash, and he didn't blow. I pulled up and was immediately on another B-25, closing fast from below and behind. I did a quick check on my tail -- clear -- and went in on the bomber. I didn't notice tracers coming for me, so I closed in and put a good solid burst into his tail. As the debris was streaming back from him, I started to take hits.
Ping! Ping! I looked back, fearing a B-25 had crept up behind me and saw a P-47. Shit! The bomber blew simultaneously with all of this, but again no kill. I immediately rolled over and pulled hard g's to dive out of the sights of the P-47 -- too hard. I blacked out -- and slammed into the ground before I recovered.
Damn it! I was so mad at myself. It would have been so much fun to be up there shooting the hell out of those B-25's, and I had to go and pull a damned dweeb move and take myself out.
I/JG3 overall did great, though. Wish I had been more a part of it.
-- Brooke, GL, I/JG3