Brooke in his beautiful FW 190A-8 at 37,000 ft. He and the rest of I/JG3 have found a formation of B-17G Flying Fortresses near Le Culet.
Brooke in his beautiful FW 190A-8 at 37,000 ft. He and the rest of I/JG3 have
found a formation of B-17G Flying Fortresses near Le Culet.
Brooke tells I/JG3 to wait to attack. He is scouting the area for escorts and
waiting for the bomber stream to get past the mountain it is currently over.
The bomber stream is past the mountain. Brooke calls on the radio, "I/JG3
follow me. Here we go!" and does a split s in to attack.
Brooke picks out the trailing, damaged B-17 to attack. The B-17's are so very
tough and dangerous to attack that standard procedure for I/JG3 is to preferrentially
hit damaged B-17's, like wolves attacking the injured or stragglers in a herd.
A view from the FW 190's cockpit as Brooke opens fire.
Brooke goes into a zoom climb after his attack. He took some hits from the B-17's
gunners, but nothing major. Others in I/JG3 are in various stages of their attacks.
Brooke circles to the back of the bomber stream after the attack. He wants to
see if I/JG3 pilots (and their valuable FW 190A-8's) are clear of enemy escort.
Yoj looks pursued but clear. Lutz and CAV (not in I/JG3) might not be clear,
but at the same time Brooke spots more bombers to his right. The purpose of
the FW 190's is to kill bombers. A quick clearing attack is OK, but getting
engaged with escorts isn't what free FW 190's should be doing. Brooke hopes
Lutz and CAV will be OK and heads for the bombers.
The formation turns out to be another large bomber stream, full of B-17's and
some escorts. Brooke scouts it out, taking his time. He goes toward the rear
of the formation, looking for damaged stragglers, picks one out, and dives in.
Brooke attacks a B-17, pouring on the shells. Debris and smoke streams back
from the wounded bomber.
Brooke zooms past the striken B-17. It is trailing debris, and the gear is down
(loss of hydraulics). The bomber is in the process of exploding and is gone
an instant after this picture was taken. Brooke gets the kill. Other bombers
in the stream are visible ahead.
After the previous attack, Brooke does a long tail chase catching up to the
bomber stream. As he closes on the stream, he finds some P-38J Lightning escort
fighters and makes a high-speed pass at one. The P-38 does a hard break turn,
spoiling Brooke's shot. Brooke goes into a zoom climb staying on course for
the bombers.
Brooke climbs and gets over a trailing B-17, which is being escorted by at least
two P-38J's. Brooke positions himself to attack one of the P-38's then the B-17.
Brooke rolls inverted and is heading for the lead P-38. Other bombers and potential
escorts are visible ahead (bogies).
Brooke pours the hits into the tail of the P-38, which explodes shortly after
this picture was taken. Brooke gets the kill. The B-17 Brooke had in mind is
visible at the left side of the picture.
Brooke rolls onto the tail of that B-17. There are more enemy fighter escorts
in the area, including one higher P-38J.
Brooke pours hits into the B-17. Debris and smoke trails back.
Brooke zooms past the B-17. It has lost its left outside engine, and its gear
has dropped. However, the high P-38 and the P-47 Thunderbolt are chasing Brooke.
The P-38 is close enough and started at high enough altitude to be a problem.
Also, Brooke took some hits from the B-17's gunners, although nothing critical
is damaged on the FW 190.
Brooke was able to run from the P-38 and P-47 and get away. It cost him a lot
of altitude and time, but once the enemies broke off, Brooke climbed back toward
the bomber stream. Here, he climbs in front of the bomber stream, trying to
get enough altitude to get past enemy escort fighters. However, the bombers
have just dropped on target (an industrial area of Frankfurt -- the gray rectangle
with little black plumes on it that is visible near the tail of Brooke's plane).
Brooke wasn't able to get high enough, and another P-38 chased him off. The
P-38 does better at altitude than the FW 190, and the enemy has them at high
altitude over the bombers. Fortunately, the FW 190 rolls much better and can
outrun a P-38 in a dive. Brooke again had to run, jink, roll, and lose a lot
of altitude on a prolonged chase. Once Brooke was clear, he headed back to the
bomber stream. Here, he is climbing along side the stream as it heads back from
target. This time, Brooke is at a greater distance, again trying to get enough
altitude to make it past the enemy escorts.
Again, escorts found and chased Brooke off before he could get enough altitude.
Again, he evaded and, once clear, headed back toward the bomber stream. He chases
down the bomber stream from behind and catches it near Antwerp.
Uh oh. Obviously, the RAF was able to get a large number of Spitfires to rendezvous
with the B-17's near the coast. There are at least a dozen Spitfires at various
altitudes projecting the tail end of the bomber stream. Brooke considers his
odds. He's going about 250 knots indicated airspeed at 27,000 ft. He's higher
than most of the Spits (although not all). A FW 190A-8 is faster than Spitfires.
This is the last chance to attack the bombers. Brooke goes for it.
Brooke races in and opens fire on the trailing B-17.
Brooke zooms past after his attack on the B-17 (left side, middle of picture).
A cloud of angry Spitfires -- and there are a bunch more not visible from this
angle -- jockey to get on Brooke. The B-17 is not shot down -- it is not even
smoking. Brooke took some hits from the B-17's gunners on the way through, but
his FW 190 holds together.
Brooke is able to dive, roll, and outrun the cloud of angry Spitfires. They
don't want to pursue him too far inland. He lives to fight another day.
Brooke ends part 1, frame 6 with 3 kills (2 B-17's and 1 P-38), 1 assist (B-17), and returned to base.
by Brooke P. Anderson
e-mail: brooke@electraforge.com
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