10 Apr 1999
by Brooke, GL, I/JG3
I/JG3 lost 4 of its 8 FW 190A-8's. It shot down 5 B-17's, 2 P-47's, and 1 P-38. (Actually, I think King7 got shot down eventually after a dump -- I'm not sure if he was in an A8 at the time -- we lost him very early on to a dump and never saw him again.)
I/JG3 consisted of me, YES (as FL of flight B), BigH, Gorsk, Vono, King7, Chek, and Stick. We took off from St. Nazaire and proceeded all the way up to the Dunkirk area as that first figter sweep was milling around. Once they left, we headed back down to the Amiens area, waiting in the middle to see where the bombers would show up.
When it became clear that a big strike was heading to the Brest or Cherbourg area, we headed in that direction at full throttle.
We got there before the bombers, but we stayed on the periphery for the 109's to take care of high escort. We headed N along the E side of the supposed bomber formation up near Bayeux. As we headed N, we encountered a couple of P-47's a little below our altitude and ignored them for a time as we tried to find a position over where the bombers would be.
Then, when we got some reports of bombers to our S, we reversed and headed S. At that time, a P-47 was starting to close in on some of our lower FW's, so I called for a circle back to clear the P-47 out. I came around on it and extended away. I think one of I/JG3 got him, and he wasn't a problem anymore. However, that little tussle did disrupt our formation.
YES and I were together, but I didn't see others close by. YES and I continued on S or SE. We ran into some P-38's up a little higher than we were, so we veered off, and they didn't pursue right away. We continued on and overflew the probable formation. There were lots of escorts below us, but above the bombers, so we continued to fly along above them, looking for an opening.
We flew over and in front of the escort, climbing a bit to 34k as we went, because we feared high P-38's. Sure enough, as we continued to move forward along the route of the bombers, we ran into a couple of high P-38's at our alt or higher. YES maneuvered into a headon, and they blew past him. I veered off rather than trying to turn into a headon as I had a lot more separation, but one of them managed to latch onto my tail. A bogie resolved itself into a P-47 that joined the chase.
I levelled off, then went into a shallow dive to stay out of guns range. I turned gradually to my left back toward YES, who came back in and dove on the tail of the P-38, clearing my tail. The P-47 broke off, too. Thanks, YES!
Now there were some more P-47's up high in the area, but we ran into Yoj and his boys heading the other direction, and they cleared out the high escort. We were now SW of Lav, and I dipped my wing and saw that we were right over a large formation of B-17's. I put out a couple of good reports on position, etc.
A P-47 was up above the formation, but he was the only one I could see. I did a pass on him to clear him out. He turned, but stayed pretty high, so I came back around and chased him down to a much lower altitude, then drifted back up in altitude over the bombers. Vono showed up at that point, so it was me, YES, and Vono above the B-17's and the air was clear.
I moved us over the N side of the stream so that an egress would take us S and probably farther from escort. Then I dove in, calling for the bounce.
I lined up on the trailing bomber in the formation from a high 7-8 o'clock position. I throttled back in the dive to stay out of compressibility, held my lead as I approached, and filled him full of lead all the way in. I didn't see any tracers from the bomber -- he must have been ungunned or out of ammo. The B-17 blew up as I passed giving me my first kill of the mission.
A P-38 came by, but he wasn't in position to get on me. I saw a P-47 come in to the action, and I dove on him to clear him out. He did a break turn, and I continued on, getting back over the bomber stream.
At that point, more escorts started to show up with enough alt to be a problem. A P-47 and P-38 went after me and started to close, and I had to break off. I ran S and dove to keep them out of gunnery range. The P-38 didn't have the energy to pursue and broke off, but the P-47 had about my alt at the start and stayed on me, closing as we went.
I could see other bogies in the area, and some enemy fighters here and there a lot higher than I was as I ran, so I didn't want to start a turn fight with the P-47. I wanted to get far enough S or SW so that I could engage him. Shortly thereafter, another P-38 joined the chase.
I stayed fast, went into a shallow dive, and headed toward Tou. I went down to about 10k, and the P-47 and P-38 eventually broke off. I think some friendlies were in the area or they didn't want to get so far away from bombers.
After they broke off, I headed back toward Tou and joined up with Saber. Saber might have been one of the guys responsible for the P-38 and P-47 breaking off the chase.
As Saber and I headed back toward Tou, there were lots of bogies up high. We climbed as we went. Then we headed N to chase down some more bombers.
Along the way, I came across a lower P-38 parallelling my course, climging along side of me, but from a lower altitude. I did a dogleg to the left and went in on his tail, setting up a pretty good firing run. He did a break turn, and I don' t think I got any hits, although I did follow him through part of the turn, firing.
Saber was gone by that time. I think he must have spotted bombers to attack, as on my gun camera film, I saw that I had overflown some. Regardless, I came upon some more SW of Lav. I picked out one and dove him from about 32k, throttling back just a little. As I closed to firing range, I was just within compressiblity, but the angle and lineup was good enough, so I kept it at full throttle.
I came in from the tail of that bomber -- I probably should have set up a different attack, but I wanted to stay as fast as possible down there, even if I took hits from gunners, so that I could zoom back up to altitude and stay away from the nasty escorts.
I closed on the tail of the bomber and filled it full of lead -- a nice long burst. He did have a gunner who got one hit into me as I closed, but it was a pretty good run all in all.
After my run, I looked back and saw a P-47 closing on my tail. Good thing I had kept it fast enough to stay in compressiblity. I turned back toward the south and dove to keep up my speed. The P-47 had a full head of steam itself and stayed started to close. A second P-47 joined the chase briefly, but he didn't have enough energy to stay with us -- we were hauling ass.
The P-47 closed to within gunnery range -- 1000 yards, 800 yards, 600 yards, 400 yards. I was rolling and jinking the whole time, staying at about 400-450 knots, and he didn't land any hits on me, although he was trying.
I didn't want to turn hard and engage him as I kept seeing groups of P-38's and P-47's here and there in the distance. I just ran S until I didn't ID any more enemies, then I turned on him. I went into a hard climbing turn, and then reversed. He did land one hit on me, but I high yo yo'ed onto his tail and now had him. I was on his tail, starting to follow him into a hard nose-low turn. I could tell I had kept more energy that he had in the maneuvering up to this point (I was higher in the turn and closing on him, and we were both pulling 5-6 g's).
At that intant, I could see some more bogies showing up, and one of them resolved itself in to a P-38, diving from altitude to enter the fight. So, I abondonned my hard turn and dove out south.
the P-47 feel back rapidly, but the P-38 pursued and started to close. I dove for speed and went all the way to the deck. I could see more bogies showing up, some of them resolving themselves into enemy planes. I thought I was a gonner, but then Buff1 and his boys were diving in from the side, and my pursuers broke off and were in a fight. Thanks, Buff1!
During that business, I saw another kill message -- it was on the B-17 I had raked over good in my second attack. So, a second kill. Thanks to whoever polished him off. It was Ken Jr.
I climbed back N, being careful, as I now had 2-3 hits on my FW. It was near the end of the mission, and the B-17's were all nearing the water, several sectors N of me. Then the call came in for LW planes to land, and so I did, ending the day with 2 B-17 kills and my ass saved by YES, Yoj and his boys, and Buff1 and his boys.
-- Brooke, GL, I/JG3