WWII Pilot Combat Report - CHARLES HOEY

CHARLES HOEY

353rd Fighter Group 09/22/1943

ENCOUNTER REPORT Combat.

22 Sept 1943. 35 2 nd Fighter Squadron . 1 215. 5 miles SW of Utrecht, 29,000 feet. 5-6/10 clouds at 12,000 feet. Visibility excellent. ME 109 1 ME 109 destroyed. Narrative: I was flying Wakeford Blue 1 leading a four ship flight on the right of Wakeford White Flight. Four ME 109s crossed in front of me and made a pass at White Flight. The 109s lost what little formation they were in and one of them followed White 4 who broke right. I had started to head off the 109s when White 4 broke right, the 109 followed and I just closed in slowly. My ship was near stalling in the turn so I did not open up for fear of spinning out of the turn. The 109 gently came out of the turn. I opened fire at about 100 yards and closed to about 75 yards giving him three short bursts of approximately a second and a half each. I saw strikes at the wing root and his Prestone was starting to burn leaving a white stream of smoke. He then did a snap roll to the right and I pulled in sharply to avoid collision. I saw the plane make a very steep spiral turn and then lost sight of him. He was still trailing smoke when I last saw him. After I lost sight of him, my wingman, Lt. Johnson, and the #3 man, Lt Sperry (statements attached) were able to watch him and both observed the e/a blow up. I claim one ME 109 destroyed.

J. Ammo Exp. 1 72 rounds CHARLES J. HOEY, Capt, AC 352 nd F Sq.

Official US Army Air Forces Combat Report by CHARLES HOEY of the 353rd Fighter Group. This material is a transcription of official reports-testimonials of CHARLES HOEY's combat experience.

Donations

Do you have WWII memorabilia that you are not sure what to do with it? The children don't want it? Then let us help you preserve this history by donating these items to the Army Air Corps Library and Museum.

We are accepting donations in the form of uniforms, medals, ribbons, patches, photos, memorabilia, papers, gear and equipment.

We also accept monetary donations to support our operations and long term plans.

Donate

This website is part of the Army Air Corps Library and Museum, and as a 501(c)(3) Non-profit, your qualifying donations are tax deductible.

Volunteering

Are you an AAC, AAF or USAF Veteran, family member, historian or WW2 enthusiast? We Need YOU! Contact us today to see how you can help the Army Air Corps Library and Museum, a Texas Not-For-Profit Corporation.

We need your help! We are looking for volunteers that can help us with the following tasks.

(1) Typing and Transcriptionists: One of our big projects is extracting data from the thousands of documents we have and putting this data into a database where we can display the information on a website such as this one. (2) Photography and Document Scanning.

Historical Artifacts

We are looking for photos, documents and other types of artifacts including uniforms and gear of the 8th Air Force in World War II as well as other units and commands. We accept electronic/scans or originals of pictures and paper records. A General Order could be an award document that contains information on many servicemen. Special Orders may contain transfers or other information. Flight records, accident reports, maintenance logs, after action reports, pilot encounter reports, diaries and biorgraphies; all of these types of documents help us support or mission: preserving your history! Contact us today for instructions on sending us this material.