4th Fighter Group 01/29/1944
HEADQUARTERS
FOURTH FIGHTER GROUP
A.P.O. 637 U.S. ARMY
PILOTS PERSONAL COMBAT REPORT
VIII Fighter Command F.O. NO 226
A. Combat
B. 29 Jan 44
C. 334 Fighter Squadron
D. 1100 hours
E. Vicinity Aachen
F. 10/10 at 3000 feet about 500 ft. thick – 100 mi. vis. above
G. Me 109 and FW 190
H. 1 Me 109 Destroyed & 1 FW 190 Destroyed
I. . . . . . We sighted approximately fifteen Me 109s and FW 190s flying near the bombers and when Pectin squadron attacked them they went into a dive. As our squadron bounced this group of enemy aircraft, I saw about six other Me 109s coming in to get on the Squadron’s tail. Lt. Chatterley and I turned into these. One of them put a hole in my tail-plane before we could turn onto them, but when the turn was completed I saw Lt. Chatterley on the tail of a 109, shooting and getting very good strikes. These 109s also started to dive and I got on the tail of the nearest one, and opened fire at 250 yards, closing to about 50 yards. I was using A.P.I. ammunition and saw very severe strikes on the fuselage and wing roots, then a large flash somewhere in the cockpit area and the enemy aircraft flicked violently to the right and went down trailing a long stream of grey-black smoke. This combat took place from 23,000 feet down to about 15,000 feet, and the last I saw of the 109, he was going straight down through 10/10ths cloud below.
I was then alone and saw a combat going on far below so started down again when I sighted an aircraft off to starboard also diving. When I went over to investigate he turned out to be a yellow-tailed FW 190 with a belly tank. I don’t think he saw me as I was approaching him out of the sun, but he steepened his dive a little and I was closing on him slowly, so I fired a burst out of range trying to slow him down. No results were seen so I continued behind him as he went into cloud at about 3,000 feet and when we came out below was about 300 yards behind. I opened fire again and saw many incendiary strikes on his fuselage. He dropped his nose at about 200 feet altitude and went into the deck. I then pulled up in a zoom to 5000 feet where there were many P-47s of Greenbelt squadron and came home with them. Claim 1 Me 109 and 1 FW 190 Destroyed.
Ammunition - A.P.I.
391 rounds fired
D W. Beeson,
1st Lt., Air Corps.
Official US Army Air Forces Combat Report by Duane Beeson of the 4th Fighter Group. This material is a transcription of official reports-testimonials of Duane Beeson's combat experience.
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.
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.
Contact us if you are contemplating a donation of any kind.
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.
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.