Frank Klibbe
56th Fighter Group 01/30/1944
B. 30 January, 1944
C. 61st Fighter Squadron, 56th Group
D. 1325 hours
E. Lingen
F. High cirrus at 23,000, low overcast 4-6,000 feet Visibility good.
G. 2 Me-109 and 1 Me-210
H. 1 Me-109 destroyed
I. I was flying White two to Lt. Col. Gabreski when we went down on a formation of about 15 Me-210's. We broke up this formation but did not fire our guns. At this time we were at about 12,000 feet when the Colonel spotted a lone Me-210 below at about 6,000 feet. We made our attack on this lone Me-210. I saw the Colonel open fire on him and the Me-210 headed into the cloud level, and just as he was about to head into the clouds, I let him have a short burst. Col. Gabreski had already broken off and I'm sure that he destroyed that Me-210. Later we were about 13,000 feet when we saw two aircraft at about 6,000 ft. They didn't look like e/a at first, but later we decided to go have a look. I was then on the inside of the attack and as I dove I was out ahead of the Col. As we closed in on these two ships, I noticed that they were Me-109's so I cut loose at the one on the right. This was about 6,000 feet and I was shooting at about 30 o angle. I didn't see any hits on this one, so I then shifted to the one on the left and ran up him from dead astern. I opened fire at about 400 yards on these two and closed in on the second one that I destroyed to approximately 100 yard s. I saw several strikes all over the fuselage and on the wing roots. It had started to catch fire and as I pulled up to the right I saw the Me-109 I shot at going straight down with white smoke trailing. I also saw the Colonel shooting at the Me-109 that I shot at first and it rolled over and headed straight down. We destroyed both of the Me-109's. I claim one Me-109 destroyed.
Official US Army Air Forces Combat Report by Frank Klibbe of the 56th Fighter Group. This material is a transcription of official reports-testimonials of Frank Klibbe's combat experience.
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