Frank McCauley

1st Lt. Frank

E. McCauley Keyworth Red Three a . Combat b . 19 August , 1943 c . 6 1st Fighter Squadron , 56 th Group d . 1 8 0 5 -1 810 hrs e . Oosterhout and Schoonhoven, Holland f . 5 /10 cloud at 5,000 feet visibility unlimited g . Two M E -1 09's h . Two M E - 1 09's d estroyed i . I was flying Keyworth Red three. We had made landfall and were about 10 miles west of Gilze-Rijen at 27,000 feet when at least one ME-109 came at us from 7 o'clock and slightly above. Our flight broke hard left. When I was at 90 o to him I saw him fire a burst. He must have been firing at my wing man, Lt. Barnum for he was trailing me and the ME-109 did not have nearly enough deflection for my ship. He fired at about 400 yards. I lost sight of him then. In breaking I lost the rest of the flight but was able to pick up Keyworth Red two, Lt. Powers, who flew the rest of the mission as my wing man. We were over the bombers in the vicinity of Oosterhout when we saw three ME-109's in front of and slightly above the bombers. I dove at one of them and he started to make a climbing turn into me. When he was about 200 yards from me and about 10-20 o from head on, I fired a burst and kept on leading him and firing until he was under me. That was at 18,000 feet. Lt. Powers observed the plane burst into flames and go into a spin and crash. We pulled up and flew over the bombers for a while at about 22,000 feet. Near Schoonhoven we saw a flight of four ME-109's in string formation at about 18,000 feet start to go in on the rear of the bombers. We did a half roll and went down to attack. I ended up astern of the rear ME-109 about 300 yards back. I closed to about 200 yards and fired a burst. I could see hits and smoke coming from the engine. I tried to slow up so I could make sure of the plane being destroyed but was rapidly closing. I fired one or two more bursts before I had to pull up to avoid collision. The plane went into a steep spiral, still emitting smoke and finally crashed in a mass of flame. Meanwhile the other three ME-109's broke for the deck. We climbed back up from 12,000 feet , where the last combat took place and headed out. We were about the same level as the bombers when I saw one bomber leave the formation over Rotterdam. He was immediately attacked by enemy aircraft and also encountered flak. We tried but were unable to gain enough altitude to cross over the top of the bombers to help him. Personel Combat Report 1st Lt. Frank

E. McCauley 65th Fighter Wing F.O. No. 40 VIII Fighter Command

F. O. No.108 Page No. 2 Lt. Powers did a very thorough job in covering me. The full cooperation of the wing man proves invaluable in combat.