FRED CHRISTENSEN

0 a . C ombat b . 11 Feb., 1944 c . 62nd Fighter Squadron d . Approx. 1 1 30 hours . e . Vicinity S. Bierset f . 2 /10 cloud with big breaks. T ops 8/1 0,000' Visibility, horizontal excellent. g . Me 109 h . One Me 10 9 claimed d estroyed . i . " I was flying Ground h og White Three on F.O. 240. The order to return home had just been given. Groundhog White Leader called a 180 o turn to the left and that brought us out about 1,000' below the bombers whose lowest box was approximately 22,000'. I called in three Me 109's coming thru the bomber formation at about 10 O'clock to me. Groundhog White Leader made a left hand turn towards the enemy. The 109's were shooting 20mm's at the B-17's and then started in a steep dive. White Leader made no move to attack so I called him and told him I was going to bounce and give me some cover. I dove down and caught up with two of them. The first 109 broke up and the second continued down in his dive to 9,000'. I got about 250 yds. from him and gave him a squirt. I blew his belly tank off and noticed many hits from his tail. A piece of his elevator came off. As I was about to over-run him, I pulled everything back and made a climbing turn over him. I watched him flying straight and level then I attacked him again and got in a dead astern shot. I noticed many hits on the fuselage, wing roots, and tail section. Then he commended a gentle turn to the right and I gave him about 1 ring lead and pulled the trigger and saw more hits along the right hand side of the fuselage and right wing. Black smoke started to come from the engine housing. I took several more bursts observing hits all over the 109. Pieces kept flying off and with the last burst, I could see flames coming from the cockpit forward towards the engine. Large pieces of the fuselage came back. I broke off my attack and started my climb up. I made large climbing orbits over the ship which was blazing fiercely. I saw the a/c tumbling down and hit in a snowy field. There was a big explosion and a huge cloud of black smoke. The a/c was slate grey with black markings. I joined my wingman and we went home uneventfully. I claim one Me 1 0 9 destroyed. "