Fred Christensen

C ombat b . 1 6 March , 1944 c . 62nd Fighter Squadron d . Approx. 1 10 5 hours e . Vicinity St. Dizier f . 8 -9 /10 cloud at 5 to 6 ,000' . Visibility G ood g . F w 190 's h . Two F w 190 's claimed D estroyed .

i. " I was flying Groundhog Red Three and as we made rendezvous with the bombers we could see 30 plus contrails up ahead of the big friends. The Jerries split their forces and made two attacks on the lead box and were engaged by "A" Group. Then a force came on around and attacked a box in front of us. Groundhog fave cover while the other two Squadrons engaged the enemy. Everything was very quiet until I saw two flights of unidentified a/c climbing up far to the right of the B-17's. I called them in to Groundhog Red Leader and we went over to investigate. We came out of the sun and identified them as enemy. They were in two flights of three, flying a Vickers "V" formation, line abreast. I attacked the left hand flight. I dove underneath the flight and pulled up under the #3 man. I waited until he filled my range bars and fired a long burst. The 190 was covered with hits. He slipped off on a wing and went spinning straight down, with smoke and fire belching from the engine. I then pulled up behind the other two, waggled my wings and started to line up on the #2 man, but he broke very sharply to the right. The flight leader was flying very straight so I used water injection and closed dead astern of him and then turned it off. I fired and hit him severely all over the wing roots and fuselage. He then went into a slight right hand turn and I continued firing. Hits blossomed all over the engine cowling right back to the empennage. He did three snap rolls and fire blazed from the 190. He continued spinning straight down smoking and fire flaming from the a/c. With no other enemy around, I watched him for a long time. He went straight down and splattered himself in a field right near a town. The trip home proved uneventful. My wingman chased the 190 that broke and I didn't see him from that time on. The 190's were solid slate grey. These 190's also had rondelles around the crosses on the wings. I claim Two Fw 190 's Destroyed . "