Gerald Johnson

Major Gerald W. Johnson

a. Combat

b. 15 March 1944

c. 63rd Fighter Squadron, 56th Fighter Group

d. 1030 hours

e. Near Nienburg

f. 8/10 at 5,000 feet

g. Me 109's

h. 2 Me 109s destroyed

i. I was leading B Group as Northgrove White 1. The bombers were approximately fifteen minutes late rather than four minutes as reported by Tackline. After crossing the enemy coast we continued on course staying beneath the condensation level at about 23,000 feet. Since I could see the bombers behind me at all times and since there were already two Groups of Thunderbolts with them, I thought it best to continue on course to our R/V point. About 20 miles West of Dummer Lake Groundhog squadron, who was flying on my right, bounced 25/30 s/e e/a that were climbing up through the clouds. We turned right to give them cover but after seeing that they did not need any we turned back on course to the vicinity of Dummer Lake where we did an orbit and several S turns to wait for the bombers. We then proceeded ahead of the lead box of B-17s and shortly after saw two boxes of s/e e/a approaching from the Northeast. They were flying fairly tight formation in two boxes, there being 30/40 in the lower box and 20/30 in the upper. We immediately started in their direction and intercepted the lead flights as they peeled off to attack the bombers. I got on the tail of an Me 109, opened fire at about 300 yards, but did not get many hits until I closed to about 150 yards when pieces started flying off and smoke and flame were coming out. I almost hit him as I pulled up since I was blinded by the smoke and debris from his plane. As we pulled up from this attack there were dog-fights going on in every direction and, after dodging a few aircraft both friendly and enemy, I managed to get on the tail of another Me 109, holding my fire until about 250 yards. He received a good solid burst over the wing roots, fuselage and canopy. As I pulled up over him he was going down out of control, trailing a lot of black and white smoke. A few seconds later there was a parachute open in this vicinity which I believe was the pilot, however, I cannot be sure. We then returned to the bombers, escorted them for another 20 minutes, and then started out, reaching home base without further incident. I claim 2 Me 109s destroyed.