Gerald Johnson

Captain Gerald W . Johnson Keyworth Blue Leader a . Combat b . 1 9 August , 1943 c . 6 1st Fighter Squadron , 56 th Group d . 1 802 hrs e . N ear Gilze- Rijen f . CAVU g . Two ME-109's h . One M E -10 9 destroyed , one M E- 10 9 d amag ed i . I was leading Keyworth Blue flight which was the first flight in the second section of our squadron. We crossed the coast going in near Haamstede at 23,000 feet and proceeded on course to meet the bombers. As we neared the first box of bombers I saw three unidentified planes flying parallel and on our left in the opposite direction at our altitude, 25,000 feet.. They made a large turn to the left and started in on our tail and at this point were about 2,000 feet below us. I watched them come in and when they were about 1,000 yards behind us I called a break to the left. We made a tight 360 o turn and came out on their tail. They were ME-109's flying line abrest. As we made this turn they continued flying straight with the exception that the leader did a very quick slow roll and then continued straight. I fired about a one second burst from about 250 yards at 15 o deflection at the number three plane. I saw strikes on the wing near the fuselage. He immediately flipped over and went straight down. I let him go and pulled up in a tight left turn and found the leader of these three straight in front of me at about 100 yards. I started firing and he tried all kinds of manuevers with the exception of breaking down as they ordinarily do. I could see flashes on his fuselage and knew I was hitting him. Pretty soon there was a large red flash near the center of the fuselage and he started down in a rather steep dive, trailing smoke. I watched him go down for about 10,000 feet and then pulled up to try to get my flight together again. Lt. Biales who was flying in the second flight in our section saw him hit the ground. Our flight was broken up so badly by these attacks that we couldn't rejoin, so I joined Keyworth White flight and completed the mission without further incident. I claim one M E -10 9 d estroyed , and one ME-109 damaged .