Gerald Johnson

Major Gerald W . Johnson a . Combat b . 8 March 1944 c . 6 3rd Fighter Squadron , 56 th Fighter Group d . 1 245- 1315 e . Dummer Lake to S.E. Celle f . Clear; vis. unlimited g . 3 Me 109's ; 1 Fw 190 h . two Me 109 ' s d estroyed i . I was leading Postgate Squadron in A Group with a flight consisting of Major Johnson, Lts. Becker, Porowski and Lovett. We had just r/v'd with the lead box of B-17's at 24,000 feet near Dummer Lake when about 10 s/e e/a were see n coming in from the Southeast at about 26,000 feet. They started down in a sweeping turn to attack the bombers from the rear. Postgate Squadron broke to the right cutting them off . When they saw us coming they broke up into individual planes and in the resulting dog fight, I got about a three-second burst at almost 90 o on an Me 109 but I don't think I hit him. When I overran him I saw my wing man (Lt. Becker) shooting at him and getting plenty of hits. I then got on the tail of another Me 109 and gave him several bursts from almost dead astern. Large pieces were flying off his aircraft and after the second burst he took no evasive action and was slowing, going down. I then pulled up over him very close and saw that most of the canopy was gone, large pieces of the engine cowling and foreward fuselage were go ne, and the pilot was slumped over against the right side of the cockpit. I believe the pilot was dead. My number four man was still with me so we started back toward the front box of bombers. I then saw another formation of s/e e/a approximately 30 to 40, coming in from the same direction as the first ones and at about the same altitude. We couldn't get to them quick enough to stop them from coming through the bombers. They would come through 4 or six at a time from above and in front, diving 5,000 to 6,000 feet below after going through the bombers formation. As they pulled up they would attack any straggler they may have knocked out of formation. We drove off two attacks by Fw 190's on a straggler but the deflection shots were so great, I don't think I hit either of them . We then started back toward the main formation and I got on the tail of an Me 109 as he came through the bomber formation. I was indicating 450 m.p.h. and closing slowly. At about 300 yards I opened fire and observed hits on the fuselage and left wing. I soon ran out of amunition. I didn't think I had gotten him but since we were only about 6,000 feet and he was still going down, I did an orbit and saw him crash into a forest near Celle. We then started home and reached our base without further incident. I claim two Me 109 ' s d estroyed .