GLENN DUNCAN

A . Combat . B . 24 February , 194 4 . C . 3 5 0 t h F i gh t e r Sq uadron . D . 1230, 1300, and 1313 hours approximately. E . Vicinity Steinhuder Lake, Believed on Enschede A/D, and Zuider Zee. F . CAVU. G . F w 190 , Ju 88, and a boat. H . One F w 190 destroyed , one Ju 88 damaged, one boat 4-5,000 tons damaged . I . I was leading "B" Group on a penetration support for a maximum effort job deep into Germany. We had been passing up bombers for about 15 minutes and they were being well taken care of by other P-47's. However we received a call from the bombers stating that the lead units were being attacked. Finally my bunch was able to come up with the Forts and Libs. I saw about 8 – 12 Fw's coming in on the Libs at 10 o'clock so went down. The Fw's were just going up on the B-24's bellies but were sorta discouraged when we came in on them. I came in behind a dirty looking Fw and was just getting lined up when another P-47 poked his nose in and blew up the Hun. I pulled up over the debris and got on another Fw. This time I shot at a little greater range before anyone could steal him. I opened at approximately 450 – 500 yards and immediately got plenty of strikes on the fuselage, cockpit and tail. The Fw rolled over sluffed off and went down sorta twisting lazily around. He went straight into a river from the vertical fall. By this time there was another Fw in front of me but he didn't fly straight and level. In the following dog fight I was finally able to obtain a shooting position but the fellow had hollerded for help and another Fw was coming in on me at 10 o'clock . I saw him coming so turned into him but he had the advantage of a first deflection shot. He must have counted off the correct number of rings cause soon after he shot I flew into one of the 20 mm's. It hit my right wing mid way out and tore a man sized hole taking the aileron control bar out. Due to the loss of good aileron control I could not hope to do any more turns with the Huns so I went down to the deck and out. The ship was slow to roll very much when given aileron so made lining up on the targets of oportunity very difficult. However I managed to line up a couple of twin engine ships parked on an airdrome believed to be Ju 88's, and saw many strikes on one of them. Continuing on out on the deck I met a twin engine ship also flying low going in the oposite direction. Unable to see him soon enough to be head on, we both stayed on our own business. A short time later a S/E E/A passed off to my right but I left him alone as he didn't look as crippled as I was. Still later while crossing the Zuider Zee I came on a large boat that took great j oy in splashing water all over me so I pulled up to one side and went down on him. He lit up all over from the strikes but as I passed over his stern three of the 20 mm's hit me. One in the prop, one in the left wing and one in the turbo. Funny but it didn't even stagger the P-47, she just shook her head and kept on going. During all this time my gas was being used up so I cut down to 1600 RPM and 30" Hg and climbed to 5,000 feet where I call for a few homings. For some reason the boys on the other end couldn't decide that I needed the course very badly so we let it go at that. I finally made it to the English coast then to Metfield where I put the wheels down and let the engine cough up its last bit of gas and stop. One aileron does not react too heartily so the landing was just a bit rough. I claim one F w 190 destroyed , one T/E E/A damaged, and one boat damaged .