Harold Barnaby
78th Fighter Group 12/20/1943
B. 1145 hours. 20 miles S.W. of Bremen 4/10 low cloud; slight ground haze; horizontal visibility good. Me-109
G. 1 Me-109 G destroyed. While leading Cleveland Black section on bomber escort mission to Bremen I saw two Fw-190's make a head-on attack on the second box of bombers from below. Our position was about two miles south of the bombers at 26,000 feet altitude. We were unable to get to the bombers in time and did not attack the Fw's until they made their attack. When we attacked the Fw's they started a diving turn taking evasive action. I followed the Fw's down to 15,000 feet seeing no results of my firing. I fired about 10 seconds of ammunition. After breaking off the attack I returned to 22,000 feet, giving cover to Black five leader and his flight. After we set course for home I spotted a Me-109 making a bounce on Black fives flight. The Me-109 made his attack from 8 o'clock and I warned Black fives flight to break left when the Me-109 was 600 yards away. The 109 tried to turn with the flight and I attacked him in a turn to the left. I closed to a range of 250 yards, angle off 25 degrees, and gave him a short burst. I saw many strikes in the cockpit area. The right wheel came down and the canopy came off. I gave him another 4 second burst which hit the cockpit and set the plane on fire. The Me-109 went into a spin and hit the ground out of control. When I broke from this attack I made a turn to the right and got on the tail of two Me-109's. I closed to 300 yards, but had no more ammunition in my guns. I stayed on their tails until they saw me and split S'd. I assembled Black section and returned to base.
Official US Army Air Forces Combat Report by Harold Barnaby of the 78th Fighter Group. This material is a transcription of official reports-testimonials of Harold Barnaby's combat experience.
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