WWII Pilot Combat Report - HOWARD LANE

HOWARD LANE

361st Fighter Group 02/25/1944

COMBAT REPORT

A . Combat B . 25 February 1944 C . 376th Fighter Squadron, 361st Fighter Group D . 1235 E . North of Metz F . Clear G . FW 190 H . 1 FW 190 Destroyed I . I bounced a FW 190 about 21,000 Feet and he immediately went into a dive, turning sharply to the left. I turned inside of him closing the range, opened fire at 400 yards and closing to 150 yards, firing short burst at about twenty degrees deflection. As I was firing my last burst, the FW 190 went into a vertical dive. I was starting after him when I noticed another FW 190 coming in from the left rear a little below me. I started to pull out of my dive and came out at 3,000 feet doing ab out 425 miles per hour . The FW 190 I had been chasing was still going straight down. As I looked back at the second FW 190 which was firing at me, I saw the first FW 190 hit the ground and explode. I out climbed the second FW 190 who was firing at me but was continually out of range. At 13,000 feet, he turned around and dove for the ground.

J. 416 rds. HOWARD A. LANE 1st Lt., Air Corps.

Official US Army Air Forces Combat Report by HOWARD LANE of the 361st Fighter Group. This material is a transcription of official reports-testimonials of HOWARD LANE's combat experience.

Donations

Do you have WWII memorabilia that you are not sure what to do with it? The children don't want it? Then let us help you preserve this history by donating these items to the Army Air Corps Library and Museum.

We are accepting donations in the form of uniforms, medals, ribbons, patches, photos, memorabilia, papers, gear and equipment.

We also accept monetary donations to support our operations and long term plans.

Donate

This website is part of the Army Air Corps Library and Museum, and as a 501(c)(3) Non-profit, your qualifying donations are tax deductible.

Volunteering

Are you an AAC, AAF or USAF Veteran, family member, historian or WW2 enthusiast? We Need YOU! Contact us today to see how you can help the Army Air Corps Library and Museum, a Texas Not-For-Profit Corporation.

We need your help! We are looking for volunteers that can help us with the following tasks.

(1) Typing and Transcriptionists: One of our big projects is extracting data from the thousands of documents we have and putting this data into a database where we can display the information on a website such as this one. (2) Photography and Document Scanning.

Historical Artifacts

We are looking for photos, documents and other types of artifacts including uniforms and gear of the 8th Air Force in World War II as well as other units and commands. We accept electronic/scans or originals of pictures and paper records. A General Order could be an award document that contains information on many servicemen. Special Orders may contain transfers or other information. Flight records, accident reports, maintenance logs, after action reports, pilot encounter reports, diaries and biorgraphies; all of these types of documents help us support or mission: preserving your history! Contact us today for instructions on sending us this material.