Jack Price

84 th Fighter Squadron 1 020 Winterswijk, Holland Cl ear -- visibility unlimited FW 190 and ME 109 Two ( 2 ) FW 190 s destroyed Narrative: I was flying as Bayland Yellow Leader of second section of the 84 th Fighter Squadron. We crossed the Dutch Coast at 27,000 feet, over Haamstede. We picked the bombers up 20 miles beyond Haldern. They were being attacked from the front and rear and one straggler from the first formation was also being attacked. The Bayland first section, Major Roberts leading, went in to attack the e/a on the straggler, and I led my section up sun and behind the e/a who were attacking the bombers, from six o'clock. There were seven FW 190s flying four line abreast, and three in vee formation slightly behind. They did not see us, and I pulled up to within 300 yards dead astern of the last one in the vee formation and started firing. I gave him a one second burst and observed no hits, so I altered my sighting and gave him a three second burst from 200 yards range, observing strikes on the tail and wings. He started smoking and pieces began falling off; then he blew up. This attack took place at about 24,000 feet, and to the starboard rear of the last section of bombers, just after we ha d picked them up—near Winterswijk, Holland. I pulled up to the left into the sun and looked down. The other two e/a were still flying straight and level so I dropped back down and pulled up on the one next in line, and gave him a four second burst from 100-150 yards. I observed strikes all along the wing root and tail and pieces started falling off and then this aircraft also blew up. I then pulled up to the left and made a half circle. Both FW 190s were gone; my wingman had fired on the other e/a and he also blew up. We were now far behind the bombers. At this point two ME 109s pulled in from our left trying to get behind us. They were diving and had too much speed to turn with us. We were at 25,000 feet, and probably in vicinity of Varseveld. We made two circles with them and they left, diving to the southwest. We started out towards the bombers again—bombers were now som e 20 miles ahead. We caught up with the bombers, passing them on their port side at about their level, 23,000 feet, and about 2,500 yards out. We could see they were being attacked from head-on, but there were no e/a along the port side. We were looking for other P-47s to join up with. We had just pulled up with eight ships of Toastrack Squadron in front of the bombers when we were bounced head-on by two FW 190s somewhere in the vicinity of Tiel. My wingman was still with me and the two f l ights of the Toastrack Squadron were above us, and to our left. As the FW 190s came in, my wingman fired at them and Toastrack Leader also fired at the leading e/a. I observed no hits. We continued on home, passing out over Dutch Coast between Walchern and Schouwen Islands at 22,000 feet, indicating 230 MPH. No more e/a were sighted. As we approached the English Coast at 11,000 feet, two bursts of flak were fired at us about 15 miles off the Coast. It was accurate for altitude but off to our left and slightly behind—probably fired by boats off shore. The first FW 190 I fired at had large bulges under the wings outboard of the propellers arc. My first impression was that it was a twin-engine plane. The other two were attacked from the top rear and the bulges, if present, were not observed. The e/a were a slate gray with black crosse d outline in white. I did not observe what happened to the straggler that Major Roberts' flight went down to help. After we passed out in front of the bombers they were still being attacked from head-on position. We observed the 56 th Group coming in, and our fuel would not permit any further combat. While we were in the vicinity of the bombers there must have been from 100 to 150 e/a attempting to position themselves for attack. They were very aggressive and concentrated on the bombers. Scattered flak in path of bombers, very inaccurate for position, but accurate for altitude. I wish to state that my wingman, 1 st Lieut. John R. Bertrand, did a wonderful job of following me through all maneuvers, in addition to destroying a FW 190 at the same time I was firing on one. With his help we were able to shake off two ME 109s, and catch up with the bombers where we found more P-47s to come out with. I claim two (2) FW 190s destroyed.