JOHN HUNTER
359th Fighter Group 05/24/1944
B. DATE: 24 May 1944
C. UNIT: 368th Fighter Squadron.
D. TIME ATTACK MADE: 11 10
E. GEORGRAPHICAL LOCATION OF ATTACK: N/W Berlin
F. WEATHER: Haze layer up to 30,000 ft. 10/10 strato cumulus at 6000 ft.
G. TYPE OF ENEMY AIRCRAFT: ME 109.
H. ENEMY CASUALTIES (Pilot's class): One ME 109 destroyed (s hared ).
I. ACCOUNT OF COMBAT (In narrative form stressing ours and enemy's tactics). I was flying Blue 3 with a 361 F.G. aircraft (B6-A) flying Blue 4. We observed about 25 plus bogies coming head-on into us. We pushed over, thinking they were other P51's. They were flying in formation 20 ships line abreast with a flight of 4 trailing. I identified them as 109's when they first passed over. I then pulled up to get behind the flight of 4. They broke into us and I made a head-on pass with the one to the outside. I fired about 85 rounds out of three guns, but did not observe the results. The E/A pulled up sharply and rolled over and started down. One flight from 369th Squadron saw this A/C smoking, and started down after him. The pilot bailed out after they fired at him. Lt. Sansing, of the 369th Squadron, did the shooting. After this combat I kept turning with the 3 remaining 109's till we reached 36,000 ft. The first twenty started coming back so I rolled over and dived to 6,000 ft. to cloud level. They followed me to about 20,000 ft., but I easily out-dived them. I had no trouble out-turning and out-climbing these 3 109's during the whole combat. (See reverse side for claim s and paragraph J)
Official US Army Air Forces Combat Report by JOHN HUNTER of the 359th Fighter Group. This material is a transcription of official reports-testimonials of JOHN HUNTER'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.
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.
Contact us if you are contemplating a donation of any kind.
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.