NORMAN OLSON

A . Combat B . February 2 1 , 1944 C . 3 5 7 t h F i gh t e r Sq uadron D . 1 330 E . Lake Dummer Area F . 10/10 s cumulus with tops at 4 ,000 f ee t , slight haze at 15,000 f ee t G . FW-190s and Locomotive

H. 1 FW-190 destroyed, 1 FW-190 damaged, 1 Locomotive destroyed I . ACCOUNT OF COMBAT: I was leading y ellow f light in our squadron which was flying high cover at 29,000 feet . We made Rv with the bombers and the squadrons took up their respective positions on the bombers. Our squadron kept it's position on the front of the bombers at 29,000 feet as cover. The controller called bogies over Dummer Lake. We scouted the area and at 1330 I called in six to eight contrails at 3 o'clock our level. My squadron leader dispatched my fli ght to investigate. I made a right turn to intercept the contrails and kept my altitude, trying to maneuver up sun from the contrails. I identified these ships as FW-190s as we passed over them and got up sun. I called in the identifi cation to my squadron leader and then made a diving right turn to attack. When we came up on their tails they saw us and started a right turn to begin a general milling of planes. They did not turn over and hit for the deck except when an individual was attacked, and then they only dove for a few seconds and returned to the scrap. I singled out a 190 on the tail end of the turn, and closed to about 300 yards. I opened fire and saw many strikes on the right wing root, and the e/a immediately popped the stick forward and went down vertically, rolling as he went. I followed him in this maneuver and fired several short bursts, each burst registering strikes. To prevent overrunning him, I pulled off slightly and up a bit . As I did this I saw the pilot bail out. I immediately did a steep climbing turn to the right, clearing my tail and taking a good look about. I singled out another FW and closed to about 250 yards and gave him a burst. I saw strikes in the wing roots and about the canopy. The pilot popped the stick forward in the same manner as the previous pilot. I followed him in this maneuver and endeavoured to get in a good shot, but I only managed to get in a short burst or two. I started to over run this 190 and chopped my throttle, but I saw I was going to over run anyway. I immediately gave it full throttle and turned on the water injection. As I passed him, I pulled back on the stick in a black out and wound up in a vertical climbing turn to the right. Apparantly I was not making enough of a turn because when I looked back, I saw a 190 coming straight up at me. I suddenly heard two explosions as his 20mm hit the armor plate. I immediately pitched bottom rudder and h eaded for the deck in airleron rolls. I picked out a thin spot in the clouds and went through about 500 MPH. As I levelled off I came upon a locomotive and gave it a good squirt. The boiler blew up and I had to pull up to miss hitting the remains. As I levelled off a 109 passed 90 degrees to my course home and about 400 feet above me. I was extremely low on gas so I did not engage him but kept on going for home at first on the deck, but later I pulled up into a cloud layer for safety. The e/a dumped the 100 gallon belly tanks when we attacked.