THOMAS NEAL

A . COMBAT B . 13 November, '43. C . 354th Fighter Squadron D . 1225. E . 10 mi. West of Meppen . F . Clear in combat patch; in other sections Cumulus stacked from 2000-15000. Visibility good. G . Me 109 . H . DESTROYED . I . I saw two Bogeys at about 9 o'clock and a little above us. I called my leader, Lt. Vincent, to ask if he had seen them. He acknowledged the call and said that he had them in sight. At this point they seemed about to make a pass at us. I then saw Lt. Vincent tightened our turn to the left. I broke up to the left. I looked back and saw an E/A below me and Lt Vincent on the other 109 s tail with smoke coming out of his guns and both of them diving fast. All three planes were now below me and in sight. It looked like the 2nd E/A was in a position to try and knock Lt Vincent off the 1st E/A's tail so I went for the 2nd E/A. I then kicked my A/C over on it's back to the right, and came out on his tail about 1000 yards behind him. I gave it full throttle and started closing in. No evasive action was taken by the E/A except a few weak turns. He was trying to outdive me and hit for home. I was about 300 yards behind him when I fired a short burst, then another, still closing. I then chopped my throttle to keep from over - running him and came in to about 100 yards behind him. I hadn't seen any strikes on the first two bursts. When I fired the third time, I was squarely behind him. Smoke started pouring out, first white and then brown, then black, and pieces were flying off—I was flying in the smoke and couldn't judge just where it was coming from. We were then at about 3000 (three thousand) feet. I swung to the right and then could see the whole front of his ship flaming. I pulled on out and watched him hit the ground and blow up. I started climbing and saw a ridge of clouds, cumulus from 2000-10000. I flew along the edge so that I could duck into them in case of attack. I climbed to 10000 until I reached the Zuider Zee where I dropped to 7000 and came on home. CLAIM: Me 109 DESTROYED