WWII Pilot Combat Report - VERGIL MERONEY

VERGIL MERONEY

352nd Fighter Group 02/03/1944

ENCOUNTER REPORT Combat February 3 , 1 94 4 487 th Fighter Squadron 1 130 Groningen 10/10 FW 190 1 FW 190 dest royed

Leading Crown Prince Blue Flight at 14,000 ft I turned into three FW 190s who were trying to come in on Crown Prince's squadron. I made a 20 0 to 30 0 head on pass at the e/a and fired a short burst at each of the two lead planes. By pulling up and doing a tight snapping wingover I fell in trail of one of the e/a and followed him through my squadron. He did two rolls, one in each direction, as I closed on the e/a giving short bursts at different deflections. He then put the nose straight down. By this time I was within 200 yds of him. I observed strikes on both wing roots and all over the fuselage. As he began to burst into flame, I started my pull out at approximately 3,500 ft. The e/a never changed direction but went straight into the ground, where he exploded. I then pulled back up where my flight was circling and they joined on to me as I caught up with the rest of the squadron. The flak was very accurate and intense at all altitudes. Claim: 1 FW 190 destroyed.

J. A/C Ser No. A/C Markings Ammo Exp 4 2 - 847 5 HO - V 834 Inc. VERGIL K. MERONEY , 1 st Lt., A ir C orps. SEYMOUR JOSEPH, 1 st Lt, A ir C orps, Asst S-2 Officer . A TRUE COPY: GERALD F. COSTELLO, Captain, Air Corps, Asst. A-2, 67 FW.

Official US Army Air Forces Combat Report by VERGIL MERONEY of the 352nd Fighter Group. This material is a transcription of official reports-testimonials of VERGIL MERONEY'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.