Walker Mahurin

a . Combat b . 3 Februar y 1944 c . 6 3r d Fighter Squadron , 56 th Fighter Group d . 1 043 hours e . Southeast of Ruhlertwist f . 8/10 at 10,000 ft,5/10 at 20,000 ft, 2/10 cirrus 24/29,000 g . Me 109 h . 1 Me 109 D estroyed i . I was leading Northgrove squadron with a flight consisting of (Capt. Mahurin, Lts . Westfall, Janson and P orowski ). During the trip over to r/v with the bombers our squadron was flying on the right side of the Group. As we approached the big friends from astern and slightly to the right, we sighted many condensation trails coming from a southerly direction at 90 degrees to the bombers. Upon investigation they turned out to be 9/10 Me 109s and about 15 FW 190s . At this time these e/a were slightly above us, but they attempted to get up-sun on us. Naturally, since all of our aircraft and all the e/a were pulling very dense condensation trails, there was no element of surprise on either side. The minute we saw them try to get up-sun, we started to climb. The e/a were flying in a group of vee's, with a tail-end man weaving behind the unit. When we began our climb we rapidly climbed above them, and by the time we got into position to bounce we were all about 1,000 feet above them. One of our Flights was acting as top cover, approximately 2,000 feet above the whole show at all times. By this time the e/a were in a turn to the left. We bounced and they began to split up. I fired several large deflection shots which were no good. Finally, one e/a straightened out and headed down for the clouds about 500 feet below us. This enabled me to work in a shot from dead astern. I hit this Me 109 in the cockpit. There were the usual flashes, coupled with a fairly large flash and a dense cloud of black smoke. The ship fell off, belching smoke, and headed for the clouds in an extremely erratic manner. I am claiming this Me 109 destroyed. By this time the other two flights were in the scrap. I looked over the left side of my ship in time to see Lt. Reed shoot down an Me 109 which exploded. We were all in the same turning circle, but we found that we could easily out-turn and out-run the Jerry. In fact, the whole enemy force was definitely panicky and not aggressive. After a short while the e/a all disappeared into the clouds and we again set course to pick up the bombers. We spotted another Me 109, but were only able to make an ineffective pass at it because it rolled into the layer of clouds. Shortly after the last engagement, we were given a recall sign by the Group CO. We turned, and in the turn, my engine quit. I was forced to drop down. My wing man, Lt. Westfall, started down with me. By the time we reached 16,000 feet, I spotted a flight of six Me 109s above me and off to my left. They came from the rear, passed over in front of me, and then started a turn to the left. I called to Lt. Westfall to climb back into the clouds, but before he could get there the e/a had passed over me again, and had started to attack him. Northgrove Red flight then came into play. This flight, led by Lt. Egan, bounced the e/a and, after a short turning engagement, forced the e/a to break off and hit the deck. At the conclusion of these engagements we all started out. I found myself at 12,000 feet. However, I managed to pick up another P47 from a different group. My return trip was uneventful insofar as enemy aircraft was concerned. Lt. Egan, with his flight, was in a spot because of fuel trouble. He made it to land, but his No. 2 man, Lt. Langdon, was forced to bail out into the North Sea. I later tried to find Lt. Langdon, but was unable to sight anything of either the ship or him. I would again like to stress the fact that, even though 50% of the squadron was having supercharger regul ator trouble, we were still able to out-perform all the enemy aircraft which we encountered.