WALTER BECKHAM
353rd Fighter Group 01/30/1944
B. 30 January, 1944.
C. 351ST Fighter Squadron.
D. 1326 Hours.
E. North Deventer.
F. Stratocumulus layer at 5,000 feet. Scattered high cirrus.
G. Me 109.
H. One Me 109 destroyed.
I. I observed, from 19,000 feet, several fighters diving steeply through a bomber formation at our four o'clock. I turned sharply toward them and identified them as Me 109s. They obviously saw us, and began gentle evasive turns. My number 2 and I chased on for a minute or so at full power using water injection. He could have easily evaded by diving sharply into the cloud layer below. Instead he dived shallowly turning to the right at first and then to the left. I fired several short bursts from well over 500 yards range and over a ring of deflection. I fired from these excessive ranges because I felt he would flip over and dive into the clouds before we could close in. He did not, and as I closed from astern I got strikes, pieces, and smoke so heavy that I could not see the E/A through it. I had closed the throttle but was still overshooting. I pulled up violently and barrel rolled, watching him from the top of the barrel roll on around. This roll put me in firing position again and I got more strikes and pieces. My No. 2, Capt. Rose, and I watched him enter the cloud layer at 5,000 feet in an almost vertical dive at over 400 mph. Large pieces continued coming off after I stopped firing and until he disappeared. I had fired 706 rounds with one stoppage. I think the barrel roll is a particularly valuable maneuver with which to reassume an astern position on a target that has been overrun. An unidentified flight of P-47s attacked one or more of the other Me 10s with unobserved results.
Official US Army Air Forces Combat Report by WALTER BECKHAM of the 353rd Fighter Group. This material is a transcription of official reports-testimonials of WALTER BECKHAM's combat experience.
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