Warren Wesson

A . Type of Action C ombat B . Date 6 February 1944 C . Unit 82nd Fighter Squadron D . Time of Attack 1 240 h ou rs E . Place of Attack O rleans A rea F . Weather 2/10 low cloud G . Type of Target One F W -190 and two HE-111's H . Enemy Casualties One F W -190 d estroyed and two HE-111's damaged . I . Account of Combat: I was flying Churchtime Blue Leader. As we passed over the bombers which we were escorting, just at the R/V point, in the Orleans Area, four FW-190's bounced a flight ahead and slightly to the right of our flight. The 190s passed in front of me diving to my left . I broke down after them from 24,000 ft. with my flight in trail. The E/A were diving at about a 45 degree angle, and as we started to close on them, they ma de an attempt to regain altitude. I closed on the 190, second from the left, and opened fire from about 500 yards, dead astern, closing fast. I saw a good number of strikes on the fuselage just back of the cockpit. The 190 rolled over on his back and fell off to the left and down. We wer at about 6,000 ft. at this time. I went into a bank and was going to dive after him, when I saw the pilot jettison his canopy and jump, his chute opening just above the clouds which were at about 4,500 ft. I made a climbing turn to the left, looked for my wingman, F/O Brasher, who was just rejoining me. Then I caught sight of an airfield several miles away, with twelve or more twin-engine aircraft on it. I dove at the field and opened fire at one of the plane s at the nearest edge of the airfield. I saw numerous strikes on the plane 's fuselage. I believe it was a HE-111. As I passed over this plan, right on the deck, I spotted another 111 parked down the field and fired on it, seeing strikes along the fuselage and cockpit section. As I passed over the second plane, I glanced back to check my wingman and saw him firing and hitting another twin-engine plane, parked well off to my left. We then continued on home on the deck and on the way out I watched my wingman fire at what appeared to be a radio transmitter tower. He hit some sort of transformer box on the top of the tower. I claim one Fw-190 destroyed in the air and two HE-111's damaged on the ground.