William Fowler

LT WILLIAM FOWLER a . Combat b . 8 Ma y 1944 c . 48 7 th Ftr . Sq ., d . 1 000 e . NE of Brunswick, deck to 1000' f . 5 – 8 cloud cover g . M E 109 & FW 190 h . 1 FW 190 D estroyed i . I was flying red two. Red flight was circling in the area around Nienberg to Unterlusz with White flight. Shortly after the e/a were sighted. Several broke for the deck. Red flight went down after them. I was flying red leader's wing and the first e/a we picked was a ME 109. We chased him from 5000 ' to the deck. When the e/a discovered we were on his tail he broke up to the right and then a break to the left in an attempt to turn into us. I had no difficulty turning inside of im firing all the way around the turn, but observed no hits. The ME 109 then went in a long straight dive for the deck. I was dead astern of him and was closing in firing and was cut out by red leader from the right. He got many strikes all over the fuselage and cockpit. The ship crashed into the ground and was destroyed. I make no claim on that ME 109. We then climbed up to about 6000' and were flying east in the same area when an FW 190 carrying a belly tank came diving down on us. We chased him to the deck. Capt. Davis, red leader overtook him and opened fire, got a few strikes but overan him and had to pull up to the left. The e/a then broke up to the right which gave me about a 20 o deflection shot which I took and plastered him with strikes. He then sort of leveled out giving me a dead astern shot at about 200 y ds or less. I gave him a one – two second burst hitting him all over. He caught fire and exploded while I was still firing. The ship then broke violently down to the left and crashed straight into the ground. I lost red leader in the overcast right after this scrap. I circled the area several times in an attempt to pick him up again but never saw him. After spiraling up to ten thousand feet I joined two ships in the 328th Squadron. The lead ship of the two was flown by Lt. Quinn and the second his wingman, Lt. Stott. The three of us bounced a ME 109 and another ship which looked like an FW 190. As we closed in the supposedly FW 190 pulled up as if to drop back in on our tails so I pulled up to make an attack on him. As I came into range I identified him as a Yellow nose P-47. I joined up with him and we started home. The two of us ended up in a group of P-47's on the way h home, with whom I came home. I claim 1 FW 190 Destroyed in air . j . Ser No . of A/C : 43-6658 Markings: HO-F