300 yards. I fired a long burst and got hits all along the number three German plane and he’ s smoking badly. All of a sudden, he rolls over, and he must have been an airshow pilot or something because he is all inverted and I can’ t figure out what he’ s trying to do. He had to be uncomfortable. I’ m sitting comfortable right side up, so I fired more 50-calibers into him and now I’ ve got him burning and spiraling out of control toward the ground.
We’ ve still got two ahead of us. They are kind of skittering around, trying to look back to see what’ s going on, and all of a sudden, one of them rolls over and dives away while the other guy makes a hard left climbing turn. It was clear the second plane wanted to stick around and fight and the other guy thought better of it and hightailed out of there. The remaining German plane lost a lot of speed during his tight turn so I cut across his path as I pulled up, looking back to see what his next move would be. I hoped he’ d dive and run, and we could follow on his tail. Instead, he reversed his turn and came up behind us. I wasn’ t feeling too comfortable. As I looked back again, he slid over in pursuit of my wingman, John Scara. I told John to take evasive action and I’ d cover and follow him, hoping that the German plane would take the bait and we could get him that way. Sure enough, John goes down and the German is trying to get on his tail, which put me right behind him. The German pilot saw this right away, flattened out, and came around with this climbing turn again. In my head, I thought,“ Well, I think I out-zoomed him last time. I’ ll do the same maneuver again.” So I cut across his trail again and now it’ s one versus one— kill or be killed. He reversed his turn another time, thinking he could come after me. I felt pretty confident, but I was thinking about a plan B. I’ m pulling up and he’ s pulling up right after me. We are both climbing at a very steep angle and losing airspeed at a significant rate. The first guy that stalls will become the target. He stalled first and had to dive away to regain control.
“ I CUT ACROSS HIS TRAIL AGAIN AND NOW IT’ S ONE VERSUS ONE- KILL OR BE KILLED.“
That put me back on his tail. He pulls out of his dive and makes another hard left, climbing turn. I follow this time, trying for a shot inside the turn. He sees this and straightens out before pulling up steeply, trying to out-climb me. As I pulled up, I fired a little burst, and then another. I hit him all over, into the cockpit and the wing root, and eventually the engine. Then I see his prop starts wind-milling as I get up close to him. I stopped firing and I saw him start to roll with nothing but smoke in the cockpit. He rolled over and dropped straight down, absolutely vertical from 27,000-28,000 feet. It was a very clear day, so I could see his plunge and followed him. I went through 20,000 feet faster than I’ ve ever moved in my life. I’ m going too fast, so I throttle back and start a spiral down with him. Soon I saw a shadow come up on the ground below. He and that shadow met with a tremendous explosion.
It was absolutely exhilarating and pretty satisfying too. We were attacked by four Germans and we turned the tables on them, shot down three, and we rejoined the bombers, escorting them the rest of the way.
By the time we invaded Normandy, General Eisenhower told the ground forces that if anyone saw an airplane in the sky, it was going to be ours. That’ s what happened on D-Day. Most of us thought no German airplanes ever showed up that day. Later, I found out by reading history books about the campaign that at least two German planes made a dash through the beaches. Still, the lack of enemy planes on D-Day told us that we had done our job in the spring and we were immensely proud of that fact, and proud to have such an important role in the turning point of the war.
AVQ
14 AMERICAN VALOR QUARTERLY