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