The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1945-06-01

directions Simultaneou LleuLen-
ant Couch led his ships on a stern
attack that did not see, for l was
diving on the course of the bomb
ers from the flank where the low
sun was. ! was going in for a full
DETECTION shot from out of that sun,
for had planned this method OF
how I wanted to attack bomber
formation long ago. On my wings
were six fighters in two ship ele-
ments. In Couch's flight were four
fighters, and Hazelett had four COM
ing from above the Japs on the 9TH
er flank.
/ had to dive from 10000 feet to
$1,000 feet to get on the level with
the enemy formation, and when /
got there / had plenty Of excess
speed over the Japs. / passed them
rapidly from out of their range,
but could see their tracers curving
short of my flight. When had over
run them thousand yards, / turned
right into the bombers and we went
after the three Wees of Mitsubishi
bombers. BY being on the same
level with them I'm sure we caused
part of the enemy formation to blan-
ket out some of their own ships from
firing at us. opened fire from six
hundred yards and led the enemy
leader by at least hundred yards;
it must have been just right, for the
tracers seemed to 60 into the top OF
the wing. just held the trigger
down and kept going into the sides OF
the Japs-they blossomed out OF
the sky at me, growing larger and
larger, "mushrooming" in my wind
shield. AS the bombers passed by,
my bullets were raking them with
full-defiection shots, and as fast as
my formation turned the other five
men were doing the same. saw the
lead bomber climb little, then set
tie back towards the formation with
one wing down.
AS I saw the second Jap in front
of me-the left wing man Of the
leader realized I'd have to dive
under the enemy very soon or
I'd run into them. Things hit my
ship now, and with noise Ike wing
coming off, the side glass of my
windshield was shot out. I was
three hundred to two hundred yards
from the second bomber when Z
got my long burst into Il. There
was a flash ahead, arc I doe as
fast as I could shove tae nose down.
AS I went under the smoke and or
ange flame, I thought tat the Jap I
was shooting q. had Caught fire, but
as pulled around. Jack to the direc-
ton the forinatiCn had been going,
and clirabedo = saw what had hap
pened.
There fsas only smoke above, and
the formation had broken, for ! knew
the bomber had exploded - the
bombs had been detonated by the
1fty-calibre fire. Behind, over the
trail the Japs had come were four
plumes of smoke where their bomb
ers were going down. Below there
were bomb bursts all over the pad
dy fields where bombs had been jet
tisoned in the unanticipated inter-
ception. I pulled up behind one of
the lone bombers that I could see
and began to shoot at it methodical-
ly from long range. Over on the left
were three more, and / saw P-40's
making passes at them. Over the
radio l could hear happy American
English, with unauthorized swear
words aimed at the Jap that the
individual pilot was shooting at, and
by the tone of the pilots knew that
we were winning this battle and
that the General was also going to
be very happy.
From 800 yards I'd squeeze out a
short burst at one engine, then skid
over and aim carefully at the other
engine and throw out another short
burst. The Jap ship was diving with
all the speed he could get, but the
P-40 kept moving up. think all
their ammunition was gone, for I
saw no tracers. In my second burst
on the right engine saw some gray
smoke-thin, like gasoline overflow
ing a tank and blowing back into the
slipstream. The next time I came
over behind that engine from clos
er range I saw two red dots near
the engine, two dots that became
fire. The flame ran to the engine
and to the fuselage, but by that
time was over shooting at the
other engine again. l last saw the
bomber diving, with flames that were
orange against the green of the
mountains below.
There were no more bombers to
be seen, but I saw seven P-40's.
Ginger came over and got on my
wing; as I recognized his ship I
slid my hatch-cover back and waved
at him. Even before we landed I
thought that we had gotten all the
bombers. AS we circled the field,
with me trying to dodge the cold air
that was knitting through the hole
| in my windshield and bringing a
particle of glass against my face ev-
cry now and then, I realized why
we still had to wear goggles in fight
er ships in combat. Below on
| A. U,,u,or hills 7 caxy a; rr,.k &<~~.x