The Wilmington morning star., 1945-06-11
j. s. FIGHTER
BATTLES BIG
By aODBfN COONs

SEVENTH FIGHTER CO M.
MAND HEADQUARTERS, Two
Jina, June 10.-(P)-An American
Psi Black Widow night fighter
fought and won a strange air battle
against the derelict American
Superfortress which threatened
this island base with disaster.
Details Of the fight, which saw
the Psi pursue and down the
Superfort which wss careening
crewless and with a full load of
bombs over this base after receiv-
ing an ack-aek hit during a raid on
Osaka, were revealed by the Sew
enth Fighter Command today.
Thousands Of men on Two watch
ed the Black Widow go after the
Superfort. Had the big bomber
eluded the fighter and crashed on
Two, some of these men surely
would have lost their lives, a head
quarters spokesman said.
Over Osaka the B29 took a direct
flax nit just as it was ready to
release its bombs. The shell tore
a three-foot hole through the pilots
compartment, killing the planes
commander. Bomb bay doors were
damned shut and could not be
opened again. A stunned and
bleeding co-pilot faced the terrific
job of flying hopelessly crippled
plane back to friendly base.
Left far behind by other planes
in the formaticu, and with all
radio equipment useless, the Sup
effort staggered along toward Two.
1t was still miles from it's goal
when the Black Widow on routine
patrol flight sighted the bomber
and that it was in trouble. In the
fighter plane 1t. Arthur C Shep-
herd of (3255 10th street westJ
Seattle, and Lieut.. Arvid Shulen.
burger, OF Washington, s D.,
quickly sent a radio warming to
other aircraft to beware of the
damaged Superfort and then I'm.
dertook to lead the sky giant to
Two.
Flying close to the B-19 the
Black Widow crew could see that
the big ship was too badly dam
aged to attempt landing and that
the crew was preparing to bail out.
Finally over Two the eo-pilot or.
dered the crew to 'hit the silk.
Eight crewmen leaped on the first
run over the island. then the CO.
pilot swung back, set the automatic
pilot and he and the remaining
crewmen jumped to safety.
Empty except its death-dealing
bomb load and the body of its COM
mander, the big plane started its
wild "ghost" ride, pursued by the
Black Widow, intent on shooting it
down over the water.
"As soon as we cleared the is
land we started shooting with all
eight guns" said 1t. Shepherd.
"Our first bursts went into the
left outside engine which began to
smoke and then flame. But the
bomber continued to fly. The loss
of an engine swung it in another
orbit back toward Two. We held
our fire until it had swung clear of
the island again. Then we gave it
everything we had"
The Black Widow poured ass
rounds of so caliber machine gun
fire and 800 rounds of 2Omm cam
non shells into the staggering Sup
effort.
1--WE could see the bullets stitch
ing the left wing from tip to fuse
lage," Shepherd added. "Then fire
raced back to the tail. The sos
made neat small holes and the 2Os
tore chunks out of the plane as
they went through. We were flying
close enough to see where practi-
cally every round was hitting and
wondered how long the big bomber
could keep taking it. Finally, Just
as it began to seem as if the lane
would keep flying forever, it head
ed downward and plunged into
the sea-"