IN FOCUS
KING’S CLIFFE P-38hits and an explosion, pieces
flew off. The Fw 190 fell off to
the right. My wingman saw him
falling in flames.” These three
aircraft were part of the ten
claimed by the group on this day.
However, four Lightnings failed
to return – two were shot down,
while the other two collided while
engaging an Me 210.
First aces
Capt Graham’s three kills in a
mission was soon surpassed
by Lt James Morris who, on
February 8, claimed four. Morris’
first victory was against a Bf
109, which went down near
Losheim. Two more kills followed
quickly, as Morris reported:
“in the vicinity of Sedan I saw
two Fw 190s carrying belly
tanks that had just taken off
from the airdrome below. I
made a sharp turn to the left,
dropping manoeuvring flaps
to aid in turning. They turned
towards us and Col Montgomery
and I made a head-on pass at
them. I fired a very short burst
at 400 yards as we went by.
Immediately dropping flaps
on passing and racked it into
left and came down on one Fw
190’s tail. Fired one burst from
150 yards at 30° deflection and
slid in dead astern at 100 yards
firing another short burst. Saw
strikes on the enemy aircraft as
he went out of control. I last saw
the enemy aircraft tumbling end
over end towards the ground
from 400ft.”
Morris promptly shot down the
other Fw 190 and added another
Bf 109 on the way home. This
was the first time an Eighth Air
Force pilot had claimed four kills
on a single mission; three days
later Morris shot down another
Bf 109 over Giessen and become
the Eighth’s first P-38 ace.
Command change
These successes aside, the group
was still suffering from unreliable
aircraft and mounting losses.
The mission of February 11 was
the darkest point in its history,
as its P-38s were bounced
continuously by small formations
of German fighters. Two Bf 109s
were claimed destroyed and
several others damaged, but
this came at the cost of eight
missing pilots, including the
20th FG’s commanding officer
Lt Col Montgomery. Four of
these losses were inflicted by
JG 26 over northern France, as
the Lightnings struggled back
towards England.http://www.airfi xmodelworld.com 89A rare wartime colour photo showing a
flight of P-38s returning to King’s Cliffe.
Command change
These successes aside, the groupCol Harold Rau standing with his P-38J MC-R ‘Gentle Annie’, along with groundcrew TSgt Douglas, Sgt Beach and Sgt Gentcarm. Col Rau
had four different P-38s assigned to him while with the 20th FG; all were coded MC-R and named ‘Gentle Annie’.Capt Jack Ilfrey sitting in the cockpit of P-38J 43-28431/MC-O ‘Happy Jack’s Go Buggy’; he
was shot down by flak while strafing a train north of Angers in western France in this aircraft
on June 13, 1944. He managed to bail out and evaded capture before returning to the UK.