WW II Air War 29still keeping the lone Arado in sight. By this time,
it was just a distant speck against the undercast.
Since it was moving toward the west, I knew the
pilot was heading away from his home base, and
just as I suspected, a few minutes later, he did a
180-degree turn and headed right back to the east
toward German-held territory. By this time, we
were so high that the bomber pilot never saw us,
and all of our other P-47s had left the area, so no
other aircraft were in sight. He probably fi gured he
was all alone, and he was far below when he passed
under us. I dropped the nose of my Thunderbolt
and headed straight down, using water injection.”
A Sky Full of Lead
According to several pilots who fl ew the P-47 over
Europe and in the Pacifi c, the Thunderbolt was
capable of easily reaching 430+mph in a dive. Pilots
were warned, however, not to exceed 500mph; if
they came close to that fi gure, you would have to
allow at least 12,000 feet for a safe pullout. In Lt. Fox’s
case, he was plummeting almost straight down at a
speed he had never even come close to witnessing.
This was necessary to close the
gap between the two aircraft quick
enough so as not to give the Ar
234 pilot a chance to widen the
gap, if spotted. Lt. Fox stated there
was so much torque it was very
diffi cult to trim everything, and
that when at last he landed back
at his airfi eld, hydraulic fl uid was
all over his fi ghter!
“I came out of my dive slightly
above and behind the Ar 234 at
a 45-degree angle. When I got
in range, I opened up with all
eight guns. My biggest worry was
that I didn’t have enough ammo
left to bring him down, as I had
done a lot of strafi ng before we
spotted the German jet. I didn’t
fi re in bursts as I kept the trigger
down so that my gun camera fi lm
would get some good pictures of
this almost unknown twin-jet
bomber. My fi rst rounds scored
hits all around both of his engine
nacelles, and at that point, they
both started spewing black smoke,
and his airspeed and altitude
dropped quickly as he went into
the undercast.”
Lt. Fox had no alternative but
to follow the stricken enemy jet
down through the clouds, even
though he knew there wasn’t
much clearance once he broke
through. As he popped clear, the
sky lit up with AAA fi re (tracers),
which represented only one in 10
rounds. This meant the sky was full of lead, and it
was coming up from the frontline positions of the
Germans. With near-zero visibility and close to
dusk, he fi gured it was time to give up the pursuit
and return to base. He and his wingman broke off
and headed west.
When they returned to their base in Belgium, Lt.
Fox turned in a claim for an Me 262 because that
was the only twin-jet German aircraft known at
the time. Unknown to Fox was that the German
bomber had bellied in on an open fi eld just behind
the lines, and the aircraft was basically intact. The
next day, the Allied forces captured the area, and the
Ar 234 was immediately removed and shipped to
RAF Farnborough, and from there, on to the U.S.
for testing and evaluation. It provided much needed
information on just how far the Germans had come
in developing jet engines. J“MY BIGGEST WORRY WAS THAT I DIDN’T HAVE
ENOUGH AMMO LEFT TO BRING HIM DOWN.”Ar 234 B, March 1945. This aircraft was fl own by Hptm. Josef Regler, 9./KG 76.P-47D 42-29262 Daddy RABBIT. This aircraft was fl own by Captain Neil Stanley of
391st Fighter Squadron, 366th Fighter Group in the European Theatre of Operations
during the last months of WW II. (Illustrations by Tom Tullis)MAX
SPEED/
AIRCRAFT MPHWEIGHT/
POUNDSRANGE/
MILESSERVICE
CEILING/
FEETRATE OF
CLIMB/
FEET PER
MINUTE ARMAMENTWING
SPANORDNANCE
LOAD/POUNDS9,20017,50014,27221,7208,7101,650800652684253,2003,1203,900UNKNOWN16,0804374335594615966X.50-CAL.8X.50-CAL.4X30MM
CANNON
2X 30MM
CANNON2X 30MM
CANNON3740.941.646.330.741,90043,00037,56532,80039,7002,0002,5001,1023,300NONEP-51D MUSTANGP-47D THUNDERBOLTME 262 SWALLOWARADO AR-234 BLITZME 163 KOMET