broke radio silence. I stated that we need
to get some speed back up...Let’s go! It
was only seconds later we were hit. The
last I saw of Colonel Loe [his aircraft] was
on re. As the ight broke away, I realised
that his right engine was on re and I didn’t
have time to do anything about it [radio
him to make him aware of the re].” This
was because Taback’s aircraft had also
been hit. “I split-S and dove in the direction
toward home base. I feathered the prop
and put the engine off and soon the re was
out. Two Me 109s were chasing me and
fortunately I was not hit. I was pulling 90in
of manifold pressure and 60in is normally
max where the stops were set. I had my
crew chief remove the stops. The hell with
it, if I need it to save my life who cares if the
engines will never be used again?”
Lt Taback continued: “There, in front of
me, was a large bank of clouds and, with
a sigh of relief, I ducked into them. I was
ying on instruments for at least a half hour
and nally reached much clearer weather.
I didn’t know exactly where I was but I
knew that if I ew north I would run into the
Mediterranean Sea. I looked in the rear-
view mirror and there was our B-26’s trailing
us but as I headed around to pick them up
all hell broke loose. In the turn I noticed the
P-38 next to me was ying rather eratically
and as I looked past him I saw the problem.
There were dozens of German and Italian
ghters behind my wingman.
“We had spotted our bombers at
precisely the moment the enemy was
initiating their attack. My wingman suddenly
went into a nosedive and burst in ames
about halfway to the ground. The entire
P-38 formation barrelled back toward the
bombers at full throttle in an effort to protect
them.”
Infuriated by the sudden loss of one of
their own, the 82nd Group’s Lightnings tore
into the enemy formation. At that time, Lt
Taback caught a glimpse of an Me 109 on
the tail of a Lightning and went after him
with a short burst that made the enemy pilot
break but, as he saved the day for the P-38
and its pilot, he left himself wide open. Two
Me 109’s got on his six o’clock and, as he
went down in a desperate effort to get away,
he thought that this mission might be his
last. Two Lightnings came in and ran off his
pursuers.Lt Taback continued: “As we rallied
around the bombers, thinking we were in
the clear, the enemy ghters came back
at us with a vengeance. It was a runninggun battle and each time they came at us,
we knocked a few of them down. Forty-
ve minutes later, we reach the North
African coast and the enemy turned back80 Aviation News Incorporating Jets March 2017Lockheed P-38 Lightnings from the 96th FS head for their home base after an afternoon of
attacking road traffic in Northern Italy. Jack Watson via Warren ThompsonA 96th FS P-38 clearly displays the distinctive twin-boom design. Jack Watson via Warren
ThompsonA 97th FS aircraft at Foggia, Italy. Jack Watson via Warren ThompsonA Lightning takes off from Foggia in Italy for a close air support mission. Walt Zurney via Warren Thompson79-82_p38DC.mfDC.indd 80 01/02/2017 18:13