492nd BG B-24's loss on 7 July 1944 by Moritz's IV.(Sturm)/JG 3?
 

I have been talking with an 88-year-old B-24 pilot from the 492nd Bomb Group who was one of 11 pilots downed on 7 July 1944. According to Don Caldwell's fine book, "The Luftwaffe over Germany" on pages 215-217, Wilhelm Moritz's men of IV. (Sturm)/JG 3, flying FW-190s planes, a total of 44 planes, attached the B-24's of the 492nd BG and downed 11 of them in just 3 minutes.

Prior to being down, the B-24 pilot recalls saluting the FW-190 pilot who downed him, and the pilot returned the gesture by saluting back. After which the FW-190 pilot left the scene allowing, the B-24 pilot's 12 crewmember's time to bail before the B-24 crashed.

Is there any primary or secondary sources other then Caldwell's work that I can look at? Caldwell did not footnote the information for the informative paragraphs describing the 492nd's bomb groups decimation.

It would be great if the FW-190 pilot's saluting gesture was somewhere recoreded in that outfit's historical lore?

Thanks again for any help on this!

Regards,

Bob Korkuc