Lt Dave Hastie and victory 19.03.1944
 

On this date Hastie made a claim for an enemy fighter. Different accounts state Bf109 or FW190, and either confirmed destroyed (1 SAAF 155th kill) or "probable", can anyone add to this and perhaps identify the opponent?

regards

Keith

Re: Lt Dave Hastie and victory 19.03.1944
 

Hello,

19th March, 1944.

1 Sqdn's readiness section was scrambled at 16h00. though the two Spitfires became separated after take-off. "Commander" handed Lt Hastie to "Pyrox" who, in turn passed him on to "Syrup". He saw three white puffs of AA fire over Ortona which drew his attention to two vapour trails, high up. Pulling plus 14 boost, and jettisoning his tank, he climbed to 8,534m, finding two bandits ahead - glistening in the sun ahead of their vapour trails. He began closing with them off the coast near Pescara. They were Fw 190s with what appeared to be very large LR tanks, seemingly half the length of the fuselage - though this may have been an optical illusion. The 190s made a turn north, enabling Dave Hastie to gain still further by cutting the corner. He got even closer when they turned inland shortly afterwards.
He fired several bursts at the Fw 190 on the right, from 365m. Closing to 270m, he saw strikes and a flash of flame. The Focke-Wulf rolled into a vertical dive, trailing black smoke. Dave lined up on the second one - his camera gun film later revealing that he was perfectly aligned to hit it. But his guns would not fire! He had used up all his ammunition. He was back after only 30 minutes, to claim a probable. Canadian troops had, however, seen a pilot bail out and the Fw 190 crash - VCorps HQ sending him a personal message of congratulations. The other pilot, Hinton Brown, had meanwhile climbed to 8,230m behind two other Fw 190s - but they dived away with a head start and he could not catch up. He had seen three vapour trails in the distance, with one going down vertically - i.e. his erstwhile wingman's victory.

19th March, 1944. 16h00-16h30 - 1 Sqdn: Spitfire VIII JF322:AX-B (Billy Boy II) Lt DS Hastie shot down a Fw 190 in Pescara area with 240 x 20mm WLS, 500 x 0.303 AP and 500 x 0.303 inc.

See:
Springbok Fighter Victory SAAF Fighter Operations 1939 - 1945. Vol.4 - Fighters over Sicily, Italy and the Med - 1943-1944.
Schoeman,Michael.
Nelspruit:Freeworld Publications,2011.
pp.99-100 & 162.

Col.