[drgondog]

Boandlgramer - I am not familiar with the term Sturmbock but will for moment presume 'Fighter Bomber'. The P-38J of course was used in both escort and fighter bomber/jabo role. It was very rare for the P-38 to fly a high altitude level bombing mission but some were converted to have a clear nose and bombsight to guide the formation behind them.

When I alluded to the bomb carrying P-38s as being at a disadvantage because of the heavy bomb load, it really is irrelevant - just a note that the ability to aggresively turn into an attack would have been restricted by orders to perform the bombing mission - This mission certainly matches the question I posed.

As to the 355th FG. It had air claims of 365.5 Destroyed by 8th AF Victory Credit Board following WWWII.

That total was reduced to 352.5 Awards and reduced further to 340 (air to air) German aircraft destroyed in the air by USAF Credits for the Destruction or Enemy Aircraft - World War II - Study 85, released in 1978, when the USAF separated the 2SF totals from the 355thFG even though the 2SF was attached to 355FG.

The remainder were separated into Probable and Damaged to add to those totals prior to end of war. The final total was 340/23/124 for air and 502/0/321 for a/c destroyed or damaged on the ground. The 46 air losses include several from the 1SF (experimental) and the 2SF which were both stationed at Steeple Morden and maintained by 355th FG

The ground scores were awarded as destroyed only if visible evidence of a fire or explosion existed, all other hits were relegated to 'Damaged'..there wer no 'probable scores for ground destruction. A frequent tactic of 355th was for several fighters to orbit an airfield to record the fires in gun camera film for later review.

One last point. The 355thFG primary mission was escort 8AF B-17's and B-24's. Most of the ground scores were 'targets of opportunity' following escort duties when the Mustangs returned home on the deck.

The worst days for the 355th was when a flight of the 357FS was caught bombing and strafing by a force of me 109's and Fw 190's on June 7 and 3 of the four were shot down on the deck with no claims of e/a destroyed...

Several other '3 air to air loss' days occurred. 29 Jan 1944 - 3 losses for 2 destroyed, 24 April 1944 - 3 losses for 20 destroyed, 4 April 1945 - 3 losses for 7 Destroyed.

They of course had a couple of very bad days dueling with German flak - worst day 28 August 1944 losing 7 to flak while bombing/strafing marshalling yards near Metz... second worst losing 6 to flak while destroying 69 on the ground April 16, 1945 around Straubing area.

Does this help answer your questions?

Regards,

Bill Marshall