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Re: Aircraft battle of July 6, 1944, in northern Italy
According to German documents the 42-31848 crashed 1 km south of Trecenta near Legnago, casualty No. ME 1536.
In the MACR documents are four eye witness descriptions. In one of them the tail gunner of another 429th Squadron B-17 reported:
"I first saw No. 848 at 1044 hours at 20,500 feet, it was just before reaching the target und number four engine was smoking. It continued on ist way to the target and dropped ist bombs. Just off the target number four engine was feathered and he was lagging behind the formation. About one minute later No. 848 banked to his left, made one complete circle then one enemy aircraft attacked from 6 o'clock high. A few seconds later number four engine blew up and then I observed two chutes open - then another chute came out, it was on fire. Then No. 848 blew up into 8 or 10 big pieces all on fire."
Regards
Leo
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