The info I have read states the action was against 15 FW-190 A-4s of JG1 over Ostend and the unit suffered no losses except one a/c that force landed. As I mentioned previously, Blakeslee was a veteren and would surely have known when he clobbered an a/c and that it crashed into the sea. The locations given for the 4th FG kills were W/Olstend, Belgian coast and Knocke (Blakeslee's).
There is also a brief description in Donald Caldwell's JG-26 War Diary Vol 2, that states JG-26 was scrambled, but were held where they were and did not engage, leaving the interception to the FW-190s from II/JG1. So maybe it was another group of planes from another unit? Like I said - this is a very intriguing topic!
Nifty - funny you mention Caidin! I grew up reading his books and in fact it was 'Thunderbolt' that started my interest in the ETO airwar! The descriptions of the way Johnson flew the plane, his dogfights and the overall descriptions of the air war was terrific - I think I read that book several times over. I'm a big fan of the 56th FG (as well as the 357th FG!).
On the June 26 air battle: from Gerald Johnson's quote it sounds like the incident Bob Johnson describes was first told when he landed and got back to base.
Talk about imagination from Caidin - I read a story a long time ago about another Caidin book on Pres. Lyndon Johnson's war time experiences in the Pacific War. The event he described where Lyndon Johnson, still a congressman, went on a bombing mission was totally false. The plane Johnson was in, I believe, suffered mechanical failure and was not able to fly the mission at all, but Lyndon Johnson apparently received a medal for it!
Hey I just noticed something - this is a pretty heavily weighted Johnson post.
