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Originally Posted by Smudger Smith
Gent's
One last try and sorry for the constant posts.
Did JG 3 or JG 27 lose any aircraft or pilots on the December 12th 1944 operation against a daylight RAF Bomber Command attack on Witten.
Details would be appreciated.
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One Bf 109 was claimed as destroyed by Lieutenant Jack H. Hallett, a P-38 pilot from the 394th Fighter Squadron (367th Fighter Group). Hallett gave a detailed account of this combat (see
The Dynamite Gang) but he did not say that any of the Bf 109s were painted yellow.
Fight started when Hallett's flight was weaving above the Lancasters. His P-38 was jumped by two German fighters and slightly damaged, but he managed to elude them at full power. Hallett then spotted another 109 behind him and outmanuevered it after a few Lufberry's. He got onto the tail of the same 109, firing a few short bursts that missed. The German pilot then rolled over and split-essed, but he was unable to shake off Hallett or his P-38J-25, a newer model with power boosted controls. Hallett chased the inverted 109 down through a cloud layer, still firing, and as they passed through the German pilot apparently misjudged his altitude -- he never pulled out of his dive and the 109 exploded when it flew into the ground.
Hallett saw the crash but did not believe that he registered any hits on the 109. He was a replacement pilot who joined the group less than two months earlier, and this was his first taste of air-to-air combat. It was the only time he saw German planes in the air. I tried to post a photo of Hallett but had some problems.