[Sylvester Stadler]

On 27 July 2007 the History Channel featured on its regular program
Dogfight an episode entitled Thunderbolt which covered three dogfights
in which Thunderbolt units were engaged. The first part described the
famous fight of Robert S. Johnson of the 56th FG where his squadron of
16 P-47s were bounced by approximately the same number of Focke Wulf
190s on 26 June 1943 and Johnson's Thunderbolt was shot up, caught
fire, and went into a spin from which he recovered and the engine fire
went out. As he was flying away from the combat scene he was attacked
by a Fw 190 which had evidently used up its 20 mm ammunition and was
using its two 7.92 mm machine guns. The famous author Barrett Tillman
claimed that the Fw 190 was piloted by the famous ace Egon Mayer
(commander of III./JG 2). The P-47 took the punishment of the
rifle-caliber MG and returned to base, although it was written-off
(category E) which is never mentioned in the documentary. Neither is
mentioned the fact that five other P-47s were lost.

The German records indicate that the following pilots made claims for P-47s over
Western Europe on this date:

26.06.43 Hptm. Wilhelm-F. Galland Stab II./JG 26 P-47 N. Neufchâtel:
8.000 m. 18.52

26.06.43 Ofw. Adolf Glunz 4./JG 26 P-47 N. Neufchâtel: 7.000 m. 18.54

26.06.43 Ltn. Heinz Hoppe 4./JG 26 P-47 Neufchâtel: 7.000 m. 18.55

26.06.43 Fw. Günther Scholz 5./JG 26 P-47 20 km. N. Neufchâtel: 2.500
m. 19.00

26.06.43 Ofw. Kurt Goltzsch 5./JG 2 P-47 QC 2: 5.550 m. [15 km. N.W.
Cayeux] 19.03

26.06.43 Hptm. Wilhelm-F. Galland Stab II./JG 26 P-47 10 km. N.W.
Dieppe: 7-8.000 m. 19.04

26.06.43 Ltn. Waldemar Radener 4./JG 26 P-47 10-12 km. N.N.W. Le
Tréport: 400 m. 19.04

26.06.43 Fw. Peter Crump 5./JG 26 P-47 15-20 km. N.W. Somme Estuary:
300 m. 19.10

26.06.43 Ltn. Heinz Hoppe 4./JG 26 P-47 10 km. N.W. Somme Estuary:
100-0 m. 19.10.

If Tillman had checked these records, he would have known that Egon
Mayer made no claims on this date. I believe the story of Egon Mayer
attacking Johnson's P-47 came from Roger Freeman's book The Mighty
Eighth where on page 44 he claims "Later it is said, an enemy radio
station broadcast an interview with Oberst Egon Mayer of J.G. 2, who
told how he shot down three P-47s on the Villacoublay raid, including
one marked HV-P!" The latter was Johnson's Thunderbolt. Tillman has
accepted this rumor as fact, indicating that we should always be
sceptical of such claims as to who shot down whom.

Johnson in his book Thunderbolt describes the dogfight down to the
minutest details. What is significant is that the describes the
altitude and area of this fight. He states that he had flown over
Dieppe and that the fight occured at about 1000 feet over the English
Channel. The closest description is that of Lt. Waldemar Radener who
made his claim of a P-47 as occuring 10-12 km NNW of Le Treport. This
town is less than 25 km ENE of Dieppe. Radener's description would
place this fight over the English Channel roughly north of Dieppe. It
is also possible that Fw. Wilhelm Mayer shot up Johnson's Thunderbolt
as he filed a claim for a P-47 at 1900 20-30 km NW of Dieppe. Mayer's
claim was unconfirmed as he had no witnesses which seems to be the
case in the Johnson fight where Johnson states that he was attacked by
a single Fw 190. It also seems likely that Johnson's aircraft was
also claimed when the initial attack occured which sent his P-47
spinning earthward, on fire.

Egon Mayer made no claims on this date and his unit III./JG 2 was
stationed in Brittany, too far away. It is also significant that Kurt
Goltzsch of 5./JG 2 made a claim for a P-47 during this raid indicated
that some aircraft of II./JG 2 were involved in the interception. The
German fighter pilots claimed nine Thunderbolts of which six were
destroyed or written off and five were damaged. I./ and II./JG 2 were
involved during the fighting, claiming three B-17s, two Spitfires,
and,of course, the single P-47. Major Josef Priller also claimed one
B-17. I don't know what losses were sustained by JG 2 and JG 26.