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Old 20th November 2007, 11:19
Griffon Griffon is offline
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Re: low level attack sth London 20 jan1943

well Franek, actually I do not think that the attacks of US escort fighters are overestimated, but I would not go as far as label US fighter pilots killers or worse because of those attacks.
it is a natural occurence in war that bad things happen, to put it mildly.
and towards the end of the war, there were so much US fighters around and not enough LW fighters to shoot at, that some of the escorts simply looked for targets of opportunity and then shot at anything that moved.
it must have been hard to tell if a cyclist was a Wehrmacht soldier, riding along, or just a civilian.
the same is true for any oxen-cart, train or car.
I do not know if you are familiar with the famous movie "Thunderbol! by William Wyler.
this contains some graphic scenes of TBolts, shooting up targets on the road, and you cannot tell at all if those were civilian or military targets.

with hindsight, and for later generations it is easier to judge and deem actions right or wrong, you have to understand the times though.

my own dad (born in 1930) recalls several occasions being chased while riding his bicycle by marauding TBolts and Mustangs who seemingly took great joy in scaring the hell out of the boys on the bikes.
and of course he has a different view about those things than I have.
when I see a Mustang or a TBolt at shows like Duxford, I am usually amazed and view those birds as reminders of times long gone now;
when I showed the pictures of my last Duxford visit to him and we came to the Mustang pictures, he just said "those were the schweinehunde that loved to chase us while riding our bikes"

you see, for different people, there were entirely different experiences with US escort fighters....
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