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Old 29th March 2009, 22:36
JoeB JoeB is offline
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Join Date: Jan 2005
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JoeB
Re: Curtiss SOC Opponents, Sicily

I don't have a source listing them in exhaustive detail (I hope someone else has that, too), but here is a summary based on "Fantail Fighters" by Jerry Scutts:

All attacks mentioned were July 10, 1943

-USS Brooklyn off Monte Dususino, 1 SOC badly shot up by a Messerschmitt...early morning hours...survived to stagger back to its parent ship.

-USS Boise and USS Savannah off Gela, 4 SOC's reporting on bombardment results, driven off by Bf109's, a/c of Lt. Charles A Anderson shot down.

0827, Savannah launched 2 more SOC's, 1 piloted by Lt. Osborn was shot down and the other fled back to protection of the fleet's AA..recovered around 1027.

0830 SOC of Lt. Cyril G. Lewis and Lt Harding from Boise, observing Axis tanks on road south of Niscemi, attacked by 2 Bf109's, which missed and broke off apparently short of fuel. Harding came under unsuccessful fighter attack again on the way back to the ship.

1215 Lewis on another mission directing Boise's fire against tanks was attacked by 2 Bf109's, which made 3 unsuccessful passes.

Savannah's other a/c (besides Osborns, downed) returned with damage (cause not specified)

1319 Boise loses her last operational SOC to a Bf109 (no details)

-USS Philadelphia off Scogliiti: launches 4 SOC's at 0530, one shot down by fighters in the half light of dawn...was to lose 2 more before the day was out (no causes or details given).

Separately, a commercial site selling US WWII loss reports features only there 4 SOC's for that day:
SOC-3A BuNo. 1146 (Savannah)
SOC-3A BuNo. 1097 (Savannah, Osborn's a/c)
SOC-3A BuNo. 1091 (Savannah, Anderson's a/c)
SOC-3A BuNo. 1131 (Philadelphia)

Joe
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