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Re: Info on U.S.9th A.F. P-47 mission 05-01-45 ?
Capt Thomas Edward Cox of the 404th FS of the 371st FG claimed an FW-190 at 1500 hours 10 m W of Worms, while 1stLt Lloyd E Penne of the 405th FS of the 371st claimed a damaged, same time and location. At 1515 the 405th FS claimed 3/0/2 FW-190 15 m NW of Worms; 2nd Lt Malcolm McLeod and 2nd Lt Charles B Meyer were credited with the damaged FW-190s, while Capt Charles H Tait, Maj John W Leonard and Leonard + 1stLt Curtis L McGonigle were credited with destroyed FW-190s.
The 19th TAC Victory Credit Board actually credited Penne with an unconfirmed damaged, Cox an unconfirmed probable, McLeod and Meyer with unconfirmed damages, Leonard with a destroyed, Leonard and McGonigle with an unconfirmed destroyed, and Tait apparently no credit. The USAF credits list (Historical Study 85 and the later combined credits book, and the current website) give credit as noted in the first paragraph presumably on the basis of award citations (which have no relationship to the VCB reports). These unconfirmed credits by the 9th AF VCBs (9, 19 and 29 TAC AFs) are a big problem, especially since we do not have many of the 9th AF encounter reports, and some of the VCB reports for 19th TAC are missing.
Frank.
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