[mayfair35]

Nick Beale: You mentioned the Luftwaffe had no day fighters in Italy after first days of Sept 1944. Are you sure that is correct? I ask because I was just reviewing our 325th FG records after I left (Feb.1945) and I noted that on April 19th, Lt. Gertin encountered a FW-190 who made a pass at him. Gertin followed him to Verona A/D and when the 190 attempted to land, Gertin shot him down. On that same day while escorting B-25s to Ora Diversion Bridge, Italy our group ran into Me-109s and claimed 6 destroyed and 1 damaged. We always thought they were from the Po valley and did not realize there were no fighter aircraft there. I think John Voll also claimed that he ran into 20 Me-109s over the Po Valley and shot down 4 of them while he did a "falling leaf" maneuver. I believe that was also after Sept but I do not have those records. Do you have any idea where the above fighters were based and how often did they fly into Northern Italy during 1945? It seems to me we were wasting our resources escorting bombers to Northern Italy if there was no opposition?
Cordially, Art Fiedler