325 Fg 22.07.43

[Alex Smart]

Hi,

The following is from "Checkertail Clan" by McDowell & Hess.

"On the 20th July, the Checkertail P-40's roared in on the deck and found five Me 109s and three Ju52s at the air depot along with about 10 trucks. All received their share of attantion from the strafing party. A little way beyond, the pilots surprised about 300 soldiers out in the open ans worked them over, too. Twelve enraged Luftwaffe pilots then appeared and tore into the 48 Warhawks. They shot dpwn F/O. George H. Dickas but paid dearly for their lone victory. Capt. Zack Taylor scored the Group's first triple kill when he knocked down two Macchi MC 202's and a 109, also upping his victory total to six and becoming the Group's first ace. Capt. Warden and F/O. Jones bagged 109s, while Lt. George Novotny and Lt. Henry Brundydge got 202s.

The tempo of operations was increased the following day as the Checkertails destroyed 17 against a loss of only two. F/O. Boone and Lt. Miller were lost when they were shot down by 109s. However, Macchi 202s were the prime targets on this mission as 12 were knocked out of the sky. Major Baseler , F/O. Arch McKeithen and Lt. Gerkin each got two. Capt. Howe , F/O Al Moon, F/O. Ebert Smith , Lt. Copsey , F/O. John Gonda and F/O. Prevatt picked off single 202s . Capt. Howe also shot down a 109 to give him a double, and F/O's Moon and Smith both joined him by adding , oddly enough, an Fi 156 apiece. A Ju 52, credited to the Group , was also shot down. And the scoring was closed out by F/O. Slattery who later found a lone Ju 52 and blasted it out of the blue to bring the days slaughter to an end . Before tangling with the enemy aircraft , the 325th had shot up gun emplacements, buildings, a rail station , cars, 50 trucks in a convoy 2 small sailboats and one Ju 52 on the ground..
Two days later the Group lost F/O. John F. Rauth. His Warhawk was hit by small arms fire and he crashed into the sea. The date was 23 July."

The dates differ from that given in earlier mail.

The 23rd was a Friday (Rauth captured). So the 20th was Tuesday ( Dickas)and the next day 21st a Wednesday ( Boone and Miller)

MACR 450 for the 20/7/43
MACR 452 for the 22/7/43
MACR 446 for the 22/7/43
No MACR for the 23/7/43
,
MACR 525 for the 28th ? is this an error for the 23rd ?

Taylor flew "13","Duchess of Durham", Novotny flew "27". Rauth was rescued by Italian fishermen (six) including a young boy who wanted to surender himself to Italian troops on the shore to give Rauth a chance to escape but Rauth gave himself up to save the boy from the troops.

This makes the loss of Boone and Miller the 21st .

Just thought it would add something to the thread.

night

Alex