15 April - first P-47 kill in ETO - confirmed, or not?

[Ruy Horta]

Originally Posted by Reno

Here is an incident I'd like more clarification on: I recently finished reading Roger Freeman's new book on the 56th FG "Wolfpack Warriors'. We all know the Jume 26, 1943 event where Lt. Robert S. Johnson is bounced by FW-190s and is almost shot down and then another FW-190s 'escorts' him to the French coast.

In this new book, Freeman has a statement from Gerald Johnson where he claims that he shot the FW-190 from R.S. Johnson's tail and that his claim of being escorted by the 190 was an exagaration of what really happend!

This subject as intrigued me for some time, not that I did any primary research on it, it had always struck me as illogical.

The last time I debated the issue, on the Forgotten Battles forum, I was almost lynched as an Anti-American, Anti-(american)Hero, anti- everything and being of course being pro Nazi etc etc etc, but apart from many quotes of Thunderbolt! and one or two photos showing moderate damage (and a lot of combat damage pictures of US heavy bombers), I've never received a proper answer until now. The story reads as being unreal, apart from the initial bounce that is.

Of course the most interesting piece of evidence beside pilot reports, or pilot annecdotes like Gerald Johnson's, would be the tech report on that P-47.

To spice up a story would one be tempted to count holes instead of rounds (blurring the distinction between rounds hit and fragmentary damage from rounds hit, especially with cannon).