14th FG mission on 8 February 1945

[Stig Jarlevik]

Laurent

Checking the book by Lambert and Appendix A, he actually ONLY list Capt Kyle Pinney as KIA on the 8th (near Ybbs, Austria)
!st Lt Fred Branscombe is listed as KIA on the 9th, strangely at the same place....
Checking the text however we can see this is a misprint since both are reported as lost to AA fire during strafing near Ybbs in Austria.

Lambert says further:
"On 8 February, during a sweep near Vienna that followed bomber escort, the 37th Squadron was attacking rail target´s when Lt Lawrence Bach spotted a flight of boogies in the distance. He gave chase and overtook some eight biplane trainers flying in tight formation. Bach dispatched two, probably destroyed a third, and damaged a fourth."

Since Pinney is listed as belonging to 48th FS while Branscombe is listed only as 14th FG, the latter possibly belonging to the HQ flight. The impression given anyway is that Pinney and Branscombe was on a totaly different mission to that of the 37th FS with Bach being the only scorer.

Things gets complicated because Lambert also states that the 48th also flow a five-ship mission that day escorting a recce plane in the Munich area. Again the impression however is that this was an entirely different mission to the two above....

Cheers
Stig