P38 losses on July 21st 1943 suffered by 8th FG

[NickM]

Originally Posted by Martin Gleeson

Hello Nick,

The following information is from 'ATTACK & CONQUER: The 8th Fighter Group in WW2' by John Stanaway and Larry Hickey (well known on this forum).
It seems Tonys from the 68th and 78th Sentais, Oscars from the 1st and 24th Sentais and some Lily bombers were involved. Only the 80th FS of the 8th FG, along with other P-38s of the 39th FS from the 35th FG participated on the American side. They were escorting B-25 Mitchells.
According to the book the 80th FS only lost one pilot and P-38, Lt. Murtha McCarthy. No mention of any damaged Lightnings, nor of any losses for the 39th FS.

Regards,

Martin Gleeson.

Thanks; that's how the numbers were broken down in the Osprey book-20 Tonys & 20 Oscars from the 4 Sentai you mentioned escorting 20 Lily bombers vs the 8th squadron & the 39th squadron. But it left out the US losses.

However, in another Osprey book, the text mentioned that P38 engines smoked (& even spewed flame )a lot when they were suddenly put to full throttle. No doubt more than one IJAAF pilot saw a lightning diving away streaming smoke & 'drew the obvious conclusion'