15th AAF fighter escort tactics?

[drgondog]

Csaba - I also wonder regarding the low probability of escorted bombers by the 332nd suffering zero losses?

The first question that comes to mind is whether they flew ONLY escort in which they were assigned a very specific bomb wing - and the bomb wings they escorted that day flew great formations, easy to cover, and the Luftwaffe NEVER attcked in force.

If they flew Area Patrol along the route, the claim of 'no losses' would be harder to pinpoint as several fighter groups were usually within 20-30 miles of the RV and Patrol area..

If they ever left their escorted bombers to strafe on the deck, then the bombers would be very lucky indeed to not lose some to a chance attack along the route.

As you know the Luftwaffe was very clever in finding weak spots along a bomber stream to enable a 'local superiority' mass attack which cut out many bombers then dive to avoid on coming squadrons of US fighters.

My father's group, the 355th FG, was one of the very best at 'discipline' in following escort assignements strictly - they never fell for the many ruses the Luftwaffe would pull such as sending a single flight to attack and dive away hoping to draw them away for either the larger force above or a trap below - but in two cases were overwhelmed by local superiority - in one case April 24, 1944 near Munich and November 26, 1944 near Hanover. In both cases the bomb wing was strung out over 20 miles. In both cases despite excellent coverage by three squadrons the Luftwaffe was able to attack and shoot down many bombers with one pass and an overwhelming local superiority - and lost 24 and 26 respectively to the 355th AFTER the attack was made.

So, either the 332 combined great discipline with equally great luck at never encountering a large gaggle, or there is a degree of myth to the story. Having said that they did a superb job of escort - the lack of a single air ace probably emphasizes the extreme discipline of sticking with the bombers...

[Csaba B. Stenge]

You are right, the 332nd FG missed the biggest battles in this area, so no ace in that Group (Lee Archer is appears in some pages in the net as the only pilot with 5 kills in this unit, but only 4 kills were confirmed to him officially - I asked him about it but no answer).

We have discussed several weeks ago the battle west of Budapest on 27 July, 1944 (where a German Fw 190 pilot claimed 3 B-24's during one minute and I just asked, that how was it possible, that all claims were confirmed) On that particular day, for example, the 332nd FG was in that area as well, but couldn't safe the bombers (and the Hungarian fighters even shot down one of their Mustangs as well, the pilot killed - BTW the pilot, who shot him down, was shot down four weeks later by an ace of the 325th FG and he lost his life too...)