Pappy Herbst RCAF

[keith A]

Has anyone ever tracked down his claim over an Me109 while flying with the RCAF in 1941-2? he joined the USAAF in May 1942 which would narrow down his period of service (allegedly in an Eagle Squadron and then the Mediterranean and therefore either Malta or North Africa) quite considerably.

If not then surely this is a serious pointer to later claims in China? He quite clearly shows a victory marking on all his P-51 aircraft and so either he fabricates this event or he is missing from all the existing records.Surely he would not have believed this would escape attention and therefore some version of this event must have occurred.

His log books prior to joining the USAAF show very little fighter hours and therefore this may show the reason why he did not enter combat until 1944.

regards

Keith

[alieneyes1]

Have a look at Tom Walsh's posts on the matter, Keith:

http://warbirdinformationexchange.or...ic.php?p=40959

Regards,

Dave

[Flavio]

Hi Keith,

I did a long research about Herbst's Luftwaffe victory, but unfortunately I was not able to find detailed info. This is what his nephew William Rambo quoted in the short biography he published on the site dedicated to "Pappy":

"In May 1941, unable to join the Army Air Corps because of his age, John joined the Royal Canadian Air Force. After 3 months of training he was then sent to England as apilot officer in the RCAF. While in England, he initially served as a ferry and test pilot, flying almost every kind of military aircraft. Among the aircraft he flew were the Spitfire, Hurricane, Beaufighter, Blendheim and Mosquito. But John Herbst had one consuming desire and that was to fly a fighter in combat. His repeated requests for a combat assignment were turned down due to his age. Finally, in the fall of 1942, he was sent to the Mediterranean area to take part in the final stages of Rommel’s defeat in North Africa. Serving with the Desert Air Force, John was to take part in a large number of combat missions. Encounters with enemy aircraft were scarce at this point, but during one patrol he ran across a German Messerschmitt Bf-109 and during a brief dogfight shot itdown. At last he was able to claim his first aerial victory.

Please I would like ask you a question; in Herbst's logbook are there the serial numbers of the planes he flew on the missions when he obtained the 18 victories in CBI theatre?

Thank you

Flavio

[Frank Olynyk]

Has anyone ever seen an actual report about Pappy Herbst's time in Europe? What OTU did he attend? Is he mentioned in any RAF or RCAF ORB, either Form 540 or 541? He is not mentioned in any of the fighter squadrons whose combat reports are in Air 50. He is not mentioned in any of the weekly Fighter Command Combat & Casualties reports. He is not mentioned in A History of the Mediterranean Air War, volumes one or two. I just checked the PDF file for MAW3 (I know the authors), and the only Herbst referenced is German.

So, does anyone have anything substantial about Pappy Herbst while he was in England or the Mediterranean?

Enjoy!

Frank.