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

[Lagarto]

I really need to know this On 15 April 1943 Maj. Don Blakeslee of 4 FG (supposedly) knocked down a Focke Wulf of I./JG 1 - the first P-47 victory in ETO. Is this kill confirmed in LW sources? Anyone knows for sure?

[Wim de Meester]

Sorry, the claim was not justified and on the contrary 3 P-47's went down of which two by Ofw. Ernst Heesen ( 5./JG 1). Time was 17.41 (according to Flak Commander).

15 Fw 190's took off from Bergen op Zoom but actually 14 entered combat and as said they didn't take losses.

[Lagarto]

Thank you Wim, again!

Btw, I'm just re-reading the book by Gabreski. I'm not sure - who was the first 56 FG ace - Hub Zemke (on 2 October 1943)?

[Wim de Meester]

oke! Just mail me directly in future reagrding matters around the Scheldt area

[Franek Grabowski]

Wim
Can you positively exclude any German losses in that combat?

[Reno]

Lagarto - I think we share a common interest for this date in history! I have been researching all the various claims to what really happened on this date and was intrigued by the fact that no losses were sustained by JG1 on this date, which is the day pf first P-47 kill of WWII in th ETO. There are still several sources that claim the P-47 losses were due to engine/mechanical failure, as opposed to enemy action.

I remember the first time I read that JG1 FW-190 pilot Ernst Heessen actually shot down 2 P-47s and the group had no losses - I was very intrigued by this information. The books were 'Battles with the Luftwaffe' by Theo Boiten and Martin Bowman (although in their previous collaboration 'Raiders of the Reich', they state that 2 of the P-47 losses were due to engine failure). The other book that states the 2 P-47s were shot down by one FW-190 pilot is Don Caldwell's 'JG-26 War Diary - Vol. 2'. Anyway - we share a common interest on 'having to know'!

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!

Any thoughts on this new information? And my apologies for a post on an old topic, but I just was turned on to this site and am very impressed by the level of detail and amount of information available here.

[Lagarto]

Hi Reno, thanks for posting - now, this is news, indeed. An entire chapter (XII) is devoted to this story in Bob Johnson'sautobiography "Thunderbolt!". I can't believe that man has just made it up. Anyway, very intriguing...
I imagine that both cases will remain a bit of a mystery forever. Btw, I've seen photos of Johnson's Half Pint after the famous scrap of 26 June and, while it certainly was shot up, it didn't look like a complete write-off - as described in the book.

[Reno]

Lagarto - That he was bounced and shot-up is true - no doubt! I have seen all the famous photos of his shot-up plane. What is intersting is what Gerald Johnson states that there was never a 190 flying alongside since he shot the plane down!

Moving to another topic: I was wondering if you knew of any further detail on the 4/15/43 dogfight where JG1 FW-190 pilot Ernst Heessen shot down the 2 4th FG P-47s?

[Lagarto]

Reno, I just recived a mail from a friend of mine and this is what he wrote:
"I pulled out my copy of William Hess' 'P47 Thunderbolt At War' to check out what Blakeslee said about the first P47 victory. Don't know whether you've seen it but Blakeslee describes the action of 15th April 1943. After shooting at the '190 he says it "lurched sharply and a fraction of a second later crashed into the ground exploding." I don't see how he could have mistaken that- but your text seems to imply he didn't get a victory because all aircraft of II/JG1 returned to base safely. Perhaps he shot down an aircraft from some other unit- who knows?"

So, who knows? No further details on Heessen's involvement, though.

[Reno]

I agree - we'll never know, especially since Blakeslee was at this time a veteren and would know when a plane was a goner.

There are other references that state the 190 pilot was seen to try and bail out was unable to do so. So maybe it was from some other unit? This is good stuff!