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

[Ruy Horta]

Originally Posted by Reno

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!

This subject as intrigued me for some time, not that I did any primary research on it, it had always struck me as illogical.

The last time I debated the issue, on the Forgotten Battles forum, I was almost lynched as an Anti-American, Anti-(american)Hero, anti- everything and being of course being pro Nazi etc etc etc, but apart from many quotes of Thunderbolt! and one or two photos showing moderate damage (and a lot of combat damage pictures of US heavy bombers), I've never received a proper answer until now. The story reads as being unreal, apart from the initial bounce that is.

Of course the most interesting piece of evidence beside pilot reports, or pilot annecdotes like Gerald Johnson's, would be the tech report on that P-47.

To spice up a story would one be tempted to count holes instead of rounds (blurring the distinction between rounds hit and fragmentary damage from rounds hit, especially with cannon).

[Reno]

Ruy - that's unfortunate since I assume your post was like the one I did on this same subject a few months ago - informative and providing new insight on an event that has become part of the historical record.

I posted this same info a few months ago at the IL2 FB forum and it received little attention. Again this is Gerald Johnson's claim in this new book and in no way are the posts past, present, future mean to take away from the spirit and courage of any of these flyers, especially Bob Johnson who to me was one of the most aggressive fighter pilots in the USAAF during this period.

What I find it odd is that it this new information surfaces now and not earlier in any other book on this subject, especially a Freeman book who has written many book on the 56th FG.

Here's the actual quote from the book: "From times and location Gerald Johnson was convinced that the FW190 he shot down was that which shot up his namesake's P-47. He heard Bob's story and said nothing, although he thought that in the excitment Bob had let his imagination run awy with him concerning the chivalrous German pilot. No such incident was reported from the German side."

[Lagarto]

Btw, it's not clear who that German pilot possibly was - some sources suggest Egon Mayer, others Eder. Caldwell claims it must have been one of JG 26 pilots.

Lucky Johnson, had he flown against Russians, he would have probably been rammed and gone

[Reno]

The state of Johnson's a/c has been variously described as headed for the junk heap, never flew again. In 'Beware the Thunderbolt! The 56th FG in WWII' by David R. McLaren has a more official description of Johnson's P-47: it was listed as a Category B damage, a total right-off.

[Six Nifty .50s]

Originally Posted by 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.

There is some confusion here.

According to the 4th Fighter Group history Escort to Berlin, there were two separate encounters with German fighters, about 50 minutes apart, involving two different squadrons. Officially the show was called Rodeo 204 -- a fighter sweep to Furnes, Belgium, to Cassel, France.

Times given are conflicting, probably because the group was split up. Both 56th and 78th Group aircraft participated to gain experience. At 1701 hours, Blakeslee was leading the 335th FS when he spotted three FW-190s over Knocke, at 23,000 ft., and bounced one from 6,000 ft. above. The summary says the German pilot dived away and the tail chase levelled off at 500 ft. before the Focke-Wulf crashed into the sea near Ostend.

Meanwhile the 334th FS was crossing the North Sea, and they engaged FW-190s at about 1750 hours. Two pilots were shot down and killed: Capt. Stanley Anderson (P-47C 41-6407) and Capt. Richard McMinn (P-47C 41-6204). Both crashed into the water several miles off the coast of Belgium, between Ostend and Blankenberghe.

Lt. Col. Chesley Peterson was the overall mission commander and took off at '1650', although that could be a typographic error. Major Don Blakeslee must have departed earlier with the 335th FS -- because they were over the mainland by 1700, and he also picked up two dislocated squadrons of the 56th Fighter Group. Peterson's plane (P-47C 41-6414) was the first loss of the day, and not involved in combats. He aborted early because of engine trouble shortly after take-off, and bailed out into the sea 30 miles off the English coast. Rescued by a Walrus 45 minutes later.

[Six Nifty .50s]

Originally Posted by Reno

Here's the actual quote from the book: "From times and location Gerald Johnson was convinced that the FW190 he shot down was that which shot up his namesake's P-47. He heard Bob's story and said nothing, although he thought that in the excitment Bob had let his imagination run awy with him concerning the chivalrous German pilot. No such incident was reported from the German side."

Maybe the imagination came from Martin Caidin.

Caidin was a science-fiction writer who also co-wrote a book with Saburo Sakai. Henry Sakaida said when Sakai's memoirs were translated into English, Caidin took more than a few liberties with the truth, and embellished or distorted Sakai's accounts of the war. Some parts of the text amounted to complete fabrication by Caidin.

[Reno]

The info I have read states the action was against 15 FW-190 A-4s of JG1 over Ostend and the unit suffered no losses except one a/c that force landed. As I mentioned previously, Blakeslee was a veteren and would surely have known when he clobbered an a/c and that it crashed into the sea. The locations given for the 4th FG kills were W/Olstend, Belgian coast and Knocke (Blakeslee's).


There is also a brief description in Donald Caldwell's JG-26 War Diary Vol 2, that states JG-26 was scrambled, but were held where they were and did not engage, leaving the interception to the FW-190s from II/JG1. So maybe it was another group of planes from another unit? Like I said - this is a very intriguing topic!

Nifty - funny you mention Caidin! I grew up reading his books and in fact it was 'Thunderbolt' that started my interest in the ETO airwar! The descriptions of the way Johnson flew the plane, his dogfights and the overall descriptions of the air war was terrific - I think I read that book several times over. I'm a big fan of the 56th FG (as well as the 357th FG!).

On the June 26 air battle: from Gerald Johnson's quote it sounds like the incident Bob Johnson describes was first told when he landed and got back to base.

Talk about imagination from Caidin - I read a story a long time ago about another Caidin book on Pres. Lyndon Johnson's war time experiences in the Pacific War. The event he described where Lyndon Johnson, still a congressman, went on a bombing mission was totally false. The plane Johnson was in, I believe, suffered mechanical failure and was not able to fly the mission at all, but Lyndon Johnson apparently received a medal for it!

Hey I just noticed something - this is a pretty heavily weighted Johnson post.

[Lagarto]

Btw, Nifty - wasn't Chesley's second name Peterson, not Petersen? Cannot check right now as I'm at work
Btw, thank you for the info. I read he bailed out over the Channel but I thought he was shot down. Gotta get myself the book you mentioned. Does anyone have a copy of Goodson's "Tumult in the Clouds"? Is it worth buying?

[Six Nifty .50s]

Originally Posted by Lagarto

Btw, Nifty - wasn't Chesley's second name Peterson, not Petersen?

Yes, my bad. It has been corrected with the editing tool.

[Six Nifty .50s]

Originally Posted by Reno

The info I have read states the action was against 15 FW-190 A-4s of JG1 over Ostend and the unit suffered no losses except one a/c that force landed. As I mentioned previously, Blakeslee was a veteren and would surely have known when he clobbered an a/c and that it crashed into the sea. The locations given for the 4th FG kills were W/Olstend, Belgian coast and Knocke (Blakeslee's).

It depends on the evidence used for evaluation, like gun camera film or eyewitness reports from Blakeslee's wingman or another pilot. If the gun film did not show a plane crash into the sea, or there was no witness, then a Focke-Wulf should not have been counted as destroyed.

One other possibility is that the three FWs seen by Blakeslee were from a ferry flight, or flown by pilots who were visiting German bases for some reason.