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Luftwaffe and Axis Air Forces Please use this forum to discuss the German Luftwaffe and the Air Forces of its Allies. |
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#21
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Re: 109 shot down by Bill Overstreet (eiffel tower)
No claim submitted, no combat report, no date, no matching German loss in the vicinity, no witness on the ground (in Paris' center!), nobody (air and ground crew) from the 357th FG seems to recall or believe it either. It's just one guy story told well after the War. It make good clickbait articles but no serious book would ever mention this fairy tale.
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#22
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Re: 109 shot down by Bill Overstreet (eiffel tower)
Could very well be an embellished war story due to lack of credible provenance. Such stories are not uncommon. I know, I was asked by the daughter of a former P-38 pilot to research a story where her late father claimed to have been shot down in a raging dogfight where he shot down several aircraft, actively worked with the Resistance, and finally escaped by stealing an Me262 and flying it behind friendly lines, eventually crash landing on an Allied airfield. I even found newspaper articles where the fable was retold and received rave reviews. Of course, it was all bogus and I felt like a heel to have to tell the daughter that it was all made up.
I find it surprising that Overstreet did not recall any details because he was "busy at the time". I've interviewed several WWII fighter pilots (like my good friend Bob Milliken, 474th FG P-38 ace) and they tend to recall lots of little details from intense engagements. Oh well, I guess it's true that "when the legend becomes fact, print the legend". |
#23
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Re: 109 shot down by Bill Overstreet (eiffel tower)
Agreed, I have interviewed many fighter pilots from both sides, and to not remember an alleged incident such as this defies credibility.
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