THE FINAL RAID

Capt Raymond H Littge of the 487th FS/352nd FG liked multiple victories, both in the air and on the ground. His aerial kills came as two Bf 109s on 27 November 1944, three Fw 190s on 27 December 1944 and another two Fw 190s on 1 January 1945. He was eventually credited with an aerial score of 10.5. Littge’s ground kills totalled 13, with three scored on 15 April and six the following day

the field, which blew up after the second pass. I then attacked and set fire to an Me 109 on the north side. On each of my next three passes I set fire to Me 109s in revetments on the south side of the field. And on my last pass I blew up another Me 262 in the north-east corner of the field. When we left the field there were at least 70+ fires.’

That day the 352nd destroyed 66 aircraft and damaged a further 24. Although Littge’s Mustang was holed by flak, he topped the scoring with six, while Lts James White and Karl Waldron were each credited with five apiece.

The 339th FG also had a good day on the 17th, with 67 aircraft destroyed on the ground and nine damaged. As usual, the squadrons separated for the attack. Lt Col Thury reported;

‘With 18 aircraft, we discovered and hit a dispersal area just south-west of Pocking with 50+ enemy aircraft in the area, dispersed among clumps of trees and excellently camouflaged. Some of the enemy aircraft exploded, but most started to burn, very slowly at first, before developing into raging fires. We counted claims only after observing positive fires. When we left there were 25 huge fires and 14 smaller ones, and smoke was curling up to 6000 ft. I’m convinced that some of our claims would not have caught fire were it not for the fact that all my ships had two guns firing incendiary ammo. There were two 20 mm and one 40 mm guns firing at us during the attack. Lt Irion knocked out one 20 mm position. The remaining gunners were not too eager after that.’

Thury destroyed five, but the 339th’s top scorer that day was Lt Leon Orcutt with eight.

The 55th FG, led by Lt Col Righetti, escorted bombers from the 3rd Air Division to Dresden. The weather was bad, but towards the end of the mission the Mustangs were able to drop through the overcast, and some

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Capt Kirke Everson of the 504th FS/ 339th FG shared in the destruction of an Me 262 in the air on 4 April 1945 and destroyed 13 Luftwaffe aircraft on the ground during that month. His big day came on 17 April, when he finished off seven of them at Klatovy/Anberg

caught Fw 190s taking off from fields in the area. Nine were downed in aerial combat before the air-to-ground shooting began.

Capt Carroll Henry was flying Righetti’s wing as they went through a hole in the clouds and prepared to test the flak on Riesa/Canitz airfield, which appeared full of parked aircraft. Just as Henry was about to make his first pass, Righetti told him to take care of an Fw 190 which was preparing to land. While the colonel made his attack on the airfield, Henry downed the Fw 190. He reported;

‘When I had destroyed the ’190, I took a quick look at the field to locate the colonel before making any passes myself. I observed fires from three Me 109s at this time. I made a pass from north to south on a large dispersal area north-east of the airfield. I got in a two-second burst at an unidentified single-engined aircraft and saw it burst into flames. I pulled up and saw Col Righetti making a strafing pass, his aeroplane streaming coolant. He now had seven fires burning.

‘He called over the R/T, “This is Windsor. I’m hit bad, oil pressure dropping. I can’t make it back. I have got enough ammo for one more pass”. I watched him make that pass and obtain good hits on two more aircraft. I could not watch for fires as I wanted to give the colonel cover on any move he might make. After his pass he pulled up slightly and levelled off on a course of 270 degrees, flying about five miles before belly landing in an open field. After he was on the ground I received the following message over the R/T. “I broke my nose but I’m okay. I got nine today. Tell my family I’m okay. It has been swell working with you gang. Be seeing you shortly”.’

The nine aircraft destroyed would take Lt Col Righetti’s final score to 7.5 aerial and 27 strafing kills. But there would be no reunion, for

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Lt Col Elwyn Righetti and his personal aircraft, P-51D 44-14223 KATYDID, pose in the snow at Wormingford in January 1945. From its general appearance, it is obvious that this aircraft had seen a lot of action during the winter of 1944-45

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384th FS/364th FG ace John Lowell called all his personal aircraft PENNY. This was his last P-51D, which bears 17 swastika victory symbols for 7.5 aerial and nine strafing kills. The fighter’s original rudder was repaired or replaced at some point, as the last three digits (263) of the tail number were missing on the left side and the first three digits (463) were absent from the right side! The strange shaped letter L (for Lowell) on the tail was seen on earlier aircraft in this squadron, suggesting use of the same stencil (via Roger Freeman)

Col Hubert ‘Hub’ Zemke, CO of the 56th FG, led his group on many strafing missions. He believed in such attacks, but not in giving credit to individual pilots for destroying aircraft on the ground. While his pilots were very disciplined, it is said that Zemke once posed as an enlisted man in order to enter a boxing match!

Righetti was never heard from again. It was assumed that he met his death at the hands of angry civilians. He was one of five 55th FG pilots who did not return that day, and only one would subsequently emerge from a PoW camp post-war.

To all intents and purposes the attacks of 17 April represented the last big airfield raids carried out by pilots of VIII Fighter Command. Further claims were made the following day, but these 12 would be the last of the war.

The command had initiated the policy of attacking the Luftwaffe on the ground early in 1944 to further its objective of winning air superiority. The focus had shifted to the enemy’s ground transportation as part of the softening up operation before the Normandy landings in June. During this phase American pilots destroyed hundreds of railway locomotives and much rolling stock, together with other vehicles, both armoured and soft-skinned. The attack on the enemy’s airfields resumed as the Allied ground forces closed in on the heartland of the Reich. Then, because the Luftwaffe was short of fuel and trained pilots, most of the big battles had been the attacks on airfields.

The policy of encouraging pilots to make strafing raids by allowing them to count aircraft destroyed on the ground as victories, and thus enabling them to become aces, was controversial. It was also costly. Many more VIII Fighter Command pilots fell to ground fire than were lost in air-to-air combat. Most of the aces who failed to return from a mission did so because they were shot down by the deadly flak guns defending enemy airfields.

It is also likely that many pilots were killed in such attacks in their eagerness to become fighter aces. Some commanders resented this. Col Hubert ‘Hub’ Zemke of the 56th FG felt his men had a duty to go after the Luftwaffe on the ground, but considered that crediting ground kills to individual pilots was merely a publicity ploy by Gen Kepner, VIII Fighter Command’s CO.

Some group commanders considered the value of the ground attack targets not worth the cost in men and machines, and for this reason some units did little strafing. There is also great variance in the various groups’ ground scores. Some seemed to thrive on strafing while others did not. By the war’s final stages there were commanders that thought strafing unnecessary. Nobody denied it was a deadly business.

One fact, though, is clear. From early in 1944, when ground attacks became VIII Fighter Command policy, to 18 April 1945, a total of 4163 enemy aircraft were destroyed on their airfields. This must rate as a major contribution towards the Allied victory in World War 2.

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P-47 THUNDERBOLT STRAFERS

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M

B

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’ G

6 1 s t F S / 5 6 t h F G

Every ground-strafing mission requires a very thorough preparation. The pilot, or pilots, should be well acquainted with the geography of the general target area and the layout of the target itself. Particular attention

P-47

THUNDERBOLT