Mission Date: 18-08-1940 1237-1331
Name: Lee
Rank: Hauptgefreiter
Unit: 5./JG26
Aircraft: BF-109 E4
Markings: Black -+4
Aerodrome: Marquise East
Status: Pilot and aircraft OK , RTB slight hits on fuselage
Victory Claims:
Time | Place | Aircraft | Opponent | Confirmed |
- | - | - | - | - |
On the bus , 10 minutes from marquise , My heart was racing .
There is actually a chance I would make this mission .
I ran out of the bus , shouting my ground crew to ready my aircraft .
10 minutes later , I was back at home , sitting in my E4 , canopy open awaiting my turn to line up .
Because of the severely depleted numbers of airmen in the 5th we could actually fit everyone for a single takeoff run .
Geschwaderkommodore Pitti was flying with us this time , and Krauss that had me as a designated wing man , was reassigned to Pitti's wing .
I lined up behind Dub and awaited my turn to push full throttle .
As we took off we began circling Calais awaiting the arrival of the bombers , this time we were assigned with the task of sweeping before the bomber formation .
Suffering minor technical issues , I found myself diving rapidly , I managed to recover in time , but not before I lost eyes on Dub and dove ~1K .
I managed to recover ands assume my position , with flyby at my port side .
We climbed higher and higher , and began contrailing above enemy territory .
The tommies appeared rapidly , but this time altitude advantage was ours .
As we turned to engage , Flyby lost eyes on me and got jumped .
I found myself alone again and took defensive position above the aft bomber formation who was scavenged by Hurries .
I dove for the attack , not intending to get a kill , but rather kipping the Hurries away from the bombers as assigned .
The aft formation sustained heavy losses but did not parish .
Other formations were hardly harmed .
After we cleared enemy landfill we made sure bombers were safe and headed to French Point , only to find out that 2 Hurries and a spit followed us all the way to Wisant .
By then we were mixed , elements from the 5th , 6th and 7th were flying together .
Atraides and his Schwarm followed the spit and managed to tech him a lesson , I guess he will need a dingy to return .
Hurries broke away and disappeared back towards England .
We headed for our final at Marquise .
After a text book landing procedure , in a left hand Circuit I made my final and upon vacating the runway taxied towards Boyezee and Krauss .
We lost Dub and Flyby , but managed to complete our designated task .
I am honored that Luftwaffe high command deemed me worthy of the Radiotelephony course , I just wish sessions would not be scheduled for Sundays ...
I hope next Sunday I will be back in time for wheels up .
Hauptgefreiter Lee