Strana 36
sequently Leiston on the North Sea coast. German
propaganda soon dubbed this unit “The Yoxford Boys”
after the nearby village of Yoxford. The Americans ad-
opted the nickname and used it throughout the war;
it has remained a legacy of the unit to this day.
The pilots of the 357th FG, which was the very rst
ghter group of VIII Fighter Command to be equipped
with this type of aircraft, quickly became accustomed
to the new plane. It was no dierent for Chuck Yeager.
His assigned Mustang was aircraft s/n 43-6763, which
was given the squadron code designation B6-Y. Yeager
named the aircraft “Glamurus Glen” after his ancée,
Glennis Dickhouse (this is not a typo in the aircraft’s
name; it truly diered from the spelling used on Yea-
ger’s later Mustangs). He entered combat in February
1944 and scored his rst kill on March 4 while escorting
a not-quite-full, yet still the rst daytime mission to
Berlin. It was Chuck’s eighth mission overall. He was
assigned to his squadron’s White Flight for it. The en-
gagement took place at 13:05 hrs southeast of Kassel:
“I was ying at 26,000 feet when I spotted a Me
109 to the right and behind us about 2,000 feet be-
low. I broke to the right and down. The enemy air-
craft turned right and down and went into a 50° dive.
I closed in fast and opened re at 200 yards. I ob-
served hits on the fuselage and wing roots, with piec-
es ying o. I was overrunning, so I pulled up, per-
formed an aileron roll, fell in behind again, and
started shooting at 150 yards. The enemy aircraft’s
engine was smoking and windmilling. I overran again,
observing hits on the fuselage and canopy. I pulled up
again and performed a wingover on his tail. His can-
opy ew o, and the pilot bailed out and went into
a tailspin at 9,000 feet. The enemy aircraft had
a large red and black “Devil’s Head” on the left side
of the fuselage. The enemy aircraft took no evasive
action after the rst burst”.
The very next day, during a mission to Bordeaux,
France, he himself was hit by German ghters around
12:40 p.m. while ying in the Tail End Charlie position
of his ight. Another pilot in his ight, Lt. William R.
McGinley, described the engagement as follows: “We
had made R/V with the bombers and were protecting
them at the target area. I was leading the second ele-
ment in a ight of four. We had just gone down to in-
vestigate some planes near the bombers. I was bringing
my element into formation with the leader when F/O
Yeager called for a break to the right. I broke and saw
a Me 109 making a pass at us. Captain O’Brien, who was
leading the formation, called for us to keep protecting
him while he went after the enemy aircraft. I circled
and kept looking into the sun. From the time that F/O
Yeager called for the break, I did not see him again.
I joined formation with two planes from another squad-
ron and returned home with them“.
None of the Mustang pilots saw when or how Chuck
Yeager was hit. He himself later stated in his Escape
& Evasion Report: “Three Fw 190s came in from the
rear and cut my elevator cables. I snap-rolled with
the rudder and jumped at 18,000 feet. I took o my
dinghy-pack, oxygen mask, and helmet in the air, and
then I was whirling on my back and began to feel diz-
zy. I pulled the ripcord at 8,000 feet. An Fw 190 dove
at me, but when he was about 2,000 yards from me,
a P-51 came in on his tail and blew him to pieces.
I landed in a forest clearing where there was a soli-
tary sapling about twenty feet tall. I grabbed the top
of the sapling as I passed it and swung gently to the
ground. My chute was caught in the tree, however…“
(Although Yeager describes the attack by Fw 190s,
it was much more likely by Bf 109s, which corresponds
with Lt. McGinley’s account and also with the claimed
victories of other pilots in the group).
With minor injuries caused by shrapnel from 20 mm
ammunition, he soon managed to make contact with
Cpl. Charles E. Yeager as a Crew Chief
with Beechcraft AT-11 Kansan, 1942.
Chuck Yeager with his rst Mustang,
P-51B-5-NA 43-6763 ’Glamurus Glen’.
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