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BOXART STORY
On September 11, 1944, one of the wildest
days of the Allied strategic bombing offensive
over Germany, the 352nd Fighter Group
escorted the last combat boxes in the bomber
stream of the 3rd Bombardment Division of the
8th Air Force.
At around 1150h, pilots of the 328th FS
spotted a group of around thirty German
fighters located about halfway between them
and an unspecified group of American bombers.
The latter were most likely B-17s from the
1st Bomb Division headed for Merseburg/
Lützkendorf. The squadron leader, Lt. Col. John
C. Meyer, later reported:
‘They were pulling
contrails and appeared to be forming up. We
headed towards them and as we got closer
they dove out of contrails level in ones and
twos. Contrail level was 28000´plus. At 29000´,
I identified them as Me 109s and attacked one
as he headed down in a 60° dive. The whole
squadron then engaged small groups of the
E/A after their original gaggle had been split up.
At about 17000´ the E/A I was chasing leveled
off and I closed rapidly. He saw me and started
in a steep climbing turn, my first burst was
about 20° deflection at 300 yards. I observed
few hits. I closed on him in the climbing turn
and at 30° deflection and 200 yards I got hits on
the rear portion of his fuselage, pieces coming
off. He split S´d, recovered and turned into me.
I had little difficulty in overtaking and in turning
inside of him. At 20° and 300 yards I got good
strikes on wing root and E/A started to smoke.
It rolled over and crashed straight into the
deck from 8000´. Pilot seemed inexperienced,
his breaks were conspicuously non-violent.
He was hesitant in all his maneuvers.’
John C. Meyer did not get the described
kill while in the cockpit of his iconic Mustang
s/n 44-14151 HO
-
M, named ‘Petie 2nd’, which
remained on the ground. Good fortune on this
day was bestowed on Meyer by a borrowed, and
a little orphaned, Mustang named ‘Stardust’,
which carried the serial 44-13597 and code
HO
-
F, who’s pilot, Lt. William E. Fowler, had just
completed a combat tour.
After getting that first kill of the day,
Lt. Col. Meyer felt a little abandoned. He spotted
another group of German fighters, made up
of around fifteen Bf 109s and Fw 190s, a little
higher than himself in altitude and further
to the northwest. He climbed about 2,000
feet above the level of his foes and attacked
a mixed pair of aircraft, one of each type:
‘They
had belly tanks and appeared to be forming
up. I approached them from out of the sun
and attacked the #2 of a pair of E/A that were
farthest from the mass. I fired at 15° deflection
from 300 yards to point blank range. The E/A
burst into flames, I broke into the sun, cleared
my tail and attacked the element leader, at
300 yards I got few strikes on his right wing tip
and he broke. As he broke I got strikes in the
vicinity of the cockpit and wing roots. The E/A
rolled over and spiraled down, crashing into
the ground.’
Shortly afterwards, Meyer spotted his
final victim of this fight:
‘A lone Me 109 was
emerging from a cloud in the vicinity of the
large enemy gaggle. And as I was not yet under
attack, I attacked the E/A. Only my right wing
guns were now firing so I opened at 200 yards
and no deflection closing to point blank range
and 10° deflection. I saw strikes all over the
E/A and pieces flew off the tail and fuselage.
He caught fire at his left wing root. I broke off
the attack and headed for the deck and home.’
The combat that lasted only a few minutes
brought Lt. Col. Meyer the rare triumph of
four kills. The drama, though, was not at its
end. After his last kill, pretty much out of
ammunition and his fuel reserves leaving much
to be desired, he turned for home and dropped
down to a lower altitude where he would be
safer. At that point, he spotted two Bf 109s
below him that glued themselves to his tail.
For a short period of time, he set his throttle to
emergency boost and began climbing again at
a rate of 980 ft per minute. The enemy aircraft
pursued him at a distance of almost 330 yd,
and still 100 to 120 yd from below. Every now
and again, they would be able to lift their noses
up and get off a few rounds, but to Meyer’s
luck, without success. This unlikely group flew
almost 100 miles between Kassel and Bonn,
and when they reached the Rhine, the German
pilots turned back.
During his WWII combat tour, John C.
Meyer achieved 24 confirmed aerial victories.
He passed away on December 2, 1975, at the
age of 56, holding the rank of General. The full
story about this combat can be read in Info
02/2021, in the article 'Stardust: Four Trips
To Hell On a Borrowed Horse.
Text: Jan Zdiarský
Illustration: Piotr Forkasiewicz
Until the last bullet
INFO Eduard
39
January 2024