Photo: MACR via Fold3

HISTORY

A copy of the sketch on which Carroll Henry marked the position of Righetti’s crash-landing. It does not

correspond to the information that he headed 270° from the airfield, which was located southwest of Riesa.

returning from the day’s flying with Frank

Stitch, another pilot celebrating a birthday that day. When the bomber formation

turned around to head back home, Righetti, along with pilots from the 343rd FS,

dropped down as he had done many times

before to search for targets of opportunity on the ground. They neared the town

of Kamenz, home to a part of Schlachtgeschwader 77, equipped with Fw 190s.

Lieutenants Robert Welch and Philip Erby

spotted a pair of Focke Wulfs just after

take-off and came at them from above

and from behind. The Fw 190 pilots had

no time to react and both were downed.

In return, Welch and Erby were both hit

by flak and both turned in the direction

of American positions. Erby announced

14

INFO Eduard

that he needed to bail out of his stricken

plane and was not heard from again. Lt.

Richard Gibbs and his wingman followed

Welch and Erby but broke off when they

spotted the flak, flew around Kamenz at

a safe distance, and found another pair of

enemy fighters after take-off. They waited

until they were out of range of the flak,

attacked the fighters and Gibbs downed

them both. Besides these kills, the 343rd

FS shot down another five SG 77 aircraft

but paid a high price for success. Besides Erby, flak also brought down George

Apple and Daniel Langelier. The bodies of

Erby and Langalier were never found …

In the meantime, Righetti and his wingman Carroll Henry spotted a small airfield at Riesa. Righetti wanted to attack

it first alone and ordered the rest of the

squadron to stay higher up and off to the

side. “He wanted me to stay up there with

the other guys. But when I requested, he

let me go.” Wrote Henry in his report.2)

Righetti conducted the first strafing run

himself, missing the target. He adjusted

his gunsight, turned around, and peppered the aircraft on the ground. He repeated the attack two more times. And then,

it happened. Katydid shuttered and it was

clear that she had been hit. Righetti radioed Henry and told him that he was quickly

losing oil pressure. Henry also advised

Righetti that he had been losing glycol.

It was only a matter of a minute before

the P-51’s engine would critically overheat, and Righetti knew this. It is difficult to

understand why, with about a minute of

engine life left that could have given him

some 10 km (six miles) of coverage, Righetti chose to come around for another

attack rather than get as close to friendly

positions as possible. American positions

were about 20km away, and with a little

extra luck, it was possible for Righetti

to reach them. But instead, he opted to

spend the remainder of his ammunition in

another attack, and then head out to find

a field to crash-land. Henry tried to follow: “I called him, telling him that I was

tacking on. He acknowledged, saying that

he was heading out on 270 degrees. I was

about 3,000 feet and overran him due to

excess speed gained while letting down.

He was at six o’clock to me and I rolled

out on 270 degrees,” wrote Henry later in

his report.2)

He was unable to locate his commander

and due to haze, none of the squadron

that was higher up was able to do so either. Then, the radio announced: “Tell the

family I’m okay. Broke my nose on landing.

It’s been a hell of a lot of fun working with

you, gang. Be seeing you a little later.”2)

Ray Sharp, one of the pilots circling above, broke radio silence and he could be

heard saying: “Good luck, Colonel!”

Due to a lack of fuel, practically the entire

55th FG had to land at fields in continental Europe. Frank Stitch had to open the

bottle of champagne himself, and under

a shroud of a somber mood that corresponded to the day’s loss. This was reflected in the day’s summary report, that

read: “We’re going to miss you Colonel, all

twenty-nine years of your bursting energy and vitality, your eagerness and courage, your initiative and leadership that

moulded us into a deadly fightin’ machine,

whipping the Nazis at every turn. We’re

going to miss your cheerfulness, your decisiveness, and your understanding of human nature. You spelled aggressiveness

wherever and whenever you flew and

made us into one of the eagerest gangs

of eager beavers. Your record speaks for

February 2023