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30 Bf 109s from III Gruppe.
“We split them up,
but due to the fact that we were outnumbered
fifty to eight, we were not able to destroy any.
My wingman and I ended up alone on the deck.
As he climbed to rejoin the group, Goodson
spotted 24 Bf 109s and Fw 190s flying in close
formation of six “vics” of four each, in line astern.
I told my wingman we would try to sneak up
behind and knock off the last section and then
run away in the haze. As we were closing on the
last section, all the Huns broke, and a lengthy
dogfight ensued, with the Fw 190s showing
amazing fighting ability and aggressiveness.
It was only after the most violent maneuvering
and excessive use of throttle and flaps that I was
able to get good strikes on the most persistent
’190. He pulled up and bailed out.”
Goodson’s
fourteenth aerial victory turned out to be his last.
With the fighters of IX Tactical Air Command
striking every target they could find in Northern
France and Belgium, and fighter groups from
VIII Fighter Command strafing targets during
their returns from every escort mission,
while A-20 Havocs and B-26 Marauders of the
IX Air Force and the Eighth’s B-17s and B-24s
hit every rail target in the region, the German
Army in northwestern France was soon cut off
from its supply bases. The strikes on airfields
forced the defending fighters to pull back deeper
into France and Germany. The week before the
invasion, the commander of the German Seventh
Army, tasked with defending Normandy, called
the roads in the army’s area of operations “Jabo
Rennstrecke” (fighter-bomber racecourses).
The Luftwaffe had fewer aircraft available
on the Channel coast at the end of May than
had been available at the time of the Dieppe
Raid. JG 2, which had been assigned to the
Cherbourg Peninsula since 1941, was closest
to the Normandy beaches. I./JG 2 had only
recently returned from the fighting at Anzio.
The Bf 109-equipped II./JG 2 was at Creil outside
Paris, while III./JG 2's Fw 190s were in the
process of transferring to Fontenay-le-Comte
north of La Rochelle.
With a forecast for stormy weather during
the first week in June that seemed to preclude
any likelihood of invasion, JG 26 Kommodore
Oberst Josef “Pips” Priller felt safe giving
some pilots time off. II Gruppe left for Mont de
Marsan near Biarritz for a week’s leave on June 1.
The other two gruppen were ordered to move
inland on June 5, with I Gruppe moving to Reims and
III Gruppe to Nancy.
Their ground echelons were still on the road
when dawn came on June 6.
The Fourth’s Bob Wehrman remembered
“June
6, 1944, really was the longest day. We had
Double-Daylight Savings Time in England, which
meant dawn came around 0300 hours. None of
us had slept much that night. The sky was filled
for hours with the drone of aircraft. I spotted
bombers heading toward invasion targets and
C-47s carrying what I later learned were the
British and American paratroops.”
“Pips” Priller learned the invasion was on
when he was awakened by the phone in his Lille
command post. It was from 5th Jagddivision,
Eighth Fighter Command recommended groups apply camouflage to aluminum-finish P-51s in May 1944 before the invasion, in the expectation the fighter
groups might deploy to mainland Europe following the invasion. The 357th Fighter Group was the only group in Eighth fighter command to completely paint
their Mustangs, using RAF Dark Green on upper surfaces and RAF Sea Grey Medium on lower surfaces. (USAF Official)
This photograph of a mixed formation of P-51B and P-51D Mustangs of the 361st Figher Group was taken in late
July-early August 1944, and became one of the iconoic photos of the Second World War. (USAF Official)
The Longest Day
HISTORY
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