The 20th.FG was assigned a screening position on the left flank of the second force, composed of 1st. Division B-17's. The group, lead by Col. Montgomery, met the bombers at 1216 about 50 miles west of Merseburg and took up its position on the left flank. Just after the last box drooped its bombs all hell broke lose. The Group Leader leading his section spotted approximately 250 Me-109s coming into attack the last box of the bombers. The squadrons were called and other groups were notified as Col. Montgomery led his section into the huge gaggle of enemy planes.

B-17s over the Third Reich

In the excitement of combat Lt. Col. Montgomery's big knee knocked out his gun sight switch and as he closed in on the first Me-109 he found his gun sight was off. In spite of this "Monty" shot down two Me-109s in quick order, then turned on his sight, ran into another gaggle of 200 to 300 enemy aircraft and in a head-on attack destroyed a Fw-190, giving him three victories for the day. A rough engine necessitated his withdrawl at this time.

A heavily damaged Flying Fortress loses a wing and falls to the earth

The 55th. Squadron led with 12 destroyed and 3 damaged, followed closely by the 77th. Squadron with 10 destroyed and one damaged. the 79th. Squadron did not get into the big battles but destroyed three out of a small force of 15 to 20 enemy planes sighted. Capt. Gatterdam joined the list of aces by shooting down his fifth aircraft.

The 77th. encounters were with the gaggle of 250 plus called by the Group Leader and furious battles took place from 27,000 to the deck and accounted for ten of these palnes, including two destroyed by the Group Leader. After chasing an Me-109 down to the deck and firing until it crashed, Ace "Catch 'Em in a Landing Pattern" Fiebelkorn caught four Me-109s in a landing pattern and destoyed two of them, giving him 3 for the day and a total of 11 destoyed.

The 55th, Squadron ran into 150 plus Me-109s and Fw-190s and in battles from 28,000ft. to 20,000ft. destoyed 12 and damaged three. "Little Joe" Mansker, hot on the trail of Big Febe destroyed two boosting his total to 10 destroyed.

Capt. Jerome Serros, leading the 55th. Squadron, had engine trouble and was returning early when fire or explosion forced him to bail out over the Zeider Zee.

Lt. Jack W. Kennedy (77th.) was heard to say he was bailing out when about 10 miles off Ostend.It is not known whether he was short of gas or had engine trouble.

Lt. Richard Van Woert (77th.) was last heard from in the target area around the time of the big battles. It is not known whether he was engaged with the enemy or not.

One of our pilots, as yet unidentified, had 7 Me-109s on his tail when a P-51 from the 4th. Group came in and shot one down. Like the old story about the 1o little blackbirds sitting on a fence, the rest of the Me-109s decided to depart at this time.

Capt. Ilfrey (79th.) was engaged with "friendly" enemy planes. He picked up three .50 Cal. slugs from an orange nosed P-51 whose pilot needs a course in recognition.

55th. - White - Serros, Franklin, Freeman; Yellow- Hurst, Ryan, Chrissinger, Leon; Red - Williams, Cosgriff, Planchak; Blue - Tennant, Howard; Black - Bowman, Kelly, Barnes, Benedict; Spare - Neidy, Walnut: Yellow - Mansker, Brown.

77th. - White - Nichols, Reynolds, Garner, Murrell; Yellow - Flowers, Kennedy, Roberts, Cole; Red - Stovall, Jones, Bowlett, Robb; Blue Fiebelkorn, Snodgrass, Slanker, Halpin; Black - Baker, Van Woert, Jennings, Larsen; Walnut Montgomery, Hambelton, Einhaus, Schallo.

79th. - White - Gatterdam, Hamme, Horst,Price; Yellow - Webb, Bradford, Pubentz, Ziegelbauer; Red - Ilfrey, Hollins, Stultz, Taylor; Blue Cameron, Gardner, Daniel, Beschen; Brown - Yaryan, Dixon, Black, Coughran; Relays - Reichard, Sass.