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I'm not sure about "Gabelschwanzteufel". About1975 the grandfather of my wife who stayed as soldier in southern Italy used this term when he talked about his adventures during the war. I cannot imagine that he had this word from a book after the war. It sound more like a
common word of a infantry solder who was attacked by P-38s
Regards
cimmex
very cool thread FBJ, Read Scotts book as a young kid and watched the movie. from Belden, Jack (1942-08-20). "Chennault Fights to Hold the China Front". Life: pp. 70.
Scott was executive and operations officer of the Assam-Burma-China (Ferry) Command, forerunner of the famous Air Transport Command flying the Hump from India to China to supply the Kuomintang government. When the commanding officer left for China on June 17, Scott was actually left in command of the operation for several days. Anxious to get into combat he had obtained the use of a Republic P-43 Lancer, actually assigned to the Flying Tigers by Claire Chennault, with which he flew at least one high altitude mission over Mt. Everest. Scott began flying missions with the Flying Tigers, flying a P-40 as a single ship escort for the transports and flying ground attack missions. During this period, he frequently repainted the propeller spinner in different colors to create the illusion of a much larger fighter force in the area than a single aircraft becoming, in effect, a "one-man air force".
Is flying WITH the same as BEING ONE OF?
How about the myth that the 332nd "Tuskegee Airmen" never lost a bomber.
Hollywood seems to be running with that one now, and my people refuse to see that it is only a myth.
Got the info from the Chinese when they flew against it in northern China before WW2 offically started.I'm intrigued about the Flying Tigers and the Zero. I accept that the AVG never flew against the Type 0 before December 1941, but I do know that Chennault is credited with submitting a report on its flying qualities. If his men never saw it, and the report was submitted, where did he get his information from?
The Bf109 was fitted with MG151 cowl guns and a Mk103.
Got the info from the Chinese when they flew against it in northern China before WW2 offically started.
Good one! I was going to bring that up. Check out that Wiki has (with references)
On 24 March 1945, during the war, the Chicago Defender said that no bomber escorted by the Tuskegee Airmen had ever been lost to enemy fire, under the headline: "332nd Flies Its 200th Mission Without Loss";[50] the article was based on information supplied by the 15th Air Force.[51][52]
This statement was repeated for many years, and not publicly challenged because of the esteem of the Tuskegee Airmen, until 2004 when long-time Tuskegee admirer William Holton conducted research into wartime action reports.[53] Alan Gropman, a professor at the National Defense University, disputed the initial refutations of the no-loss myth, and said he researched more than 200 Tuskegee Airmen mission reports and found no bombers were lost to enemy fighters.[53] The Air Force conducted a reassessment of the history of the unit in late 2006.[53] The subsequent report, based on after-mission reports filed by both the bomber units and Tuskegee fighter groups, as well as missing air crew records and witness testimony, documented 25 bombers shot down by enemy fighter aircraft while being escorted by the Tuskegee Airmen.[54]
One mission report states that on 26 July 1944: "1 B-24 seen spiraling out of formation in T/A (target area) after attack by E/A (enemy aircraft). No chutes seen to open." A second report, dated 31 August 1944, praises group commander Colonel Davis by saying, he "so skillfully disposed his squadrons that in spite of the large number of enemy fighters, the bomber formation suffered only a few losses."[55] William Holloman, of Tuskegee Airmen Inc., a group of surviving Tuskegee pilots and their supporters, a Tuskegee airman who taught Black Studies at the University of Washington, and who chaired the Airmen's history committee, was reported by the Times as saying his review of records confirmed bombers had been lost.[53] According to the 28 March 2007 Air Force report, some bombers under 332nd Fighter Group escort protection were even shot down on the day the Chicago Defender article was published.[51]
On 13 September 1940, the Zeros scored their first air-to-air victories when 13 A6M2s led by Lieutenant Saburo Shindo attacked 27 Soviet-built Polikarpov I-15s and I-16s of the Chinese Nationalist Air Force, shooting down all the fighters without loss to themselves. By the time they were redeployed a year later, the Zeros had shot down 99 Chinese aircraft