CONFIDENTIAL
PILOT'S PERSONAL ENCOUNTER REPORT
A. Combat.
B. 25 November 1943.
C. 343rd Fighter Squadron, 55th Fighter Group.
D. Attack made approximately 1318 hours.
E. Vicinity La Bassee.
F. 3/10 over continent, tops 11,000 feet.
G. Gray FW 190.
H. One (1) FW 190 destroyed.
I. I was leading the 343rd
Squadron at 12,000 feet. The 338th Squadron was flying at the 14,000 feet
level and the 38th Squadron was top cover at 18,000 feet. At 1315, after
being vectored by controller, we sighted six ME 109's coming out of the sun at
us. They were about 2,000 feet higher than us. We started climbing
to meet them head on and they swung port and started climbing away from us into
the sun. We had chased them about one minute when my Red Leader reported
several bogies on about the same level coming at us from 8 o'clock. Having
decided that we couldn't catch the six ME 109's without some difficulty, we made
a port turn and prepared to meet the FW 190's head-on. when they observed
us turning, they made a starboard turn, and we fell in behind them. Two of
them split S'd, two dived and two tried to turn with us. I closed on the
second one of these and gave him about three, three second bursts, beginning
with a 30 degree deflection and firing down to a 15 degree deflection.
Cannon and MG hits were observed along wings and fuselage. Pieces of
cowling were seen to fly off and smoke began to stream from the port side of the
engine. The leader of this two-ship element half-rolled, but this E/A made
no attempt to evade. He went into a spin and was last seen by my No. 3 man
spinning at approximately 6,000 feet. It is believed by the undersigned
that the pilot was injured or killed inasmuch as he made no attempt to evade.
JACK S. JENKINS
Lt. Col., Air Corps.
CONFIDENTIAL