The 4th Fighter Group Sets a Record
On April 8, 1944, the Eighth Air Force dispatched 664 B-17 Flying Fortress and B-24 Liberator heavy bombers to bomb ten targets in Germany. Another 780 P-38 Lightnings, P-47 Thunderbolts, and P-51 Mustangs were assigned escort duties for the bombers that day. Among the escorts were the red-nosed P-51s of the 4th Fighter Group, including several American Eagle pilots who had flown with the RAF. Their assignment was to link up with some 200 B-24s targeting German aircraft manufacturing facilities at Brunswick.
The 4th was led by Colonel Don Blakeslee, who had become a P-51 devotee while serving with the 354th Group. Blakeslee was a legend in his time. An Ohio native, he joined the Royal Canadian Air Force in order to fly. He was sent to England, but was booted from his squadron for refusing to march his men to church. The Eagle (133) Squadron was his next military home, but entertaining women after hours in his quarters got him reassigned to the U.S.A.A.F. By that time, he already was credited with two kills and one probable, and became an ace flying P-47s in May 1943.
Blakeslee used all his influence to ensure that every unit in his command would be equipped with the Mustang fighter. He was successful. In February they replaced their P-47s with the hot new fighters. In the month between February 28 and March 30, the 4th chalked up 120 Luftwaffe kills, firmly demonstrating the prowess of their nimble warbird.
Captain Don Gentile
The 4th Fighter Group rendezvoused with the B-24s near Ruhrberg just as the Luftwaffe appeared. Blakeslee radioed his unit, "Horseback to Horseback aircraft. One-hundred-plus approaching at 11 o’clock." Immediately, the P-51s set up for action, dropping their auxiliary fuel tanks and heading straight for the German swarm.
Among the pilots in the 4th was Captain Don Gentile, who had 27 enemy planes to his credit that morning. Gentile was leading Shirtblue squadron and had been flying on the right side of the bombers. The Germans opted for a head-on attack against the Liberators and six of the mighty bombers fell nearly at once. As the enemy fighters finished their pass and tried to re-form, Gentile and his 336th Fighter Squadron swept down upon them, breaking up the attack.
Gentile reported that some of the Germans began a dogfight and, as he closed in to tangle with one enemy fighter, he was bounced by several Focke-Wulf Fw-190s. He broke away, selected another 190 and scored several hits from up to 300 yards. The German began to smoke and spiraled down from 16,000 feet.
Gentile spotted another 190 attacking a P-51, but before he could help, the Mustang went down. It was one of four that were to be lost that day. Gentile engaged the Focke-Wulf at 22,000 feet and they fought each other down to 8,000 feet. The 190 tried to break for altitude but Gentile was ready for him: he nailed the enemy plane with a deflection shot from his .50 caliber machine guns and forced the German to bail out.
Gentile selected yet another Fw-190. This one turned into his P-51 and made several passes, guns blazing. Their dogfight lasted ten grueling minutes before the American pilot finally got the advantageous position behind the German plane and drew smoke. The plane crashed. Gentile’s three victories that day raised his total to 30 enemy planes destroyed.
Major Louis "Red Dog" Norley
Gentile had a counterpart in the 4th Fighter Group that April 8: "Red Dog" Norley (nick-named for his fondness for the poker game) already had proved himself to be a threat to German aircraft. He was a hot fighter pilot with two kills in his belt. No sooner had Gentile’s Mustang entered the fray than Norley spotted a Fw-190 beneath his own plane. Their battle began at 3,000 feet and the German pilot tried mightily to elude the P-51 on his tail. The German tried to dive even lower, but Norley nailed the plane with two short bursts and the pilot bailed out.
Climbing away, Norley spotted another 190, chased it for a mile, blasted it with a short burst, and witnessed another bail out. Turning away, the P-51 pilot went after a third 190 about a half-mile away. The dogfight was brief, the German downed, and "Red Dog" had a total of five kills for the day and ace status.
Captain Willard W. "Millie" Millikan
Iowan "Millie" Millikan flew with the 4th Fighter Group for a year, and a total of 52 missions, before ever scoring a kill. Then, flying P-47s, Millikan scored three enemy aircraft downed in the next five months before switching to the Mustang. Two more kills in the P-51 and he was an ace, heading for the rendezvous with the Brunswick-bound B-24s the morning of April 8, 1944.
Like Gentile, Milliken joined the battle as the German fighters were re-grouping from their frontal pass that downed six Liberators. He tucked beneath a gaggle of Bf-109s climbing for another attack and shot down the last plane in the formation with a deflection shot. Spotting another Mustang trying to evade a German attacker, Milliken fired a spray of .50 slugs, perforating the enemy’s fuselage from engine to tail. The Messerschmitt flamed and dropped like a rock into the forest below.
A third Bf-109 caught his eye as it skillfully evaded several other Mustangs doing battle with it. The German came at Milliken’s red-nosed P-51, but the American dove and turned away. Milliken came around for a deflection shot as the German spun out of a flaps-down turn. The P-51 scored hits from 150 yards. The German pilot bailed out at 800 feet and the fighter crashed. "Millie" Milliken joined "Red Dog" Norley and Don Gentile in the triple-kill category on what began as a routine escort mission.
Counting the Toll
Four Mustangs were lost from the 4th Fighter Group that day, but the Luftwaffe counted 31 planes missing after the battle. The 190 B-24s that got through to Brunswick laid about 623 tons of high explosive on the aircraft factories.
The 4th Fighter Group set a new record for fighter engagements in the European Theater of Operations. The day’s achievements underscored the growing might of the Eighth Air Force, thanks to the long-range protection afforded by the P-51 Mustang. The war had indeed come home to the German Fatherland.