Berlin
With the Mustang over Berlin
We reluctantly turned away from the 110 and joined the general mess. The entire escort had split up into groups, the smallest fighter unit consisting of a leader and a wingman. Marked squadrons couldn't be recognized anymore. It was each against everybody but still with some purpose. We still stayed at least in a twosome if it at all possible when together.
It wasn't easy to pick out another enemy fighter. A thick smoke plume climbed high from Berlin and the anti-aircraft guns pounded us from all angles. The German fighter planes from the first attack against the bombers had gone over to free hunting now they had carried out their first orders. They were fully engaged in fending off the Mustang escort fighters, with whom they hadn't bargained at all.
We both had nothing left to do but to get together with the rest of the 8th and 9th fighter groups into an accompanying position again and get ready for the expected fight on the way back to England. On the ground, wrecks of burning aircraft could be seen. The B-17's were still taking heavy anti-aircraft fire. From time to time one of them caught fire and fell from the formation. Some parachutes - never everyone, usually opened. A burning bomber always became somebody's casket.
Pictured don't shows B-17s over Berlin. Picture take over Austria.
The B-17's usually with one or two huge holes in her fuselage and seriously injured crew members on board; would slowly dive down out of control. They would begin to break up, starting to spin before the last plummet to the ground. Usually a wing tore off, with the rest falling in a rolling spiral from 25,000 feet deep into the ground.
I have seen even a B-17; after she was hit by heavy anti-aircraft fire make a complete loop over. Some crew members could still bail out as the machine's nose sank and she started going down. She then soared back, high and over before falling onto her back on the other side. Some pieces broke off here and there, a part of the tail unit and a piece of the wing, before she was smashed to pieces on the ground below.
Our first complete escort mission to Berlin took place on March 4th, 1944. I truly believe that sufficient fighter planes were available to limit the losses of the bomber squadrons to a minimum. Five bomb raids on Berlin should rattle Hitler's war effort. They were flown on March 3rd, 4th, 6th, 8th and 9th utilising every available aircraft. I took part in four of these missions.
Our squadron shot down 20 Luftwaffe enemy fighters for our part without one single loss on March 6th. We had made progress."