Excerpt from Fogg in the Cockpit, The Wartime Diary of Captain Howard Fogg:
Wednesday, March 15, 1944: Wretham
Briefing at 0800 for a deep job, withdrawal from east of Dümmer Lake to Zwolle. Target is Brunswick. Me, Brownie, Baldy, and Randy: Yellow Flight. Albertson aborted with his whole flight. Smitty and Simmons aborted, too. Also Lane. So Forehand flew my #4 and Hawk was Bo’s. Eight ships.
Over Dümmer Lake behind the bombers we found 12 Me109s. Bo missed his chance by not breaking into them on his right fast enough. Result, we climbed up under them in spirals, jockeying for position, neither side opening the attack. We were desperate for gas so I finally beat it. Dodged flak over Zwolle and hit the Zuider Zee with 80 gallons. Made the first field west of Yarmouth. Seething mad. Landed with 25 gallons at 1315. Brownie had 20 gallons, Randy 20 gallons, and Bill 40 gallons. Whew! Must respect the P-47. Oh, for some gas!
Wednesday, March 15, 1944: Wretham
Briefing at 0800 for a deep job, withdrawal from east of Dümmer Lake to Zwolle. Target is Brunswick. Me, Brownie, Baldy, and Randy: Yellow Flight. Albertson aborted with his whole flight. Smitty and Simmons aborted, too. Also Lane. So Forehand flew my #4 and Hawk was Bo’s. Eight ships.
Over Dümmer Lake behind the bombers we found 12 Me109s. Bo missed his chance by not breaking into them on his right fast enough. Result, we climbed up under them in spirals, jockeying for position, neither side opening the attack. We were desperate for gas so I finally beat it. Dodged flak over Zwolle and hit the Zuider Zee with 80 gallons. Made the first field west of Yarmouth. Seething mad. Landed with 25 gallons at 1315. Brownie had 20 gallons, Randy 20 gallons, and Bill 40 gallons. Whew! Must respect the P-47. Oh, for some gas!
Lieutenant Howard Fogg’s P-47D-10 Thunderbolt CV-T 42-75104
Courtesy of Peter Fogg
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