[bobbysocks]

From the nose of his B-24 Liberator commanded by Lt. John French, came those words from F/O Robert Timms of the 700th Bomb Squadron who was watching his entire 445th Bomb Group disintegrate. Wave after wave of FW 190 fighters from the three Sturmgruppen had approached the 445th unmolested and were now driving through the formation, all cannons blazing. In just a few short minutes the Kassel mission was escalating into a full-scale disaster for the 445th. In the opening moments of the battle, frantic radio calls for help went out on the fighter channel.

I saw Pearson's ship to our left blossom with sudden bright flame, then kick over and down, Carlow's ship behind him hurt and distressed, trying to fight off the angry bees. Then it fell like a broken toy. I felt the thud of our own ship being hit hard. Where are our fighters!? Where are our fighters!? Oh, God!!...
Even as the bombers were falling, P-51 Mustangs of the 361st Fighter Group were not far away and were heading at full speed for the fearful scenes of destruction over Eisenach. While that day was undoubtedly a black day for the 445th from Tibenham, Norfolk, the same mission ironically was uniquely successful for a single squadron of P-51 Mustang escorts who only the previous day had arrived at their new base in Little Walden, Essex. Ernest Schroder of II./JG 300 had just passed through the bomber formation and registered two kills. Now he was circling in large downward spirals the two B-24s in their death throes. He could see some ten to fifteen large columns of smoke rising through the cloud layer where crashing aircraft had exploded ...

Everywhere was burning wreckage. The fields were covered with many white parachutes where American and almost certainly German fliers had come down. I arrived at 100 meters above ground and could clearly see the crewmen who had bailed out running through the fields. Suddenly, diagonally from the front, a yellow-nosed airplane shot towards me, an American fighter unmistakably.
The fighters Robert Timms so desperately wanted to see must have arrived very shortly on the scene after the third wave of FW 190s had gone through the bomber formation. They would soon have a very dramatic effect on the 27 September 1944 air battle even if they could not save the American bombers. In the lead bomber Timms heard his nose turret gunner exclaim, "Oh, you sonovabitchin' lovely angels, you... "

The 361st Fighter Group had been assigned as one of five fighter groups accompanying the Kassel force on that day. Its component 376th Squadron, known as the "`Yellowjackets" for the bright yellow noses on their P-51s, was destined to make its mark on that day.

Forty-five of the group's Mustangs had made their scheduled rendezvous with the bombers of the 14th Combat Wing over Holland before penetrating German air space that day ... but as the Focke Wulf Sturmjager hit the B-24s, the radio headsets came alive with the cries of pilots calling out enemy aircraft. Now Ernst Schroder was immediately in trouble.

Both of us opened fire simultaneously with our big caliber weapons. The American immediately scored a hit on my tail. My weapons, on the other hand, failed after a few shots. I began to fly with evasive movements.
Schroder believes he escaped with his life because he had come down to 100 meters altitude. The P-51 quickly lost the camouflaged FW-190 against the trees of the forest-covered valley sides over which they were flying. "I landed after minutes of fearful seating at Langensala after a total of ninety minutes flying time. Part of my rudder had been torn away."

Meanwhile, Lt. Victor Bocquin leading the 376th FS was able to bring his guns to bear on the first of three Focke Wulfs that he would personally destroy that day. "I caught an FW-190 just before we hit the clouds and began shooting at 300 yards, getting good hits. I followed him into the overcast and lost him, but then saw a chute when I came out and his plane spinning down."

Elsewhere in the action, other 376th pilots, no strangers to aerial combat, operating in groups of two or three, were in frenzied pursuit of the FW-190 Sturmbocke. lst Lt. William Beyer, Red Flight leader and Robert R. Volkman, flying his wing, pressed home their attacks.

I got on the 190's tail and he did his best to lose me, doing split S's and tight turns. I followed through his maneuvers until he started to climb. I opened fire at about 100 yards getting hits. He popped his canopy and bailed out...
With its extra armor and guns, the A-8/R2 Sturmbbock was a very un-maneuverable heavyweight and was totally unsuited for low altitude turning dogfights. Verner Vorberg of II.JG4 was in the fight but made it back to Welzow, south of Berlin.

Individual pilots were being wiped out by the escort fighters. Seven Satffel ceased to exit. Five Staffel came away much better off and must have broken off before the Mustangs arrived. On my return to Welzow, a wheel along with its shot up support fell off when I let down my landing gear. I had to land on my belly...
Othmar Zehart, one of the most experienced pilots of II.JG4 and Staffelkapitan of 7.JG4 was lost and is still listed missing today. He was one of the few survivors at that stage from Sturmstassel, and in nine Sturm missions had shot down seven American bombers. Amongst the relatively more experienced aces of IV./JG3 the carnage was not so severe. One notable victim was Verner Garth Staffelkapitan 14./JG3 who bailed out of his burning FW 190 and landed uninjured. Karl Dieter Hecker of 15./JG3, who had just registered his fifth Viermont victory, was another who bailed out although badly wounded. A similar fate befell Lt. Ernst Rex who had just shot down his first B-24.

In total, some 25 Focke Wulf 190 Sturmbockes were shot down along with four of the bf 109 escorts. Only one P-51 Mustang was lost, a member of Blue Flight; lst Lt. Leo Lamb would not return to England. Gerhard Vivroux would claim him as his l lth victory. On landing, the victorious pilots of the 376th discovered they had destroyed eighteen FW 190s in the air and three on the ground - a 376th record, with Victor Bocquin claiming three and William Beyer five. (During September, Beyer had downed 72-victory German ace Major HIaus Mietusch after a protracted dogfight.)

The events of September 27, 1944 mark a watershed in the fortunes of the Jagdwaffe's Sturmgruppen. Clearly capable of pulverizing an unescorted bomber, the average Sturmgruppen pilot was at a terrible disadvantage when faced with aerial combat with the U.S. escort fighters. Wellequipped eager P-51 pilots had a distinct edge. Tactically the Sturmgruppen formation, while providing firepower in mass against the bombers, would become increasingly more difficult to be effective as more U.S. fighter escorts ranged over central Germany. The writing was on the wall after the Kassel mission.

This is a perspective from both sides of the battle over Kassel on the ill-fated mission of September 27, 1944. Quoting participants Ernst Schroder of II./JG 300 and F/O Robert TIimms of the 445th Bomb Group, these excerpts appeared in an online account of that epic battle in the skies: Those of the 376th Squadron, 361st Group who were there could no doubt add much to this narrative.

On September 27, 1944, the 445th Bomb Group flew a mission to Kassel, Germany with thirty-seven aircraft. There was a solid undercast and navigational errors were made such that a different target was hit (Gottingen) about thirty miles northeast of Kassel. This put the entire group out of the bomber stream: they were on their own. Ten minutes later, about one hundred German fighters jumped the group of bombers. The entire battle took less than five minutes. We lost twenty-five crews and ships at the scene of the tragedy. In addition, two ships crash landed in France, two crashed at Manston, England, and five crashed near our base at Tibenham, England, which means that only three ships returned and landed at our base.

During a target escort mission to Kassel, the 376th set an ETO record with claims of 18 E/A destroyed in the air, plus seven damaged, and three destroyed on the ground, plus one damaged. Lt. William R. Beyer became an “Ace in a Day”, claiming five Fw190s destroyed, but Lt. Leo H. Lamb was KIA.

The ferocity in which the Fw-190's attacked is evident by their claims of bombers destroyed which of course is not correct. 56 B-24's destroyed and 25 shot out of formation. For fact, we do know that IV.Sturm/JG 3 was the first to attack and had no high cover. I would suspect that their claims of 17 B-24's is correct, as they lost no pilots KIA, but had 5 wounded. They lost 6 aircraft to bomber return fire, and 3 damaged. II.Sturm/JG 4 came second with II.Sturm./JG 300 and the Bf 109 Gruppen coming in at a close 3rd, probably within 30 seconds to a minute of the JG 4 unit. These units probably shot down the stragglers not already shot down by JG 3.