[bobbysocks]

Bill Overstreet 357 FG

Not long after this, I had a freak accident. I think it was a mission to southern France. While over enemy territory, a burst of flak cut my oxygen line. Since I was at about 25,000 feet, I soon passed out. The next thing I knew, I was in a spin, engine dead since the fuel tank it was set on was dry. Somehow, I recovered from the spin, changed fuel setting, got the engine started, and dodged the trees that were in front of me. Then, I looked at my watch. Ninety minutes were not in my memory. I had no idea where I was, but remembered where I had been headed so I reversed it. I was able to find the coast of France and headed for Leiston. By this time, I was low on fuel, so I landed at the Fourth Group base. The officer I talked with was Captain Mead, who had lived a couple of blocks from my home in Clifton Forge, Virginia. To top it off, the mechanic who repaired my plane was “Hot Cha” Tucker, a former schoolmate, also from Clifton Forge. I still have a picture of Tucker and me with a P-47. Many weeks later, this story got a lot of publicity – Lowell Thomas on radio, newspapers and TIME magazine. So, that is my claim to fame. I hope I did a little bit that was productive.

During this period, I was flying more with Andy Anderson, while Peters and Pascoe were flying more with Jim Browning. My crew chief was “Red” Dodsworth with “Whitey” McKain as his assistant. Whitey was soon promoted. Whitey and I became good friends in spite of one incident. One snowy day, the visibility was so limited that Whitey was riding my wing to the runway. At the runway, I motioned Whitey to get off, but he thought I wanted him to come to the cockpit. I was watching Andy and he gave it the gun to take off, so I did the same. Poor Whitey was blown off the wing, but was wrapped up so well he wasn’t hurt. I was very glad of that. I never knew of this until, many years later. Whitey was riding with me and told me he had promised himself never to ride with me again. He did ride with me to Oshkosh several times and we had a ball.

Another mission that didn’t turn out as expected was one when I had a sinus infection. When we chased the German fighters out of position to attack the bombers, if most of them had dived away from us, we would sometimes chase them down. This time, I was chasing a 109 in a power dive from about 30,000 feet. Suddenly, my eyes were swollen shut. I was able to keep flying by feel (the pressure on the controls). I called for help and “Daddy Rabbit” Peters said he could see me. He got on my wing, took me back to the base and talked me through a straight-in approach and landing. It was days before doctors could relieve the pressure, and I could see again.

On April 11, 1944, I was flying with Andy, Kayser and Simpson. While we were escorting the bombers, a large group of 109s started to attack the bombers head-on. Andy led us into the fight, trying to break up their formation and keep them from getting to the bombers. Maybe they didn’t like being shot at, but they scattered all over. When most of them had dived away, Andy led us down after three 109s. At about 5,000 feet, Kayser got in position and clobbered one of them. It broke apart and Kay had to dodge the debris. At about 3,500 feet, Simpson closed on another 109 and got two good bursts to the nose section. He rolled over and went straight in. I was busy with another 109 who tried to get behind Simpson. Andy was turning with another 109 in a tight turn. Andy couldn’t hold a lead inside his turn, so he reversed his turn and came in almost head-on. As the 109 broke apart, the pilot bailed out. That took care of the 109s, but Andy spotted a HE111K flying close to the ground. Andy hit him good but directed all of us to make a pass. We all got hits and Andy came back, hitting it from nose to tail. The HE111K tried to crash-land, hit a pole tearing off the left wing, then started burning. As it slid along, the crew jumped out and I believe they were all track stars. They were in a hurry. Andy insisted on sharing the claim, although he easily could have claimed it. He would rather give us some experience and training.

During May, 1944, Colonel Graham ordered side arms to be carried at all times. There was an alert about German paratroopers. On May 12, I destroyed a JU52 on the ground. Andy got another 109 in the air. With Pierce and Michaely, we also destroyed a locomotive, rail cars and some barges.

D-Day through October, 31, 1944

June 6 was the invasion. We took off about 2 a.m. in horrible weather. We had to climb about 20,000 feet to get out of the overcast. It was beautiful when I got on top. The moon was bright, and as planes would break out of the overcast, they were in different attitudes from the long climb on instruments. We never did find our assigned flights, just formed up in flights of four. We went to France to make sure that no German fighters could bother the invasion, and to prevent reinforcements from being brought up. After six hours, we came back to the base for fuel. The Group flew eight missions on the day of the invasion. Smaller flights had different objectives.

The next day, Andy, Simpson, Skara and I strafed trains, trucks and military vehicles. On June 10, the Group claimed trains, rail shacks, boxcars, trucks, lorries and barges. June 29 was a good day. I got behind a FW190 and when I started getting hits, he flipped over and bailed out. I used only 40 rounds the whole day. General Kepner issued another commendation for the 357th and the 361st Groups. We destroyed 48 enemy aircraft without losing a single bomber.

On July 29, I chased a 109 to the deck and had a wing in the grass when he blew up. He must have been trying to get to his base because we were close to a German airfield. My wingman, Harold Hand, and I made a pass and destroyed another 109 and damaged a DO217. I went back and got another 109 but I found that I was alone. I asked Hand where he was and he replied, “I am giving you top cover.” Smart fellow.

On August 6, we started on our shuttle mission. I was leading a flight with Cleland, Pearson and Fennel. Jack Cleland was a New Zealand RAF pilot who had flown two tours in Spitfires and came to us to get some experience in longer missions. On his two tours in Spitfires, no mission had exceeded two hours. What a mixed flight – Cleland and Pearson. Pearson was an American who had gone to Canada, joined the RCAF, then transferred to the USAAF and the 357th. About 7 hours later and after several dogfights on the way, we landed on a grass field in Russia.

The 357th had sent some mechanics as gunners on the bombers so they could service our planes. The trouble was, the bombers landed at a different field and the mechanics never got to our P-51s. The Russian crews put the wrong octane fuel in some of our P-51s and caused a lot of trouble. I was assigned a cot in a tent that came complete with a blacksnake in the cot. When I saw a P-39 on the field, I asked if I could fly it since I had a lot of time in P-39s. Not a chance. They wouldn’t let me get within a hundred feet of it.

We had one escort mission out of Russia. This gave enough time in Russia to find some beet vodka. We thought it was better than potato vodka and decided we should take some along with us. I offered to leave my ammunition behind to make space for the vodka. That was fine until we ran into some 109s on our way to Italy. Naturally, we went after them, but they ran away. However, we got close to the last one and he rolled over and bailed out. Since I was the closest plane, I could have claimed another 109, but I did not want to claim the only enemy plane destroyed with vodka! Now all I had to worry about was to make a smooth landing in Italy to safeguard my precious cargo. Our mission from Italy was a real thrill. We escorted C-47s to Yugoslavia to pick up downed airmen collected by Tito and brought to a small airfield. The C-47s took turns landing and picking up a load of men, then taking off. The amazing sight was as the fellows jumped into the C-47, they were throwing out their shoes, clothing, etc., for their rescuers. I guess everything was in short supply, and our airmen wanted to help those who had helped them. All that was left of the shuttle mission was the return to England. That took about 8 hours. How do you think Cleland, whose earlier missions had not exceeded two hours, felt by then?

I remember many exciting missions. On one, a 109 blew up when I was too close. Pieces of the 109 came into my cockpit and landed in my lap. I still have that piece of extremely light and strong metal. On another, I saw a 109, in a shallow dive after the pilot bailed out, crashing into the side of a factory. Then the engine itself came out the other side of the building, sliding down the street. On still another mission, a cannon shell came through the side of my canopy. It took the canopy, oxygen mask helmet, gave me a haircut, and a bad burn on my neck. Everyone knows you can’t hit a 90-degree shot very often, so I still wonder who the German was shooting at. At least I knew why my canopy was missing. Kit Carson lost his canopy on a mission and was angry with his crew chief until the crew chief took him over to the plane and showed him the bullet holes that caused the canopy to leave. Kit didn’t know until then that he had been hit.

On September 3, 1944, Ed Hiro and I went to a base where they had a B-24 stripped down but loaded with explosives. A pilot had to take off, then bail out when the radio control from the “Mother Ship” took over. By radio control, the bomber was flown in the sub pens and blown up. The sub pens were under heavy rock formations that had resisted bombing from the air. But when the explosion was inside, under the rock cover, significant damage was achieved. Our job was to make sure no enemy planes bothered the mission. My mission log for this day is marked “SECRET.”

This is when the OSS asked me to fly for them. They were already operating almost a regular airline to the Free French behind enemy lines. We picked up airmen downed behind enemy lines, collected intelligence, and provided supplies to the Free French. Soon I was grounded again, and ordered back to the States. What a Halloween present for my family!