Capt. Don S. Gentile takes a breather after returning from the epic mission of April 8, 1944 where he led the 336th Fighter Squadron, callsign “Shirtblue.” The 4th Fighter Group destroyed 33 German fighters with nine claimed as damaged. Gentile himself bagged three Fw 190s.
“Major Carpenter broke escort east of Nienburg by pulling ahead of the formation. At 1320 hrs., near Celle, 75 to 100 Fw 190s and Bf 109s were spotted coming for the bombers from the northeast at 21,000 feet in gaggles of threes and fours. The Group attacked and got into a fight that ranged over a 30-mile area from 23,000 feet to the deck … Gentile, Norley and Millikan each got three. The boys saw four to six B-24s go down with chutes everywhere. Two pilots were killed and two taken prisoner.” ~Mission narrative excerpt from Escort to Berlin, by Garry Fry and Jeff Ethell.
“I pulled around and saw a 190 firing at a Mustang. I did not get there soon enough because he shot the Mustang down. We had a long dogfight from 22,000 to 8,000 feet. He started to pull up and outclimbed me, but I hit him with a deflection shot and he bailed out. I started to climb immediately-full bore, and attacked another 190. He turned into me and made several passes, firing each time. We went around and around for 10 minutes down to the deck. I got a few non-vulnerable strikes and finally got behind him. Once I overshot and Lt. McKennon fired at him getting some strikes. When I next got behind him, I started him smoking and he went straight into the deck.” ~From Gentile’s Combat Report dictated to the squadron Intel officer.
Completed 2019
Collection of Lance Kuhn
Capt. Don S. Gentile takes a breather after returning from the epic mission of April 8, 1944 where he led the 336th Fighter Squadron, callsign “Shirtblue.” The 4th Fighter Group destroyed 33 German fighters with nine claimed as damaged. Gentile himself bagged three Fw 190s.
“Major Carpenter broke escort east of Nienburg by pulling ahead of the formation. At 1320 hrs., near Celle, 75 to 100 Fw 190s and Bf 109s were spotted coming for the bombers from the northeast at 21,000 feet in gaggles of threes and fours. The Group attacked and got into a fight that ranged over a 30-mile area from 23,000 feet to the deck … Gentile, Norley and Millikan each got three. The boys saw four to six B-24s go down with chutes everywhere. Two pilots were killed and two taken prisoner.” ~Mission narrative excerpt from Escort to Berlin, by Garry Fry and Jeff Ethell.
“I pulled around and saw a 190 firing at a Mustang. I did not get there soon enough because he shot the Mustang down. We had a long dogfight from 22,000 to 8,000 feet. He started to pull up and outclimbed me, but I hit him with a deflection shot and he bailed out. I started to climb immediately-full bore, and attacked another 190. He turned into me and made several passes, firing each time. We went around and around for 10 minutes down to the deck. I got a few non-vulnerable strikes and finally got behind him. Once I overshot and Lt. McKennon fired at him getting some strikes. When I next got behind him, I started him smoking and he went straight into the deck.” ~From Gentile’s Combat Report dictated to the squadron Intel officer.