"Today’s show proved to be an interesting one ..."
So opens the 335th Fighter Squadron diary for November 2, 1944. The teletype clacked out a flash message in the wee hours at group operations, and the Debden-based 4th Fighter Group was put on immediate alert. Ground crews stumbled out of their brick dormitory-style barracks first - a relative luxury at their prewar permanent base - and hit the chow hall for breakfast. After chow they loaded up on trucks, jeeps, and bicycles to make the short trip around the airfield’s perimeter track to their bedded-down P-51 Mustangs. After removing the overnight tarps, the crew chief for each P-51 supervised the hanging of two 108-gallon drop tanks on the wing pylons per directive from the group ops desk. The cigar-shaped tanks were relatively light when empty due to their pressed-paper composition, and the job was quick. Breakaway 'glass elbows' in the plumbing connecting the external tanks to the internal fuel system were carefully checked. A tank that wouldn’t feed properly was grounds for an abort of that aircraft, and nobody wanted that. This was to be a long 'show,' and a full load of fuel would be required.
Flashlights stabbed the darkness around each plane as portable gasoline-powered auxiliary power carts were rolled out and plugged into each aircraft. The morning silence was broken by the sounds of three squadrons’ worth of 1,500 horsepower 'Merlin' engines coming to life as the crew chief of each aircraft warmed up and checked the motors. Satisfied that their pilots would have an 'up' ship, the aircraft were shut down and everybody waited for the word that the mission was definitely a Go. Before long the dispersal phones at each squadron rang and caught the attention of everyone nearby. "Top ‘em off!" rang out and soon fuel trucks made their way around the parking spots topping off the internal fuel cells and filling the relatively fragile 'paper' drop tanks on the wings as much as possible to avoid condensation in the tanks.
Captain Fred Glover, an aggressive leader and disgruntled ferry pilot who finally wangled his way into a combat assignment by power-diving an Oxford transport without authorization and managing to not kill himself, was again taking his turn leading the entire group after a successful mission the previous day escorting two combat wings of B-24s to Gelsenkirchen. The fighter pilots in the briefing hut near the three large 'C' hangars were called to attention at 0830 hours as Glover stepped to the front of the room with a quick, "At ease, gentlemen" before laying out the day’s tasking.
8th Air Force Field Order 1281A called for the group to aid in providing after-bombing Target Withdrawl Support to twelve combat wings of B-17s tasked with striking the I. G. Farben synthetic oil complexes at Leuna near Merseburg, Germany. The initial part of the mission for the 4th was to be "Free Lance" strafing of ground targets and engaging any enemy aircraft who rose to intercept them. The latest intel, weather, locations of friendly forces, escape & evasion, and air-sea rescue details and procedures were outlined by the respective group officers before Capt. Glover gave a time hack and went over the planned mission timing. Takeoff - 0925 hrs; Set Course - 0947; Continent - 1046; Rendezvous with Bombers - 1147; English Channel - 1330; Base - 1432. Released, the pilots adjourned to the personal equipment shacks to don flight gear and collect mission combat maps and evasion & survival kits. Trucks and jeeps waited outside to bring them to their assigned aircraft for the mission. Higher-ranking officers usually flew a 'personal' aircraft regularly if it wasn’t in maintenance.
335th Fighter Squadron ops officer Captain Louis H. "Red Dog" Norley, Jr., of Conrad, Montana, quickly strapped into his P-51D, coded WD-O. The nickname reminded everyone of Norley’s, "… matchless capacity to lose money at Red Dog poker," according to the 4th’s wartime public relations officer and postwar group chronicler Capt. Grover C. Hall, Jr. Norley would be leading his squadron as "Caboose White 1." Big 'WD' letters painted near the national insignia and the white rudder trimmed in red identified his Mustang as a 335th machine. The individual aircraft letter 'O' and 'Red Dog' script painted on the engine panels were unique to his 'kite.'
The 4th made landfall over the small dutch port city of IJmuiden and conducted strafing sweeps in the Hannover-Magdeburg area before setting course for their part of the bomber escort relay. Near the rendezvous point about fifteen Luftwaffe Bf 109s were encountered and engaged. Unusual fast moving contrails were soon spied east of the target area climbing steeply towards the bomber streams. Capt. Glover turned towards a number of small dots - approximately twelve in all were spotted according to Norley’s report - pulling the thick white ribbons in the sky almost straight up. They watched as the fast movers made single passes at the bombers. The Mustang pilots recognized the attackers as small but deadly Luftwaffe Me 163 rocket interceptors, one of the advanced "wonder weapons" the Germans were employing in the later stages of the war. Well-placed bursts from the cannons carried by the Me 163s could easily blow a wing off a bomber. The latest intel stated these tiny craft had very short duration fuel on board and would soon be gliding back down to their base. According to Norley's encounter report filed upon return the P-51s set up a port orbit and waited patiently for the "Fleas" to glide back down to their base with their fuel mostly expended ...
My painting shows Captain Norley just after firing and getting hits on one of the rocket fighters. This Me 163 was being flown by Oberfeldwebel Jakob Bollenrath of the Brandis-based I./JG 400. Norley made an initial pass at Bollenrath but overshot. Quickly repositioning, Red Dog followed the 163 as the “jet … used his blower (rocket motor) for a couple of seconds" and made an aggressive left turn. The high-drag turn enabled Norley to get within range and fire. He observed a number of strikes and watched as the small rocket plane rolled over and went straight down to crash and explode near a small village.
The 4th escorted the bombers to the English Channel and broke escort at 14,000 feet finally landing well after 1500 hrs. A long one, but the group had a good day - no losses were suffered, and Norley and Capt. Glover each bagged an Me 163. Fellow pilots Lts. Charles Brock and John Kolbe destroyed one Bf 109 each.
Completed 2023
Collection of David Leininger
"Today’s show proved to be an interesting one ..."
So opens the 335th Fighter Squadron diary for November 2, 1944. The teletype clacked out a flash message in the wee hours at group operations, and the Debden-based 4th Fighter Group was put on immediate alert. Ground crews stumbled out of their brick dormitory-style barracks first - a relative luxury at their prewar permanent base - and hit the chow hall for breakfast. After chow they loaded up on trucks, jeeps, and bicycles to make the short trip around the airfield’s perimeter track to their bedded-down P-51 Mustangs. After removing the overnight tarps, the crew chief for each P-51 supervised the hanging of two 108-gallon drop tanks on the wing pylons per directive from the group ops desk. The cigar-shaped tanks were relatively light when empty due to their pressed-paper composition, and the job was quick. Breakaway 'glass elbows' in the plumbing connecting the external tanks to the internal fuel system were carefully checked. A tank that wouldn’t feed properly was grounds for an abort of that aircraft, and nobody wanted that. This was to be a long 'show,' and a full load of fuel would be required.
Flashlights stabbed the darkness around each plane as portable gasoline-powered auxiliary power carts were rolled out and plugged into each aircraft. The morning silence was broken by the sounds of three squadrons’ worth of 1,500 horsepower 'Merlin' engines coming to life as the crew chief of each aircraft warmed up and checked the motors. Satisfied that their pilots would have an 'up' ship, the aircraft were shut down and everybody waited for the word that the mission was definitely a Go. Before long the dispersal phones at each squadron rang and caught the attention of everyone nearby. "Top ‘em off!" rang out and soon fuel trucks made their way around the parking spots topping off the internal fuel cells and filling the relatively fragile 'paper' drop tanks on the wings as much as possible to avoid condensation in the tanks.
Captain Fred Glover, an aggressive leader and disgruntled ferry pilot who finally wangled his way into a combat assignment by power-diving an Oxford transport without authorization and managing to not kill himself, was again taking his turn leading the entire group after a successful mission the previous day escorting two combat wings of B-24s to Gelsenkirchen. The fighter pilots in the briefing hut near the three large 'C' hangars were called to attention at 0830 hours as Glover stepped to the front of the room with a quick, "At ease, gentlemen" before laying out the day’s tasking.
8th Air Force Field Order 1281A called for the group to aid in providing after-bombing Target Withdrawl Support to twelve combat wings of B-17s tasked with striking the I. G. Farben synthetic oil complexes at Leuna near Merseburg, Germany. The initial part of the mission for the 4th was to be "Free Lance" strafing of ground targets and engaging any enemy aircraft who rose to intercept them. The latest intel, weather, locations of friendly forces, escape & evasion, and air-sea rescue details and procedures were outlined by the respective group officers before Capt. Glover gave a time hack and went over the planned mission timing. Takeoff - 0925 hrs; Set Course - 0947; Continent - 1046; Rendezvous with Bombers - 1147; English Channel - 1330; Base - 1432. Released, the pilots adjourned to the personal equipment shacks to don flight gear and collect mission combat maps and evasion & survival kits. Trucks and jeeps waited outside to bring them to their assigned aircraft for the mission. Higher-ranking officers usually flew a 'personal' aircraft regularly if it wasn’t in maintenance.
335th Fighter Squadron ops officer Captain Louis H. "Red Dog" Norley, Jr., of Conrad, Montana, quickly strapped into his P-51D, coded WD-O. The nickname reminded everyone of Norley’s, "… matchless capacity to lose money at Red Dog poker," according to the 4th’s wartime public relations officer and postwar group chronicler Capt. Grover C. Hall, Jr. Norley would be leading his squadron as "Caboose White 1." Big 'WD' letters painted near the national insignia and the white rudder trimmed in red identified his Mustang as a 335th machine. The individual aircraft letter 'O' and 'Red Dog' script painted on the engine panels were unique to his 'kite.'
The 4th made landfall over the small dutch port city of IJmuiden and conducted strafing sweeps in the Hannover-Magdeburg area before setting course for their part of the bomber escort relay. Near the rendezvous point about fifteen Luftwaffe Bf 109s were encountered and engaged. Unusual fast moving contrails were soon spied east of the target area climbing steeply towards the bomber streams. Capt. Glover turned towards a number of small dots - approximately twelve in all were spotted according to Norley’s report - pulling the thick white ribbons in the sky almost straight up. They watched as the fast movers made single passes at the bombers. The Mustang pilots recognized the attackers as small but deadly Luftwaffe Me 163 rocket interceptors, one of the advanced "wonder weapons" the Germans were employing in the later stages of the war. Well-placed bursts from the cannons carried by the Me 163s could easily blow a wing off a bomber. The latest intel stated these tiny craft had very short duration fuel on board and would soon be gliding back down to their base. According to Norley's encounter report filed upon return the P-51s set up a port orbit and waited patiently for the "Fleas" to glide back down to their base with their fuel mostly expended ...
My painting shows Captain Norley just after firing and getting hits on one of the rocket fighters. This Me 163 was being flown by Oberfeldwebel Jakob Bollenrath of the Brandis-based I./JG 400. Norley made an initial pass at Bollenrath but overshot. Quickly repositioning, Red Dog followed the 163 as the “jet … used his blower (rocket motor) for a couple of seconds" and made an aggressive left turn. The high-drag turn enabled Norley to get within range and fire. He observed a number of strikes and watched as the small rocket plane rolled over and went straight down to crash and explode near a small village.
The 4th escorted the bombers to the English Channel and broke escort at 14,000 feet finally landing well after 1500 hrs. A long one, but the group had a good day - no losses were suffered, and Norley and Capt. Glover each bagged an Me 163. Fellow pilots Lts. Charles Brock and John Kolbe destroyed one Bf 109 each.