402nd FS Combat Report - 9/12 - Engage enemy aircraft in the Utrecht area
Flying as a four ship, the squadron flew the long way North to the interception area, orbited the patrol point for circa 10 minutes and soon realised that the Luftwaffe were not coming out to play.
With the hunch that this could be a distinct possibility based on previous experiences, the squadron had equipped with 2x 500lb bombs for targets of opportunity. Working as pairs, at first with Red 1 and 2 flying top cover, with 3 and 4 dropping down to attack and then the reverse, all that was encountered amounted to a great deal of flak batteries with the hots for our behinds, protecting remarkably little in the way of juicy targets.
With 3 and 4 still up top, Red 1 and 2 were flying low weaving around the trees trying to shake the barrage when leader took a clattering of lead and shrapnel to the right boom of his aircraft damaging engine #2 and causing a fuel leak. Deciding this was all now a trifle on the risky side, it was decided to knock off and head for home. Heading South for the frontline still at low altitude trying to find an opportunity to climb, a column of trucks were spotted approaching a bridge by Red 2 that were flanked by AAA. With a bomb still hanging from his racks, Red 2 decided to drop on his way through. Sadly on the route out, with the AAA now very much awake he was seen to take burst to the back of the head and that was that. RIP 2nd Lt Aaron Massengill. We will certainly miss having the only pilot on strength able to decipher these difficult to pronounce European towns and cities!
Now firmly in friendly territory, Red lead climbed to 20,000ft to give best possible chance of gliding home should fuel starvation occur, though it would turn out that engine number two would give out first. Red 3 and 4 headed home as a pair with only a brief interruption to ID a flight of P-51s and all three remaining 402nd aircraft landed safely at Florennes with five engines between them.
Losing two pilots in successive missions is difficult to take especially when we are already at low strength, but this is war. And war is hell.