This Date in History: January 11th.1944
Prelude to 'Big Week'



The 8th Air force is building up to what will become known as ‘Big Week’.
In preparation for the invasion of Europe, the Americans were tasked
with destroying the factories and complexes producing fighters,
and destroying the Luftwaffe in the air. However, the weapon that was the 8th Air force
was still growing. The principle bomber escort fighters, P47’s had only started
to use pressurized auxiliary fuel tanks in September 43. P38’s had only arrived
in England in October. The blind bombing radar H2X, enabling some kind of accuracy
when bombing through solid cloud, was first used by pathfinders in November.
The fighter that was to become the key to large daylight raids deep into Germany, the P51,
had only just been introduced in December. The defensive armament of the bombers themselves
was being developed, and the introduction of the B17-G, with extra forward facing guns
in a chin turret, only happening in December also.

The 381st Bomb Groups target on January 11th was the aircraft assembly plant at Oschersleben.
All 3 Bomb Divisions had set out, but the 2nd and 3rd had received a recall message,
leaving the 1st Division, including the 381st, alone and short of escort fighters,
as some had failed to rendezvous with the bomber stream.

The bombers at an altitude of 20,000ft with an air temperature of -32C, are being attacked head
on by a pair of Bf 109G’s of III/JG11. These attacks continued almost constantly
from the Belgian border to the target. Of the 150 B17’s that pressed on to Oschersleben,
50 bombers were shot down, some by flak, mostly by fighters.

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This Date in History: January 11th.1945
Capt. Shomo's Seven



Captain William A. Shomo is seen off the northern coast of the island of Luzon,
Phillippine Territory on 11 January, 1945 during an armed recon mission. Captain Shomo, CO
of the 82nd Tactical Reconnaisance Squadron, and his wingman, Lt. Paul Lipscomb
attacked a formation of 11 Ki-61 "Tonys" and 1 Ki-44 "Tojo" escorting a G4M "Betty" bomber.
Shomo shot down seven, including the "Betty" and Lipscomb shot down four more.
Shomo, considered to be a "natural" fighter pilot was awarded the 'Medal of Honor'
for his actions on this mission.

The Dogfight account:

On their first pass through the formation Shomo closed to less than 40 yards before opening fire.
He shot down four Tonys, then came up under the bomber, firing into its belly.
The bomber caught fire and began to lose altitude as its pilot attempted to crash-land the plane.
Two of the Tonys escorting the bomber stayed with it as it went down.
Shomo pulled up in a tight vertical spiral to gain altitude while the Tojo turned to engage him.
The Japanese fighter fired until it stalled and slipped into the clouds.
The Betty exploded as it bellied in, and the two escorting Tonys broke away, staying low.
Shomo made a second diving pass at the two Tonys and downed them both. In under six minutes,
Bill Shomo had shot down seven enemy planes, becoming an "Ace-in-One-Day."
Only one other American fighter pilot scored more confirmed victories in a single mission
Navy Cmdr. David McCampbell, CAG-15 aboard USS Essex (24 October 1944 9-confirmed victories + 2 probables).
Meanwhile, his wingman shot down three of the remaining six planes.
The surviving three Japanese planes fled the encounter.


Here's more info
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_A._Shomo



Cheers mates
David