Thursday, September 05, 2019

The last flight of the Half Pint



 Half Pint, a P 47, was bringing up the rear when Robert Johnson spotted 16 more fighters above and behind– Focke-Wulfs, the Abbeville Boys, diving in for the kill. He called out a warning to the rest of the group, but for a fateful second nobody moved. Johnson held position, a perfect target, as the Germans raked him with fire–and then his P-47 was spinning downward, out of control, with the canopy jammed shut, trapping him in a cockpit full of fire.

The speed of his dive blew out the flames. Johnson managed to coast his crippled mount toward the Channel. Just when he thought he had made good his escape, a lone Fw-190 joined up behind him. Unable to dogfight but unwilling to just sit there and take it, Johnson used his lack of speed to force the Focke-Wulf into an overshoot so that he could turn the tables. Easily evading Johnson’s fire, the German circled back to shoot him up twice more. Still Half Pint refused to go down; finally, the German gave up, rocked his wings in grudging salute and turned back. With 21 cannon hits and more than 100 bullet holes in his Jug, Johnson made it across the Channel to a no-flaps, no-brakes landing at an RAF base near Dover, ground-looping to a stop between two parked Hawker Typhoons.

“Half Pint” took the brunt of multiple German aircraft, including the full magazines of a FW-190.

https://www.historynet.com/56th-fighter-group-in-world-war-ii.htm
https://i.pinimg.com/originals/57/83/64/578364eb0de5e43ad25c554b860679ff.jpg

Robert S Johnson enlisted in 1941 and shortly selected for flying training as a bomber pilot, he was commissioned in July 1942. In January 1943, he was assigned to the 56th Fighter Group and travelled with them to England, he was unqualified to fly the P-47 Thunderbolt but flew his first combat mission in April 1943. Nevertheless, Johnson claimed 27 aerial victories, becoming the first pilot to surpass First World War Ace Eddie Rickenbacker's record of 26 claims in May 1944. He flew 91 missions with the 56th Fighter Group. He completed his tour of Duty in 1944 and joined Republic Aviation as an engineering executive.


http://www.americanairmuseum.com/person/195482
http://www.donhollway.com/wolfpack/

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