Military Aviation Art
May 27, 1944, Capt. C. E. "Bud" Anderson's flight was attacked
by Me 109s while protecting B-17s en route to Ludwigshaven, Germany. After
breaking up their attack, Anderson ends up in a dramatic one on one
dogfight at high altitude. The Me 109 makes a hard left climbing turn.
Anderson cannot follow and counters by overshooting, climbing steeply
trading airspeed for altitude. The Messerschmitt reverses his turn and
tries to follow, but can't bring his 20mm cannon to bear on the steeply
climbing P-51. The Me 109 shudders, stalls and falls away. Anderson
reverses and follows. The German dives away, but seeing the Mustang now on
his tail he again makes a hard left climbing turn. This time Anderson
attempts to stay inside the turn of his opponent. The German reverses his
turn and pulls up steeply in a bid to out climb the Mustang. Anderson
follows, closes and fires the four .50 caliber machine guns getting good
hits at 300 yards. The Messerschmitt bursts into smoke and flames. As it
hangs on its propeller, Old Crow pulls along side for a closer look. The
stricken Me 109 slowly turns and falls at high speed straight down from
33,000 feet, making a tremendous explosion as it impacts the ground. This
marked Capt. Anderson's 7th victory.
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