ETO's Last Aerial Gunfight

Dan Jones · **Posted:** Wed Mar 21, 2007 1:22 pm

I've heard/read that the last air battle fought in the ETO was between a Piper L-4 armed with a Thompson and a Fieseler Storch crew with a Luger. Apparently the Cub won. Any truth to this story?

Dan

Mike · **Joined:** Tue May 04, 2004 8:54 am **Posts:** 3331

http://www.historicaircraftcollection.l ... tdogfight/

Jack Cook · **Posted:** Wed Mar 21, 2007 2:11 pm

Flying L-4s on the front lines was clearly a hazardous undertaking, but the simple, yet rugged, construction of the aircraft and its superb low-speed maneuverability rendered it a difficult target, and enemy ground forces quickly learned that drawing the attention of artillery spotter by shooting at it was a good way to incur a devastating artillery barrage. At one point, German soldiers in Italy could receive 15 days of leave from the front if they brought down one of these aircraft. There was at least one instance in which an L-4, piloted by Lt. Alfred Schultz, outmaneuvered a pursuing Messerschmitt Me 109, causing it to fly into the terrain. In another remarkable encounter, an L-4 entered into a dogfight with a Fiesler Storch (the German equivalent of the L-4) with each of the two-man crews shooting at each other with their side-arms. Lt. Duane Francis, pilot of the L-4, succeeded in shooting down the Storch, and even captured the crew. Although L-4s flew without any defensive armament, some L-4s, improvised in the field, carried heavy ordnance in the form of three bazookas strapped to the struts on the left wing. The pilot could fire them by reaching out the window and pulling a lanyard. L-4s of the Fourth Armored Division operating in Northwest Europe recorded some success with this arrangement.

hsperdue · **Posted:** Wed Mar 21, 2007 2:29 pm

The last kill of the ETO as credited to a F-6 pilot of the 12 TRS....

Dan Jones · **Posted:** Wed Mar 21, 2007 2:41 pm

Thanks guys, I knew the Wix'ers would provide the answer! Schultz's book ("Janey - A Little Plane in a Big War") is highly recommended. I read it just last year.

Dan

Richard W. · **Posted:** Wed Mar 21, 2007 2:48 pm

There's a good account of this incident in Cornelius Ryan's book, The Last Battle.

Dan Jones · **Posted:** Wed Mar 21, 2007 2:57 pm

Really? I have a copy of that somewhere. I'll take a look. Thanks.

Dan

Obergrafeter · **Posted:** Wed Mar 21, 2007 2:57 pm

Yes the L-4 "won" the last air battle. but the rest of the story......... the German crew was drunk at the time and looking for Americans or British to surrender to, anything to avoid the Russians. The standard Storch had a MG-15 machine gun and would prove much more dangerous tha a .45 if they would have defended themselves. There is an aviation painting of this event, the L-4s' name was "Miss Me"

Richard W. · **Posted:** Wed Mar 21, 2007 4:31 pm

Dan Jones wrote:

Really? I have a copy of that somewhere. I'll take a look. Thanks.

Dan

Yeah- I can't recall the American pilot's name. Check the caption on the photo of him posing with his trophy and then check it in the index.

Jack Cook · **Posted:** Wed Mar 21, 2007 4:33 pm

Quote:

I can't recall the American pilot's name.

Lt Duane Francis right out of the goo between my ears :shock:

Ztex · **Posted:** Wed Mar 21, 2007 4:52 pm

Quote:

Lt Duane Francis right out of the goo between my ears Shocked

Jack...your scary

tom d. friedman · **Posted:** Wed Mar 21, 2007 5:07 pm

excellent trivia!!

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ETO's Last Aerial Gunfight

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