How the P-51 Mustangs Finished the Luftwaffe (With Guncam Footage)

D-Day plus 18 the battle for France is well underway with the Allied troops in a brutal fight to push forward on the ground but they cannot do it alone in order to win the battle on the French Countryside Air Supremacy must also be maintained this will be the job for the pilots of the eth Air Force brave men like Ed mcnf first lieutenant mcnf is now a seasoned veteran who has been at the front for more than 6 months he has one shared kill to his name and is now the leader of custard Blue flight in The 355th Fighter Group it is currently the morning of June 24th of 1944 and as we can see here in Ed's log book there were two missions flown on this day one of the only times in his career that this is the case so pay attention because there is going to be plenty of action to go around today's assignment is a routine Patrol as the Mustangs of the 355th are supposed to scan for any Fighters or vehicle movements that might be giving trouble to the Troops pushing East Ed mcnf leads his flight four planes scanning The Horizon for targets but after a long Patrol little is seen there are General targets across the French Countryside trains and other common Supply vehicles and some of them are strafed but nothing out of the ordinary that is until the last leg of the flight here shortly before the are about to turn back for England one of the pilots in Ed's flight spots something an Airfield neatly hidden between the trees and Shrubbery of the French landscape it is a well-disguised air strip with planes camouflaged well but the American Pilots had just barely seen it this would be a prime opportunity to destroy German aircraft before they have the chance to leave the ground after all if one has the opportunity destroying an enemy Target is always easiest if you can do it before they have a chance to fight back this Airfield would turn out to be susel a lvfa air strip that currently housed the once great jg53 but lately they had been taking a beating defending that Ike losing many of their best Pilots to attrition as mcnf leads custard blue he is aware that this is a crucial Target but at this point they have little Fuel and ammunition to spare so instead of an allout attack Ed mcnf orders a quick strike utilizing all of their remaining ammunition before they have to turn for home being the leader he opts to go in after the 20 mm Flack imp placements himself along with his wingman while they do this the second pair go after some of the grounded aircraft this works to Perfection and in the initial pass mcnf batters the anti-aircraft in placement we we found a we discovered a German Airbase in France and it was nothing but a gray big grass field and the airplanes were parked in under trees at the uh on the edge you know but as I was coming around the Airfield is down here and I'm coming down this this way not too high and I look over there and there's this guy coming out of the tree line and I said to myself in my oxygen mask I said oh don't do that cuz he was going to come out there and there was a gun in placement out in the middle but he didn't hear me say don't do that so he came out and he jumped into this gun in placement and I came around and I shot him I I didn't feel good about it but uh that was one of the things I did when we were strafing that particular Airfield and fortunately thanks to the mcnf family we can see this actual gun camera footage here where clear hits can be seen on the batteries that are well hidden in the wooded terrain while he does this the other pair destroy a handful of grounded Fighters since the 20 mm were so well suppressed it was a textbook attack but now time is up and custard Blue flight turns for home leaving the Airfield behind them and heading back to England but surprisingly their day is not done upon Landing a plan is put together mcnf and his flight have uncovered a well-hidden airst strip with plenty of valuable planes still on the ground and even more importantly the flak has already been hammered meaning that it will be weakly defended if at all so the boys of the 355th are ordered back into their planes as soon as they can be reload loaded and refueled another attack on the very same Airfield is now to be made but this time there will be more than just custard blue instead the 355th will be sending two full squadrons to strike the Airfield looks like it's going to be a bad day to be a parked 109 by the time the planes are Reed it is now getting later in the day the p51s take off and mcnf leads custard blue again directing the rest of the unit on where the Airfield can be found after a short time over the channel and France they find it and the attack Begins the field was first spotted from about 3,000 ft as we were coming down the river from Northeast to Southwest we swung North and made our first pass a recognition pass from north to south without firing our guns the Squadron pulled up to 1,500 ft made a 270° turn and right and made its first firing attack from west to east myself lieutenant forer and Lieutenant Spencer each picked out a plane in the first dispersal marked as one two and three and concentrated their fire on these planes all three planes blew up and burned from this one attack and there were three distinct fires in that particular dispersal as the Squadron pulled up from this attack for the next 20 minutes the p-51s of the two squadrons poured lead into nearly every measureit at the Airfield as we can see from the combat report here it was quite a turkey shoot with many Pilots claiming ground kills but most importantly to our story is this one Ed mcnf scoring a confirmed ground Victory here once again we can see the gun camera footage from the later attack with the planes well hidden in the tree Tre but Ed's 50 calibers find home and hits the target hard at the end of the attack the Mustangs fly over and examine the Airfield where more than 20 fires are counted below according to German records from that day 14 109s were destroyed in the attack with many others significantly damaged it was a Monumental Victory and there was quite a party for the boys when they made it back to St it was time to chalk up another victory for Ed mcnf and the 355th but they were still at War just 2 weeks later Ed would have another serious runin with a 109 but this time his Target was airborne and anything but stationary this would be on July 7th of 1944 during this sorty a large force of b-24s was sent up to attack Targets near leig knowing that this was a heavily defended Target multiple fighter groups were sent to escort the the bombers one of them would be the 355th with Ed mcnf once again leading custard blue after forming up and ruing with the liberators it soon became apparent that this would not be a milk run with large reports of German Fighters coming in for what seemed like an allout attack from multiple directions but according to the reports these were not the normal interceptors that M nef and his men were used to seeing the bulk of this force would be meser smid IM 410s a twin engine aircraft that was currently being used as a bomber killer the 410 was selected for this role as it was fairly fast in the air and could withstand more damage than that of a 109 as well as carrying one or more powerful cannons in the nose that could easily destroy an American bomber furthermore because it was also not supposed to get into dog fights it could be outfitted with rockets underneath the wings which were to be fired fired into heavy combat box formations of liberators or flying fortresses here we can see a photo of one of these four tins zooming right by the wing of a B7 just finishing a pass and if we look closely we can even see its large Cannon clearly protruding from the nose throughout 1943 this fighter bomber dubbed The Hornet was actually quite successful although not commonly known or studied it was used quite a effectively in the first year or so of the Allied bombing campaigns and on multiple occasions 41s were able to take down multiple American bombers with minimal losses of their own but in 1944 things changed by this time the US commanders recognized a need for fighter escort and American Thunderbolts and Lightnings began arriving on the scene appearing in increasing numbers in the Skies over Europe with these new little friends in the air the 410 Effectiveness was seriously hindered if the German interceptors were to run into these more agile Fighters they were outmatched and began to see significant losses so as 1944 went along the numbers of 410 in the air were dwindling with every passing month but today July 7th of 1944 would be one final harra for the German Hornet once the bomber force was detected the lvfa sent up a large force of me1410 this time though they were escorted by Emy 109's to help protect them from American fighters this would set up a major clash and one of the largest aerial battles over Europe in the entire month The Clash began at approximately 9:30 a.m. here p-51k piloted by Ed mcnf had just finished the escort roll and was patrolling the area above when they spotted the final box of b-24s near the German Town of nous as they scann the skies from 25,000 ft a call went out Bandits cited approaching this bomber formation and fast they were twin engine interceptors and 109s immediately The 357th Fighter Squadron turned to break up the attack which was already beginning to open up on some of the liberators I was leading custard Blue flight we had escorted the bombers through the Target and were flying back to cover the last box of bombers when we spotted 10 Bogies on the north and east of the bombers they queued up and made an attack on a straggling bomber as we closed in on them in a few moments custard blue and custard red were in The Fray diving in after German aircraft the force broke up and split into two directions with custard red going after the 410s while mcnf and his flight took the more difficult Target the escorting 109s this was the ideal strategy as someone had to keep the fighters at Bay while the others went after the easier 410 to protect the bombers mcnf and his flight were just the men for the job his number three aircraft during this Mission leading the second pair of mustangs in his four plane flight was a young man by the name of Francis echelman once again thanks to the echelman family I have actually gotten a copy of an interview where Francis echelman spoke out about this very mission I was flying Custer blue number three with Ed mcnf as our flight lead our flight lost the group about 15 minutes before the target the group had gotten into a fight with some Bandits and Blue flight searched the area until the last box of bombers had gone by at that time some Fighters came up next to the last box of bombers and so we started after them to identify them we we had been broke Wen up in a fight and well after the mission uh escort part why we usually broke up anyway you know into smaller groups and uh we spotted a bunch of 109's coming up on the very last string of bombers we could see them going out and they were B 24s and here come this flock of 109's up and they went up and they pulled in behind those b-24s and boy we were on them right now while Francis splits off and goes after one of the bandits Ed picks out his own measi diving in after his Target and unfortunately for him the one that he picks out is no amateur he immediately engages and gets into an intense turning fight trying to shake the Mustang we can look back at the Shared aerial kill that Ed scored back in April that the German pilot in this case was rather light on the controls most mostly flying just straight and level but looking at the gun camera footage from this engagement on July 7th this 109 has no fear of aggressive Maneuvers and uses them well while this intense dog fight begins Francis echelman is in the middle of his own fight with his measure Schmid they turned out to be 109's making a pass on the bombers so we immediately pulled in behind them and started firing I fired several bursts but could see no real damage on the enemy aircraft that I was firing at so it is my belief that I put several holes in him but at that time more p-51s came in Fast and our flight was left out I claim 11 109 damaged signed first lieutenant Francis J echelman July 7th 1944 that's when I got a piece of that one but that's all mhm but we were traveling so fast when we came down out of that dive uh the Germans were even falling behind mhm they would take a lot of their new pilots which a lot of them didn't have very much experience and the leader would say just follow me and he'd put three or four of them behind him just follow me they didn't know what to do you know mhm and here was this one starting to fall back and I'm firing at this one up ahead of me and uh I look out to the side that my wingman wingman out there and here's this 109 right between us now that's a strange feeling you know M we were all three flying there right together and he finally realized he was in trouble and down that 109 could go down so fast you wouldn't believe believe it like a brick yeah oh man they were fast going down and up they'd go straight up too back with p-51k and Ed mcnf this engagement has turned into an even tighter turn Chase with Ed doing everything he can to try and get a clear shot on the Bandit but this one is a good pilot and gives him very few chances the gun camera footage here clearly shows Ed trying to hit his Target with multiple difficult deflection shots initially with little success but then he eventually lands a good hit on the 109 scoring a strike on the left wing and causing white smoke to pour from the enemy aircraft following this strike the 109 is damaged and cannot continue its intensive maneuvering so he instead turns away and tries to escape here Ed follows opening fire once again as his Target slowly loses altitude still bleeding smoke it is about this time that the German is likely beginning to realize that he's nearly out of options I picked out a 109 and started jockeying for position for the kill I took a couple of deflection shots hit him first his left radiator from about 200 yds out we worked our way down to the deck and I got a good burst in from dead a Stern observing hits on the rightwing route the the Hun jettisoned his canopy and crashed before he could bail out I claim one 109 destroyed as he scored one more strike on the 109 at low altitude the German pilot tried to get out of the doomed aircraft but with no success the plane struck the ground and he exploded upon impact the end of an intense dog fight with p-51k and Ed mcnf being the victors Upon returning to England this kill would be confirmed by John T Hurley Ed's wingman for this Mission giving Lieutenant mcnf his first full confirmed victory of his career at the end of July Ed mcnf finished his first combat tour well in in the fighter business 65 missions was a tour and you could uh do your 65 missions and go home or you could go home on leave and come back so I volunteered to do my 6 I did my 65 and then I volunteered to come back after some much needed rest he was back for more starting a second Tour of Duty in mid November on November 20th we can see his gun camera footage where mcnf and his fellow crew members strafe trains and vehicles on the road drilling supply lines this is especially impressive when we take into account account that according to James Marshall's book on the 355th fighter group that this was the single heaviest and most accurate day of flag that the group experienced during the entire War I was uh on my way home and I was flying over to the rwer valley Essen area and some shrapnel came up through my wing Flack shrapnel and you know the Flack is around it's it's black burst all over when they're shooting at you and I had a piece couple of pieces come up through the uh the wing and that's all that you know that's mostly all there was near the end of the war was strafing and of course the Germans had a lot of guns around the airfields and they were shooting at us but here I am the missions just like this would continue with the P-51 Mustangs from The 355th Fighter Group dominating the air and destroying any Targets on the ground until just a few months later the Germans surrendered ending the war in Europe it was a a morning um know I I didn't hear anything other than what came over the intercom and then everybody would be in the mes hall or in the officer Club talking about it's over and wondering what we're going to do next so basically everybody was quite happy Ed mcnf would not run into the lvfa again as the German Pilots were dwindling along with their precious fuel it was not easy finding airplanes to shoot down especially after you know after we got air superiority and and everybody was out looking to shoot down an airplane um you just couldn't find them anymore he would end the war with one and a half confirmed kills along with one destroyed on the ground Francis echelman EDS number three on the July 7th Mission would go down in France on August 12th of 1944 bailing out and evading capture so I popped the canopy loose and took all the straps loose and I rolled it upside down and I fell halfway out and the slipstream blew me right against the back of the cockpit and there I was plastered there and I struggled and struggled and finally got loose it just let loose all of a sudden pow and I'm out so then I I'm on my back spinning like a top and I thought well if I pull that ring now I I'll get all tangled up in the Shroud lines I'll wait a minute until I slow down and we had we didn't know about putting your hands out and changing anything you know like they do nowadays so I waited for a few minutes and uh or seconds actually and I finally pulled that ring and uh the shoot opened up there and it felt like I was going right out through the bottom of the harness it was a really hard pop and I looked up at that shoot up there and boy how great it was that white shoot I look down and there's the ground right there I didn't even have time to do anything I hit the ground with a thud he would survive the war and was sent home as for Ed mcnf he would go on to have a prestigious career in the US Air Force flying the f86 sabber in Korea before being assigned once again to F100 super sabers in Vietnam racking up more than 20000 missions as Vice Commander for the 35th tactical Fighter Wing by the time he retired he was a major general and had accumulated more than 6,700 hours of flying time as many of you know Ed mcnf passed away in October peacefully at the age of 99 9 months after we completed his interview over the past year we've had the opportunity to try and put together these videos to try and tell his story this has been one of the highlights of our lives and hopefully we did him and his story Justice one more big thank you to the mcf family and I'll see you next time

Channel: TJ3 History

Views: 730,770

Keywords: P-51, P51, P-51 Mustang, Me-109, Fw-190, Bf-109, Focke Wulf 190, Messerschmitt, Luftwaffe, Bud Anderson, Clarence Anderson, Old Crow P-51, 8th Air Force, P-51 Mustang Ace, P-51 Documentary, War Thunder P-51, Flight Sim, World War II Flight Sim, Combat Flight Sim, War Thunder, Realistic, History Channel Dogfights, Historic, WW2 Air Combat, Documentary, Mark Felton, Yarnhub, dark Skies, P-51 Ace, P-51 Mustang Documentary, 355th Fighter Group, Ed McNeff, P-51 Ed McNeff, P-51 Kay

Id: eBwlSio-Lb4

Length: 24min 3sec (1443 seconds)

Published: Thu Dec 21 2023