Used Gilze as a temporary base as Volkel is finally getting repaired properly, after all this time. Late afternoon patrol towards Arnhem and Nijmegen, climbed to over angels 23 when Sqn Ldr Merfort called out bogies intercepting into our rear. We broke to starboard and observed a flight of 190s. After considerable air fighting at all attitudes between 20,000 ft and ground level over the Nijmegen area, Sqn Ldr Merfort called out over the R/T that he had destroyed an enemy 190 and I witnessed the burning hulk of this a/c falling out of the sky. At a very low altitude I came across Plt Off Cook who was chasing another Fw190 and he got some good hits onto his target resulting in the enemy a/c emitting smoke. P/O Cook informed me that he was out of ammunition so I took over the duties of finishing this E/A and after a half-second burst at zero deflection I separated his starboard wing from his a/c. Whilst flying inverted! This caused the enemy a/c to fall into a horizontal spin and quickly I observed the pilot deploy his chute after bailing out. P/O Cook confirmed that the a/c had exploded on impact with the ground and we agreed to share the claim. The squadron quickly reformed and headed back to base. Once over the bombline and only about 25 miles from base I saw the OC's a/c nose-dive towards the ground at speed and P/O Cook observed it impact with the ground in a beyond the vertical position. Possible control surface or cable damage caused during the air combat. The rest of the squadron recovered safely back to Gilze and then returned to Volkel after refuelling. A very quiet night in the mess without the OC. F/Lt 'Madov' Emblin |
