Having moved to Volkel airfield I left with Flt Lt Merfort in a flight of six Spit MkIXs on a combat air patrol along the front line area to the east and north of our current location. Flight Lead climbed hard and fast to nearly angels 20. Within 20 minutes we were engaged by enemy a/c and we took the battle down to much lower altitude. I put a half second burst into a 109 near Oss and he did begin to produce smoke but carried on and I had to pull clear due to GLOC. Fl Lt Merfort backed me up and finished off this enemy a/c which went down near Oss.
Before I was able to reform with my element lead I was attacked by a number of low flying Fw-190s. I had inadvertently strayed over an enemy frontline airfield and kicked up a stink. This was over the Nijmegen area. For nearly 15 minutes I was involved in a constant furball with enemy a/c, taking my opportunities as they presented themselves. I scored very good hits on two 190s in quick succession, both of which were seen to go straight down in flames and explode on impact with the ground. Five minutes of rest for me to cool the engine and I began to move west out of the area. From the high port beam I caught sight of a hard diving enemy a/c which screamed past the nose of my Spitfire and I identified a Bf109 K4 variant in dark dapple green camo. I was able to get onto his tail after a good five minutes of max continuous power and I put a full one second burst into the fuselage and cockpit area of the enemy. This a/c was seen to ignite in a spectacular fashion and became a blazing torch as it hurtled vertically down into the forest below.
My engine was very hot and tired and I was drained and soaked through with sweat. I put my a/c into normal cruise and picked up a bearing from my map for home base at Volkel. After only a few minutes I spotted a number of bogies in my rear view mirror and turned hard to port to engage them. By this time I was almost out of ammo and I knew I had to disengage quickly. I turned with a couple of the enemy a/c which I identified as more K4 variants, there were a total of 5 enemy a/c milling around me at this stage. At the earliest possible opportunity I dropped to the ground level and put on full rpm and gate to try and escape. I continued heading west into the setting sun for about 4 minutes and I was evading from the pursuers but I could still see them behind me. With my engine overheating I decided to put my a/c down as gently as possible and found a suitable ploughed farmer's field. With flaps down and throttle at idle I made a text book belly landing but the a/c is very seriously damaged, certainly a class B if it can be retrieved from the mud. As I crash landed our side of the front line I was able to relax a little and when the enemy a/c had cleared the area I found a local farmhouse and managed to make a phone call to the airfield. The farmer's wife invited me to a meal of local cheese and wine which I really enjoyed. F/Lt 'Madov' Emblin |
