Luftwaffe III/JG51 Combat Report

The dashing pilots of III Staffeln / JG51 have submitted their combat reports following the recent action over Das Kanal. In the interest of fair play, I'll let the somewhat inexperienced but valiant Leutnant Beens take up the story...

Lt Heinz Beens reports:

Flying in formation with our Top Ace, Oblt Trautloft, we surprised a flight of Spitfires head on. A short burst of my cannons put one wingman into panic as parts of his cockpit burst into the sky and he quickly dove for the sea and turned for home.

My wingman, Lt Gruber, was hit as we chased the British flight leader. Without being able to fire his little gun but using the skills he had learnt from me, he was able to bring his damaged plane back to base.

Meanwhile I joined our leader in pursuing and taking out another Spitfire, causing it to spiral into the sea after a longer burst from my cannon.

The third Spitfire was also damaged and ran for the coast, but we were unable to pursue as the second flight was suffering badly against a flight of Hurricanes, so we turned to offer them aid.

Those damned Hurricanes are tough. but we drove them off before heading home.

...clearly, Lt Beens would benefit from some additional aircraft recognition lectures from the Intelligence Section of III/JG51, although you can't fault his enthusiasm!

:O)