The Abbeville Boys

Chapter 17: The Abbeville Boys Earn Their Reputation

       The level bombers and 109’s continued to attack England. The Germans suffered losses. The Abbeville Boys remained in France. They were to cover the retreat of the German bombers and 109’s as they flew across the channel to France. The Abbeville Boys met the Englanders and made them suffer heavy losses. Their reputation grew. JG 26 was dangerous. Don’t mess with the Abbeville Boys, and they enjoyed the status. The enemy feared them. 

      One day JG-26 scrambled and met German bombers flying back to France with Spitfires in pursuit. The 109’s had altitude and swooped down on the Englanders. The Spitfires split as they attacked. The Schwarm split into groups of two. The one Spitfire who split was immediately taken down by the two 109’s. Eberhart and Kurt focused on the two Spitfires who decided to turn and head for home. They closed in and Eberhart shot a short burst into the trailer. He went down quickly without bailing out. Eberhart turned left to avoid the debris. The lead Spitfire pulled up hard and Kurt followed. The two planes were doing aerobatic maneuvers as the Spitfire tried to lose Kurt. It was useless. Kurt was on his tail and shot a burst. He saw the puffs as bullets hit the plane. It then burst into flames. The Spitfire went downwards towards the channel. The pilot bailed out but landing in the channel which was a death sentence. It was cold even in July and August. No rescue ships were available that far from shore. Kurt couldn’t do anything. He headed back to Abbeville.

      The Spitfires were hitting bombers over the mainland of England but not faring so well against the Abbeville Boys as they followed them back to France. JG-26 went up to meet the Spitfires coming after the retreating bombers. By the time they were close to France the Spitfires had been in the sky a while and low on fuel. The Boys swarmed on them and the losses were heavy for the Englanders. It got to a point where some RAF pilots wouldn’t chase the bombers across the channel. They didn’t want anything to do with the Abbeville Boys.

      The action went on for days. JG-26 went up and the bombers approached the French coast as they retreated. A few Spitfires followed. On this day Kurt and his Schwarm rose high into the sun. They saw the Spitfires pursuing. Eberhart came over the radio, “Split up.”

      They broke off into two elements. Eberhart and Kurt came down hard. Eberhart immediately shot one of the pursuing Spitfires. He went down and didn’t bail out. The other two Englanders came up to meet them. Eberhart said, “Break.”

       Kurt knew what to do. Eberhart turned left and Kurt turned right pulling the stick back feeling the intense G forces as he rose barrel rolling over and over. He reversed his climb and came down on the Spitfires tail. He got close and could see the pilot was desperate. He came dangerously close and shot into his plane. The pilot knew he was done and opened the canopy. He stood up on the wing as Kurt followed the burning plane. The pilot jumped off and fell towards the ground. He finally opened his parachute and descended right on the beach. At least he was alive, but he would be a prisoner of war.

       Kurt gained altitude and called on the radio, “Boss, where are you at?”

       Eberhart came back, “I took out the Bogey on me. Heading back to Abbeville. It’s time to go to the house.”

       Kurt acknowledged it and headed home.

       Kurt landed and the entire squadron was there. They suffered no casualties. Six Spitfires were shot down. Shooting down planes with men in them was starting to take a toll on Kurt. He loved flying and the hunting, but it hurt every time he killed a man. The only reason he continued was because Kurt told himself if he didn’t shoot them down, they would shoot him down. They were the enemy. They need to be destroyed. The Nazis were superior and were going to control everything.

       Kurt went up day after day. Kurt loved the way Eberhart let him break away from the group and do acrobatics. He rolled over through the clouds and felt immortal. When they got close to the enemy, he formed back up with the Schwarm. They flew out over the channel. They gained altitude and observed Spitfires trying to gain altitude to get above the 109’s. The Schwarm divided and went after the Spitfires. As usual the Spitfires only had three planes. One got separated and headed for home. Eberhart along with Kurt closed on the two Spitfires. They came in behind them and Eberhart took out the trailer. The other pilot turned tail and ran. Both 109’s went after the leader. Eberhart closed in and shot him down. Eberhart and Kurt formed up and headed back to Abbeville.

      As the Jadgeschwader landed and pulled up to the hangers there were twenty five 109’s sitting there. The men got out trying to figure out what was going on. Galland came out and addressed the squad. They gathered around as he spoke, “Gentlemen, this is the new ME 109F. In this plane you’ll be able to not only keep up with but out maneuver the Spitfire. The F model has more firepower. You’ll go to the mission room and be assigned to your plane. The pilots who flew these planes here will take yours back for an update. I appreciate the good work you’re doing. Good luck.”

      The men went in and got their plane assignments. When the planes were assigned, they had a briefing. The F model had more power and better flight control. This would give them an advantage. The men walked out to the hangers and began going over the 109’s. They got inside to check it out. It seemed the same as the 109E.

      Kurt got with his maintenance crew and asked them to check it over and get it ready for flight. They acknowledged and went to work.

      The Germans painted the engine cowlings yellow so the other Luftwaffe planes could identify them as friendly. The Abbeville Boys also painted their rudder on the rear of the planes red. Eventually the word got out to the allies; if you saw red on the rudder, you were fighting the Abbeville Boys. More and more Spitfires would engage the 109’s until they saw the red markings. They immediately turned and headed for home. The 109’s would pursue for a short time but couldn’t cross the channel because of fuel issues.