Here's another and possibly the best:
ME 262 of JV 44 White 3 piloted by Lt. Gen Adolf Galland
April 26, 1945 - ME 262 downed by P-47D
Piloted by Lt. James J. Finnegan, 50th FG, 10th FS.
While Lt. James J. Finnegan was leading Green Flight of the 10th FS, part of a 16 P47 formation, escorting medium bombers of the 17th and a formation of French AF B26s on a mission to Schrobenhausen, Germany.
Unable to prevent casualties among the Marauders as JV 44 attacked, the Thunderbolt pilots never the less ruined the cohesion of the German interception,and left one German Me 262 diving away, hit by rounds from the bomber gunners. At the controls was none other than General Adolf Galland, leader of this elite unit (JV44). He was in turn attacked by the P-47 flown by Lt. Finnegan, leading Green Flght of the 10th FS. Galland continued to dive away, mometarily leaving the P-47 behind.
Finnegan, who had not previously seen a jet, had actually completed his tour of 127 missions and was not scheduled to fly that day. Indeed, he was only aloft in an effort to "kill time" before awaiting permission to marry!
Over the B-26s target at Schrobenhausen, Finnegan heard the warning 'Jet Bandits,' which alerted the pilots. He then spotted Galland's fighter and dived after it. Not even an Me 262 could easily escape a P-47 in a power dive, and Finnegan soon caught up with him, and got off a short burst of fire. He observed strikes to the jet's right wing root, before Galand banked left into a cloud.
Finnegan broke off the pursuit and returned home, where he duly reported the encounter, and was credited with a damaged and probable. Nobody in the group knew who the German jet pilot was; and it wasn't until years later that Finnegan found out.
Galland, having brought off an exeptional dead stick landing, had suffered a knee injury painful enough for him to be hosptalized, and was lost to JV44 Squadron for the remaining weeks of the war.
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Adolf Galland, describing the same incident:
I was shot down by a Republic P-47D flown by a man named James Finnegan, whom I met some years later and we became friends. We were intercepting bombers near Neuberg. I was leading a flight and I attacked from astern. My rockets did not fire but I poured 30 mm cannon shells into one bomber which fell in flames and flew right through the formation, hitting another. I could not tell if that bomber was finished off, so I banked around for another run, all the while my jet was receiving hits from the bomber's defensive fire. Suddenly my instrument panel disintegrated, my canopy was shattered and my right knee was struck. I was losing power and was in great pain. I thought about parachuting out but realized that might be dangerous as some of our pilots had been strafed upon exiting their jets. I flew for the deck and headed for this field at the air base, which was under attack. I cut the power to my good engine and thumped across the field. My nose wheel had been flattened, smoke was pouring from the plane. I climbed out to get away in case it should explode, only to find aircraft dropping bombs and firing rockets at me. Well, our mission netted five victories total and none of the pilots were killed.
Shay
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Semper Fortis
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