last Allied aerial Victories in ETO

eagle0025 · **Posted:** Mon Jul 13, 2009 7:59 pm

Hello all,

First timer to this forum and thought this would be a good thread to begin. The 474th FG scored some kills very late in the war also. The 429th FS scored three Bf109 kills on 26 Apr 45 near the Bavarian airfields of Geisenfeld and Ingolstadt. The last known "kill" of the group of the war was on 8 May 1945 when 2Lt. Kenneth L. Swift (429th FS) forced a Siebel 204D to crash land 3 miles southeast of Rodach, Germany after firing warning shots at it.

Cheers, Gary Koch

Holedigger · **Posted:** Mon Jul 13, 2009 8:23 pm

Welcome to the forum Eagle 0025. Those last days of the war were hectic in the air as units from the east fled and tried either to get home and disappear or go west and surrender to the Western Allies, they really didn't want to be sacked by the Russians. There were a few pockets of resistance as well that did not get "the News"

Jack Cook · **Posted:** Mon Jul 13, 2009 8:56 pm

Hi Gary,
Glad to see you made the journey from TOCH.
Do you have any info on my friend Lewis "Blake" Blakeney. He
was shot down in the 474th FG in late 44. He earlier flew in the SWP in the 44th FS.
Flew F-86s in Korea with a couple MIG kills and then flew F-100s in SVN.

Dan Johnson II · **Joined:** Tue May 04, 2004 1:49 am **Posts:** 659

eagle0025 wrote:

Hello all,

First timer to this forum and thought this would be a good thread to begin. The 474th FG scored some kills very late in the war also. The 429th FS scored three Bf109 kills on 26 Apr 45 near the Bavarian airfields of Geisenfeld and Ingolstadt. The last known "kill" of the group of the war was on 8 May 1945 when 2Lt. Kenneth L. Swift (429th FS) forced a Siebel 204D to crash land 3 miles southeast of Rodach, Germany after firing warning shots at it.

Cheers, Gary Koch

Gary, check your PMs when you get the chance

Dan

Django · **Posted:** Tue Jul 14, 2009 11:00 am

So who was it? Larson or Little? And does an F-6 not count as a "Mustang"?

Lynn Allen · **Posted:** Tue Jul 14, 2009 2:50 pm

Jack Cook wrote:

Quote:

Off the top of my head, I seem to recall it was an L-Bird forcing down a Storch with their .45s! Seems that date was April 11th, 45

More closer to the truth is that the German pilot just landed so he could surrender to the Americans which was the purpose of the flight.
The chance of hitting a moving airborne target with a .45 pistol is close to zero.
Even if it we're true, it still wouldn't be the last WWII ETO aerial kill.
That honor belongs to 2Lt Lee Larson of the 15th TRS flying a F-6D. On May 8th he downed a FW-190 NE of Radnitz, GR at 8 PM well after the L-4 vs Storch bruehaha.

Hey, ole' cowboy did a good job in "Flyboys".... :wink:

Lynn

eagle0025 · **Posted:** Tue Jul 14, 2009 6:12 pm

Hello all,

Many thanks for the very warm welcome. I am usually on other WWII forums, as Jack mentioned, so I thought I would add this one to my list. I've been monitoring WIX for awhile and have found lots of good dialogue here.

Jack,

I do have some info on your friend, Lewis Blakeney. He went down on the second 428th mission on 27 Dec 44. The mission was to provide close air support of the 82nd Airborne and an armed recce in the area of Malmedy-St. Vith-La Roche, Belgium. "Marmite" [ground control] vectored the group to the 28th Division's target area west of Vielsalm. There was little enemy movement, but the nearby town of Lierneux was literally crawling with vehicles of all descriptions. Blake's flight dropped napalm but was met by vicious light flak. Blake's P-38 was hit and set afire. He bailed out at 5,000 feet and landed in enemy territory about seven miles southwest of Vielsalm. As you know, he was taken POW. The P-38 he flew on that mission was P-38J-10-LO, serial number 42-67653. His MACR is 11469. I have a copy of the MACR and the German"J" report of his shootdown. Don't know if he is still around, but I can find out for you.

Also, I saw the 474th photos you posted here and downloaded. I would be interested to see what others you may have. I have a nice little collection myself that I can share. I am trying to collect as many as possible because I have begun drafting a strawman consolidated 474th group history that I hope to get published in the future.

Well, enuf for now. I am certain we will be exchanging many posts here.

Cheers, Gary

P.S. BTW, I am sad to report the passing of Lloyd Wenzel, former 428th FS pilot and secretary treasured of the 474th FG Association. I know of many folks who corresponded with Lloyd regarding the group. He was a great guy and a good friend.

Jack Cook · **Posted:** Tue Jul 14, 2009 6:40 pm

Blake was in Miami Beach but moved up to Minnesota when his wife became ill to be near their family. I talked to him about 3 years ago.
I should try and get ahold of him again. He's a really nice fellow!!!!
I'm sure you know my good friend the hard charging Jim Byer's of the 430th FS passed :idea:

Jim was, for the lack of a better term, unique.

eagle0025 · **Posted:** Wed Jul 15, 2009 8:37 pm

Jack,
Let me know if you get a hold of Blake. If he's still around, I would be very interested to hear his story and see if he has any photos from his time with the 474th. And yes, I am familiar with Jim Byers and his brother, Bill. I can confidently say that all of the 474th veterans, especially the ones I have met, are all great fellows! I just wished I had started my research much sooner while most of them were still around. I treasure their stories and experiences.

Cheers, Gary

Jack Cook · **Posted:** Wed Jul 15, 2009 8:50 pm

Jim and Bill were pretty well known ib the 474th FG. All the wanted to do was fight. If there wern't any Germans around anyone would do inc each other! But, god help anyone who messed with one cause he'd be getting a knuckle sandwcich from the other. Ed McGough told me once than Bill was late returning from a mission and Jim had to be physicially restrained from going to look for him. They both flew in Korean. Bill in F-80s with the 49th FBW and Jim F-51s in the 18th FBW. Jim was awarded the silver star for his last mission. After their service both flew firebombers and jim even flew the A-24 bug sprayers for the city of Portland.

Bill & Jim Byers flanking Ralph Embry

drgondog · **Joined:** Mon Nov 21, 2005 10:50 am **Posts:** 237

JustPlaneDave! wrote:

Wow.
There is so much information out there. I posted the thread after searching frantically for something I recall and was pretty sure I had but couldn't find it. Well, a few minutes after posting, I found it. What I was originally looking into was about the Mustang and it's last aerial victory in WW2. I had read claims it was on April 16, 1945 by 442 RCAF Squadron. 442 was part of the 2nd Tactical Air Force thereby possibly making this the last Mustang aerial Victory. There are certainly many victories up till the end of the war in the ETO on many different aircraft. With regards to the Mustang however, I am interested in a claim that April 16, 1945 was the last Aerial Victory with a Mustang. Many Mustang pilots had victories past that date but all seem to be listed as ground attacks. Sorry for any confusion this may have caused, but thank all who have replied.

The 355th FG shot down six Me 109s near Prague (6-1-4) over Kbely and Letnany Airfields on 20 April, 1945. Don't think these were last Mustang air scores but last 109s shot down by 8th AF.

The 4th had a 262 (prob) score on the 25th and the 479th had a Ar 234 on the 25th - those two days was all she wrote for 8th Mustang scoring

eagle0025 · **Posted:** Fri Jul 17, 2009 1:27 pm

Thanks for the update, Jack. I did not have any info on what the Byers brothers did after the war. Another addition for my 474th archives! I recently discovered that Maj. Ernie Nuckols (former 428th FS CC) became a Christmas tree farmer in VA after retiring as a full colonel. Many of these guys had an interesting life after the war.

I could kick myself for not starting my research sooner because Ralph Embrey used to live only a couple miles from me here in the Denver area. Do you know if Ed McGough is still around?

Cheers, Gary

Swifty · **Joined:** Sat Jul 17, 2010 1:46 pm **Posts:** 2

I am the son of 2nd Lt. Kenneth Swift. Currently living in Camarillo, CA. I am so appreciative of some of the information being discussed here, and it is helping me fill in some loose ends on my dads time in the ETO.

My dad stayed in the Air Force, flew in Korea (F-86's) scoring one kill and two damaged. He also did a stint as a recruiting officer in Los Angeles, then was posted to the ANG Wing at Van Nuys, Ca. As a major he was reassigned to Germany as an instructor to the German Air Force in Oldenberg. He passed away in Germany in 1959 at the age of 42.

Simply wanted to thank everyone for the great information about the 474th FIG ... my dad was assigned to the 429 FIS of that Group.

Patrick Swift

Swifty · **Joined:** Sat Jul 17, 2010 1:46 pm **Posts:** 2

P.S. I do still have many of my dads military records, including transfer papers with various names of other members of the 474th FIG. Also some photos of his P-38 (Beauty Juny) and some captured photos of German soldiers and a German flag that somehow he brought back with him.

Patrick

Starduster77 · **Joined:** Fri Feb 08, 2008 11:00 am **Posts:** 169

Funny,I just pickup the book "The Geyser Gang" 428th Fighter Squadron couple of weeks ago .
I hope you do post some photo's Gary.
Rick

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