June 28, 1944. Spitfire ace Lt. 'Hap' Kennedy shoots down a Focke Wulf 190 over Normandy, shortly after the DDay invasion.
Signatures
Prints individually signed by Hap Kennedy.
The Story
"In
the evening, it was 'A' flight's turn. I was Barley Blue 3. About 40
miles south of Caen at 7000 feet, we were looking for German transport
moving up to the front. As we were flying on an easterly course, the
sun was behind us; always dangerous. Suddenly, I saw a half dozen
FW190's coming in quickly out of the sun on our starboard rear
quarter, with more 190's higher, behind them.
"'Barley
squadron break right! 190's coming down!' I called, and immediately
there was a great melee of two dozen aircraft twisting and turning and
firing, a real old fashioned scrap. I was somewhat surprised that the
FW's didn't dive through at high speed as usual, but a number of them,
at least, stayed to fight.
"After two or three hard
descending steeps turns to the right, I managed to latch onto the tail
of a 190, but he dove steeply out to the east. I followed at full
throttle to ground level and caught up to him. One short burst at 300
yards with both cannon and machine gun and the FW crashed into the
trees in a great ball of fire. Flight Lt. R. Bouskill, Blue 4, who had
remained with me, confirmed this action."
— Excerpt from pilot Hap Kennedy's book, Black Crosses Off My Wingtip. Reprinted with permission.
