At Eighth Air Force Fighter Station, England. - Second Lieut. Harry E. Little, 22 year old fighter pilot and member of Colonel Hubert Zemke's fighter group, swept down on a German held airfield in France recently and destroyed two planes on the ground and damaged four others in one of the most thorough raids of destruction yet launched against the Luftwaffe. The destroyed planes were a Ju-88 and a He-111 K, and the damaged planes were He-111 K's. "There were about 30 planes on the field and another twenty hidden in the weeded area about the airdome," said Lieut. Little.One flight went down on the field for the first strafing pass after a box of B-24 Liberators had made a bombing run over the field, and then after a second bomber run, the entire squadron made pass after pass over the burning and exploding aircraft in a continuous traffic pattern for about 20 minutes. At the end of the terrific assault only a few of the more than 50 planes on the field were not destroyed.
"There were fires all over the field when we left," said Lieut. Little. "There was very little antiaircraft fire after the bombers made the first run over the field. All the gunners were probably driven into air raid shelters and we had our way after that, making sweep after sweep over the field, shooting at every plane in out path and destroying and damaging planes so fast we couldn't tell how much damage we were doing."
Lieut. Little is the son of Mr. and Mrs. William E. Little, 1525 Roosevelt Avenue, Richmond, Calif. He attended Coldwater high school and is a nephew of Harry and Earl Kirk of Coldwater.
After five long months of silence concerning their son, Lieut. Harry E. Little, former Coldwater High School student, Mr. and Mrs. W. E. Little of Richmond, Calif., received a letter from him Tuesday of this week. It was written from a German prisoner of war camp in his own handwriting. He wrote from a German hospital that he had been seriously injured but was recovering and would make it all right now.The good news was telegraphed to Mrs. Little's sister, Mrs. MacHorn of Joy, Kansas and was relayed to Harry's three uncle's, Harry, Earl and Con Kirk, in this county.
Lieut. Little was piloting a P51 fighter plane on a low level strafing mission over Holland when he was shot down. His plane crashed and very little hope was held for his survival. His relatives and friends are overjoyed to learn that he is alive and recovering.
He was reported by the War Department as missing in action since September 26, 1944 and nothing had been heard from him until this week. Harry enlisted in the Air Corps in March 1941, and flew to England last May. While diving down and strafing an enemy convoy in France last summer his plane struck a high tension wire tower and he had to bail out over the English Channel. He was rescued without serious injury and soon resumed his flying .
(Note: according to the Missing Air Crew Report # 9249, he was shot down in a P-38, not a P-51.)
Off-site links:
Col. Hubert Zemke Senior Allied Officer - Stalag Luft I, 56th Fighter Group - Commander
Col. Hubert "Hub" Zemke "Col. Hub Zemke was one of the pre-eminent World War II fighter commanders in the European theater. His 56th Fighter Group, the "Wolfpack," was credited with 665 air-to-air victories, leading all fighter groups in the European Theater of Operations. Zemke alone had 17.75 confirmed victories in 154 combat missions, putting him in the top 25 of all Army Air Forces World War II fighter pilots. He once said that if he had been a better shot, he would have had twice as many... In August 1944, after commanding the 56th FG for two years, Zemke volunteered to take over the 479th Fighter Group, equipped with P-38 Lightnings but about to convert to P-51 Mustangs. The 479th's record had not been good. Zemke soon restored the group's morale while earning three more victories himself, including one of the first Allied shoot-downs of an Me-262 jet."
Aviation Art by Jim Laurier Caption from artwork (excerpt): "On August 18, 1944, Eighth Air Force Command planned a bombing mission against the German Aerodrome at Nancy/Essey, France. There were about 70 aircraft on this airfield, mostly He-111s and Ju-88s, as well as a small number of fighters. Early in the afternoon a moderately sized formation of B-24 Liberators attacked the field with good results on many hangars and buildings, although a large number of German aircraft scattered around the field escaped damage. Immediately following the bombing attack the new C.O. of the 479th Fighter Group, Hubert Zemke of the 56th Fighter Group, led fifty P-38 Lightnings of the 479th in a strafing attack on the remaining German aircraft."
History of 479 Flying Training Group
Brief History of Wattisham Airfield
The 479th Fighter Group This webpage has the following puzzling information: "Aircraft serial# 42-67264. Aircraft type: P-38J. Squadron: 434. A/C: L2-N. Pilot: Williams, Capt. Bailey A. Markings: Teddie. Comments: Lost 26 Sept 44 - Lt. Harry E Little, POW." Apparently, Lt. Little was flying a plane assigned to another pilot when it was shot down and he became a prisoner of war. Another entry found by using the search engine on this site: "Aircraft serial# 43-28416. Aircraft type: P-38J. Squadron: 434. Aircraft: L2-N. Comments: Lost 12 Aug 44 - Lt. Harry E. Little bailed out - returned."
Army Air Forces, Missing Air Crew Report Data Base The following MACR for Lt. Harry E. Little was found by searching for the date he was reported shot down over Holland: MACR# 9249. Date: 9/26/1944. Aircraft type: P-38. Serial# 42-67264. Group: 479. Squadron: 434.
Lt. Harry E. Little From a now defunct webpage found cached at Google.com: "1st LT. Harry E. Little, son of Mr. and Mrs. W. E. Little, attended Frederick and Bisbee, Ariz. Schools; husband of the former Helen Jones. Entered Air Corps in 1942, trained in Santa Ana, Cal., Thunder Bird Field and Williams Field, Ariz.; served in England, France, Germany, Belgium and Holland; was wounded in Germany in Sept., 1944. Awarded Good Conduct Medal, ETO Ribbon with three Battle Stars, the Purple Heart, Pres. Unit Citation with three Oak Leaf Clusters."
Obit. for Harry Earl Little? The following reference may or may not be to the obituary for the pilot Harry Earl Little from Comanche County, Kansas: "Little, Harry E. - Deaths. The News Reporter. 7/5/84; Section A, Page 16, Column 1-4."
Thanks to Shirley Brier for finding, transcribing and contributing the above news articles to this web site!
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