The Bridgebusters by Thomas McKelvey Cleaver

Author:Thomas McKelvey Cleaver
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781621575436
Publisher: Brisance Books Group LLC
Published: 2016-03-31T16:00:00+00:00

Within a few weeks of his return, McCarthy had a very narrow escape. In late August, he led a dive-bombing mission on a marshalling yard. During the dive, he spotted a long train moving out of the yard. “I told Chad Reade, my wingman, to take spacing. We would hit the train with two or three strafing passes. I stopped the double locomotive on our first pass and continued around for another.” There had been no defensive fire during that first pass. McCarthy turned over a dry riverbed south of the rail line and dove back at the train. “I was low and very fast, just lining up my firing pass when I saw a huge barn door moving away from a gun emplacement hidden in the riverbed.” As he passed directly over the position, the Germans opened up with a Flak-37 gun and fired several rounds, one of which hit McCarthy’s airplane in the fuselage behind the cockpit.

“I felt the airplane shudder and the cockpit filled with smoke. As I rolled the canopy back, the smoke cleared. Chad pulled up on my wing and told me there was a large hole over the supercharger on the fuselage, forward of the tail and that the supercharger was smoking. He could see daylight through the fuselage from one side to the other.” McCarthy had been ready to bail out but realized he was much too low. “The engine was still running. Chad saw no more smoke so the fire was out. We decided to turn gingerly back to Corsica in a gentle climb.” McCarthy suspected the German fire had damaged the control cables for the rudder and elevators. In fact, he had only one elevator and rudder cable each still functioning. On the way back to Corsica, he held a very gentle touch on the controls.

Arriving over the island, McCarthy decided he did not want to bail out since he now felt there was the possibility of a safe landing with his new but badly damaged P-47. He decided not to increase airspeed in the descent for fear that the now fragile tail section of the P-47 might separate from the fuselage. When McCarthy put the gear handle in the down position, the main gear fell out and locked, but the tail wheel remained up. “We let the others land, then, with Chad on my wing, we came around for a smooth no-flap touchdown. Chad told me later there was no sign of structural support that he could identify from his examination of the damaged area.” McCarthy held the tail off the runway as long as he could. When the tail finally dropped and touched ground, the fuselage buckled at the point where the 37-mm projectile had hit the P-47. “Chad’s comment about no visible means of support was accurate. This airplane had flown for the last time.”

After the success of the invasion of Southern France, the campaign in Italy took what would be its final turn. During this period, Captain McCarthy was promoted to Major and became the Operations Officer of the 65th Fighter Squadron.

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