High Guns
Monday, Jul. 17, 1944
"I'm a sa-a-ad sack!" proclaimed Lieut. Colonel Francis Gabreski. The 25-year-old pilot had just brought his Thunderbolt fighter back to its British base. His outfit had not sighted a single German plane that day.
Previously, Gabby had shot down 27 foes in air combat, was thus tied for top U.S. scoring honors with Majors Dick Bong of Wisconsin and Bob Johnson of Oklahoma. A Pennsylvania boy himself, Gabby wanted to be high gun when he took a 30-day leave and went home to Oil City to marry his girl.
Next day, coming off an escort job near Evreux, Gabby spotted three low-flying Germans, prodded one of them into a steep, twisting climb, chased him into a cloud and out again, shot him down in flames. Thus, with 28 victims, Colonel Gabreski became—for a while, at least—top U.S. ace.
On the day of Gabreski's 28th victory, Wing Commander James Edgar ("Johnny'') Johnson, leading R.A.F. ace, batted down two more enemy planes to bring his score up to 35.
It was a big week all around for high-scoring Allied flyers. The Russians announced that two more Red pilots, a Lieut. Gulayev and a Captain Richkalov, had equalled Major Alexander Pokryshkin's bag of 53.
