56th Fighter Group pilot destroyed six enemy aircraft in one mission

  • Published
  • By GUS VINAS
  • 56th Fighter Wing historian
LUKE AIR FORCE BASE, Ariz. --  Luke Air Force Base and the 56th Fighter Wing have associations with many notable Airmen including 2nd Lt. Frank Luke, Jr., first aviator awarded the Medal of Honor and the base's namesake; Capt. Chuck Yeager, first to exceed the speed of sound in level flight; Maj. Dick Bong, the nation's top ace with 40 kills; 1st Lt. Barry Goldwater, U.S. senator from Arizona and namesake of Luke's training range south of Gila Bend; and Capt. Fred Christensen, Jr. Many students of military history may not recognize Captain Christensen's name, but he is definitely worth mentioning. 

In 1944 he was a household name with such other remarkable pilots as Col. Dave Schilling, Lt. Col. Gabby Gabreski and Maj. Bud Mahurin. All these men were in the 56th Fighter Group and had reached quadruple ace status (at least 20 kills each). 

Additionally, the captain was one of the top aces in the unit which boasted a total of 39 aces, the most in Eighth Air Force. 

Captain Christensen, however, had one accomplishment that few ever matched. He destroyed six enemy aircraft during one mission. If accountability for aerial victories during World War II had been better, the captain's victory record might have been higher. 

The captain's claim to fame came on July 7, 1944. He was leading a flight of 62nd Fighter Squadron P-47 Thunderbolts escorting bombers over enemy territory. After the bombing mission the P-47s turned toward home base in Boxsted, England. 

As the P-47s were flying west they overflew an enemy airfield where they saw a flight of German Junker JU-52 transports preparing to land. The captain led his flight in a dive from 10,000 feet against the transports. 

A distance of two miles may seem a long distance to begin an attack, but not for the P-47 Thunderbolt. The P-47 was the fastest propeller-driven fighter in World War II. Its big 18-cylinder Pratt and Whitney Wasp engine with supercharger put out 2,800 horsepower and propelled the fighter to 470 miles per hour. In fact, in 1942 the Thunderbolt became the first aircraft to exceed the speed of sound when it dove from 35,000 feet and reached a speed of 725 miles per hour. That was five years before Luke-trained Captain Yeager became the first to break the sound barrier in level flight. 

The P-47s came screaming out of the sky and locked onto the tails of the JU-52s. The captain was leading the flight and fired first on the transports. He opened up with eight 50-caliber machine guns and the next-to-last transport in the formation exploded. He got the same result when he fired on the next transport. When he fired on a third JU-52, it crashed short of the runway. Then his engine quit. 

He was 100-feet from the ground in a plane that couldn't glide well. He manipulated the instruments and switched to the reserve tank. He restarted the engine and began a climb to gain altitude before starting another go-around. 

As he completed a 360-degree turn, he pointed the fighter at the fleeing JU-52s and began to systematically strafe them. That second pass over the transports resulted in three more enemy aircraft exploding in the sky. 

When bomb damage assessment was compiled after the mission it turned out that the flight of transports was made up of 12 aircraft. The P-47s from the 62nd destroyed 10 of the transports and Captain Christensen was responsible for six. 

Destroying six enemy aircraft in a single mission is an accomplishment few fighter pilots have ever equaled. But Captain Christensen accomplished that feat and drove home the fear to the Luftwaffe that they should, "...Beware the Thunderbolt (cave tonitrum)."