Second Campaign: The 371st Fighter Group in Normand

The 405th Fighter Squadron encountered the German Luftwaffe in aerial combat for the first time on June 20, 1944 over Evreux, France. The Messerschmitt Me-109G fighters were from either the second group of fighter wing 3 (II./JG 3) based at Evreux or another unit, II./JG 5, which had deployed Me-109G fighters to Evreux that very day; it isn’t clear which group of Me-109s the 405th FS battled that day. Pictured here is an example of a Messerschmitt Bf 109G-10 of JG 3 circa December, 1944 which shows the profile views of the aircraft to give some idea of the visual recognition challenge faced by Capt. McCormick and his flight on June 20. At a distance and from some angles, an Me-109 might appear similar to a P-51 Mustang, hence the need to close the distance to confirm that a bogie (unidentified aircraft) was indeed a bandit (enemy aircraft) before attacking. (Courtesy of Asisbiz.com, JG3 main list)