New Year's Day legend

Air Classics, Nov 2002 by Hamel, Marc, Powell, Robert

THE AMAZING BATTLE OVER Y-29 AS TOLD BY MEMBERS OF THE FAMED 352ND FIGHTER GROUP-- INCLUDING ALDEN RIGBY, AMERICA'S NEWEST ACE!

Potentially the most interesting revelations regarding the New Year's Day battle are associated with pilot Al Rigby. Regarding his New Year's Day exploits he details, "If I could adequately describe the morning hours of 1 January 1945, 1 could write for a good living. I will try to describe the events, and my feelings as my records and memory permits. Actually, the morning was filled with such history-- making excitement, that it would be difficult to forget.

"The day started for me about 7 am. The weather was the same dark, damp, cold foggy feeling. The fog had lifted a little, and was being replaced with haze, and a cloud cover at about 1500 ft. I checked my plane before breakfast, and found the crew getting the ice from the wings, and the frost from the canopy and windshield. I went to the briefing tent and learned from Colonel Meyer that he had requested a short patrol mission before the Berlin run. At about 9 am the fog and haze had thinned to a point of being able to see the trees at the end of the runway to the east. General Queseda had just given the okay for a short mission, using only part of our planes. Start engines at 9:00, takeoff at 9:20, and be back on the ground at 10:15. This would give us time to refuel, and meet the bombers overhead at noon. The briefing was the bare essentials, since we did not expect more than a look at the Bulge. I would be in Colonel Meyer's flight as White 4.

"This was New Year's Day, and we had not seen the Hun aircraft for two days. The German pilots could be celebrating a little also. WRONG! Little did we know of their plans for exactly 9:20 am at Asch, and 16 other Allied bases.

"I kicked the tires, and climbed aboard at 9:00. The plane had been warmed up and the tanks topped off. The cockpit was warm, and I was ready for a comfortable ride, as I rolled into position behind the Colonel. The P-47s had taken off a few minutes earlier, and headed straight for the front lines below the clouds. We had just gotten the green light from the makeshift tower, when we noticed antiaircraft fire just east of the field. Surprise, and even shock, would be an understatement. We next saw what looked like at least 50 German fighter aircraft about to make their first pass on our field. We could not have been in a worse position, unless loaded with external fuel or bombs. We were sitting ducks, and our chances were slim and none. It was not a difficult decision to takeoff, since that was the slim chance. The next 30 minutes were filled with action and anxiety that perhaps had not been seen, or felt, before or since. I had turned on my gun heater switch earlier, and now had the presence of mind (and prompting) to turn the main switch on.

"The takeoff roll was very close, rapid, and somewhat organized. We did not wait for help from the tower, or our own departure Control Officer. We just went. I am certain there were a few short prayers to just get off the ground. I had my own sort of set prayer, consisting of six words that had been used many times. Being caught on the ground was simply a fighter pilot's worst nightmare. We had made the situation even worse by having our fuselage tanks filled. This would make a big difference in our maneuverability, until about 50 gallons could be burned off. This would be my first takeoff ever with the gun sight illuminated on the windshield. Things were happening too fast to even be afraid, that would come later. There was no training to cover such a situation, instinct simply had to take over, and it would have to be an individual effort.

"Getting off the ground was extremely difficult. I was fighting Meyer's prop wash, so I had to keep the plane on the steel mat a little longer to establish better control. It was of some comfort to just get airborne. Our ground gunners were firing a lot of rounds at the enemy, and in all of the confusion, were firing at us as well. This would have been their first test in anything near such conditions, so they were not hitting anyone, but it was a little disturbing.

"My landing gear had just snapped into the up position, when I opened fire on an Fw 190 which was on Littge's tail. I told him on the radio to break left, this put the 190 right in my sight. I could see strikes from the tail up through the nose. The plane rolled over from about 300 ft and went straight in. I then picked out another Fw 190 headed east. It appeared that he was headed for `The Fatherland.' I dropped down on his tail and opened fire at a greater distance than was necessary, since I had the speed advantage. During the chase my gun sight failed. The bulb had burned out, and I did not have the time to change it, even had I known where the spare was. I expended even more ammunition before enough hits brought the smoke and crash in the trees. I was now in a very difficult position, no gun sight, low on ammunition, and high on fuel. I had my tracers loaded to show only when I had fired down to 300 rounds. I was now into that short supply, with still a lot of fighting to be done. I knew that mine would have to be at very close range without the sight.