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CONFIDENTIAL 306TH FIGHTER WING COMBAT CLAIM FORM Mission Number 246 Date 24 March 1945 Claiment's Full Name Richard S. Harder Rank 1st Lt ASN 0-821914 Home Address 137 Renwick Place, Syracuse, N.Y. Position Blue #1 A/C Number 42-103026 Sq. 99th Fighter Date of Encounter 24 March 1945 Time 1208 Hours Place Berlin Area Altitude 28,000 feet Type of E/A Encountered ME-262 Claim Dest. Prob. Dam. X [[image: Diagram consisting of circle marked in 12 segments as if clockface. In Red Pencil two letter-T shapes both leaning to the right to the right and left of the 1 o'clock mark, near the edge of the circle; one blue T shape leaning to the left near the 5 o'clock mark near the perimeter of the circle. A dotted blue line has been drawn between the blue and the red Ts, curving slightly.]] NARRATIVE: At 1208 hours, 26,000 feet, four (4) ME-262's made an attack from 5 o'clock high in string at the lower right echelon of the lead bombers. The number four (4) jet broke high and to the left, straight up; the number one (1) jet continued down while the two (2) jets in the middle rolled out to the right and went straight down. My flight of four (4) aircraft broke after the jets. I pursued the two (2) jets that turned to the right and commenced firing from about 3,000 feet, ten (10) to twenty (20) degree deflection shots and ceased firing from approximately 900 feet when I observed that it was impossible to close any further. Hits were observed on the fuselage of one jet A/C and black smoke was seen as I broke off the attack. Duration of first attack was approximately one minute from 28,000 feet to 10,000 feet. I claim: 1 damaged. /s/ [[underlined]] ROBERT G. PITTS[[/underlined]] /t/ ROBERT G. PITTS, Capt., A. C., Interrogator /s/ [[underlined]] RAY B. WARE [[/underlined]] /t/ RAY B. WARE, Capt., A. C., #Group S-2. Approved as one E/A [[strikethrough]] (Destroyed - Probable -[[/strikethrough]] Damaged) A CERTIFIED AND TRUE COPY: RAY B. WARE, Capt., A. C., S-2. /s/ [[underlined]] B. O. DAVIS JR. [[/underlined]] /t/ B. O. DAVIS JR., Colonel, Air Corps, Commanding. CONFIDENTIAL