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SATURDAY, AUGUST 7, 1943
Capt. Hall Tells How He Shot Down "Jerry"
[[2 images]]
The first pilot in the 99th Pursuit Squadron to shoot down an enemy plane was Captain Charles B. Hall, 22, of 1034 E. Hendrix street, Brazil, Ind., a flight leader. Captain Hall is shown in the top photo explaining to a group of interested pilots the way he went after the Jerry and brought him down. At left is 2nd Lt. Willie H. Fuller, Tarboro, N.C. (wearing sun helmet), while 2nd. Lt. Spann Watson, Hackensack, N.J., can be seen walking away, at the extreme right.

No. 2—Captain Hall writes a letter to his wife, the former Miss Maxine Parris, Terre Haute, Ind., telling her about his experience in shooting down the enemy plane.
   
No. 3—A prize had been put up for the first member of the 99th Squadron to knock down an enemy plane, and Capt. Hall is shown here about to enjoy his well deserved trophy—a bottle of Coca-Cola. Others shown are 1st. Lt. Sidney P. Brooks, Cleveland, Ohio (behind bottle), and 2nd Lt. Willie H. Fuller, Tarboro, N.C.  The coke, the only one seen by most of the squadron since they arrived in North Africa, was served ice cold and had been brought back to the advance training base several weeks earlier by 2nd Lt. Louis R. Purnell, of Germantown, Pa., from Oran where he had gone to ferry a new P-40 plane back to his field.
   
No. 4—Also flying in the same mission on which Capt. Hall scored his victory was Lt. Col. B.O. Davis Jr., Washington, D.C., commanding officer, shown listening to accounts of the action from others in the flight. At right is 1st. Lt. Clarence C. Jamison, Cleveland, Ohio, flight leader (face half shown) and between them is 1st. Lt. Erwin B. Lawrence, Cleveland, Ohio, assistant operations officer (side of face shown). (Photos by Thomas W. Young, U.S. War Correspondent)

NEGRO AIR SQUADRON WINS FIRST BATTLE
Special to the Inquirer
  
WASHINGTON, June 24.—The all-Negro Army Air Force fighter squadron in North Africa has successfully weathered its first aerial combat, in which six of its planes, encountering a larger formation of German fighters, damaged two of the enemy with no loss to themselves, the War Department announced today.
   
This Negro squadron, after careful training in this country and in North Africa, had previously been in action during the air siege of the island of Pantelleria.

LED BY FLIER OF 22
   
Its pilots did patrol duty, escorted heavy bombers and served as fighter bombers with other units of the tactical air force over Pantelleria and Lampedusa; but only once were they fired on, and when they turned toward the enemy aircraft, the latter fled.
   
On the late afternoon of June 18 came their first battle in the air. A flight of six P-40's led by First Lieutenant Charles W. Dryden, 22, the Bronx, New York City, was attaced over Pantelleria, then in Allied hands, by a force of 12 German F-W190's. Ten more German fighters hovered above to protect the bombers which the F-W190's were escorting.

COMMANDER PLEASED
   
In a lively encounter the American Negro fliers parried the Nazi thrust, damaged two of the German fighter planes, and forced the remainder to retreat, the War Department reported.
   
Lieutenant Colonel B.O. Davis, Jr., commanding officer of the squadron, said: "It was the first time any of them ever shot at the enemy. They gave a good account of themselves considering the odds against them and, most important, they all came back safely."

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