Second Lieutenant Richard J. Ashby of the 454th BG gave this account of combat against I./JG 2 and I./JG 4:

I saw two enemy fighters flying in trail, parallel, and in the same direction as the formation; although out of range of our right. They made their pass singly one behind the other. They seemed as if they were attacking the lead squadron, but suddenly swerved over to the high right squadron attacking from about one o’ clock. The first one seemed to have no effect, but the second one, though hit while coming in, sprayed the squadron and one of the B-24’s seemed to dive out of formation, peeling slightly to the right and smoking slightly; although I couldn’t tell from where the smoke was coming. He passed out of sight below us. I later found out that the B-24 was that which Lt. Goodwin was flying.

Second Lt. William R. Goodwin and seven of his crew were killed, only the waist gunner surviving.

Staff Sergeant John C. Miller described the fate of 1st Lt. Floyd A. Hanger and his crew:

As we passed the target, flak appeared at the plane on the left of the two stragglers, just the plane on the left, and I believe #2 engine was hit and then #3 and 4 engines, and he started burning badly, then peeled off to the left and went down and exploded.

As soon as that plane was hit and started falling, the enemy fighters jumped the plane on the right, and he began to catch up with “F” Flight, but before he got up to us he had already been shot up pretty badly and he began losing altitude. He was lost from my sight for about thirty seconds, and the next time I saw the ship it was right above the water and then crashed into the water.

The ship that was the right hand straggler I believe was definitely our ship #315, because I watched it falling back, especially because of the painting I had put on the ship [of] a stork.

Nose gunner Cpl. Griffin E. Goad saw a B-24, apparently that of Lt Henry D. Rutters, which had been knocked out of formation by the Flak:

… attacked by four Fw 190 and they made two passes on it because it was out of formation, the plane caught on fire and started going down there were two bailed out over land and then five over the water, then it made a 90º turn to the right after leaving the coast the plane hit the water and blew up and was burning, that was the last I seen of it.

For their part, the escorting P-47s were also heavily engaged. Flight Officer John W. Reynolds:

The last time I saw Lt. Been was at 11.50 at 20,000 feet South West of Viterbo, Lt. Garcia and I turned into one ME-109 that Lt. Been had tried to turn into but was unable to do so because something was wrong with his wing tanks, Lt. Garcia and I made a sharp turn into the ME-109 losing sight of Lt. Been and Lt. Ridgeway.

Raymond V. Been lived to tell the tale, however. He had left the formation 10 miles south of Rome crashed his P-47D (42-75760) eight miles south of the Anzio beach head. Initally posted MIA, he was back with his unit within a few days, to report that:

My wing man was shot down in a fight with 10 or 12 German planes. I saw him roll over and split-S with a German plane on his tail. I got it about the same time so could not determine what happened afterward. I don’t recall my wing man’s first name but his last name is Ridgeway, 2nd Lt. We haven’t ever heard anything from him, therefore, we believe he must have been killed.

1st Lieutenant Winston W. Vaught of 318th FS:

I last saw 2nd Lt. Joseph M. Walker flying alone at approximately 15,000 ft. over the Viterbo Area. I flew alongside him and called him by radio asking him to fly with me. He did not answer nor fly with me. I could not follow him because enemy aircraft were in the vicinity and flying toward us. I turned into them and did not see Lt. Walker afterwards.

Nevertheless, Walker survived, bailing out from about 22,000 ft. His report does not actually say that he was shot down but that seems a reasonable inference in the circumstances.

From the 317th FS, 2nd Lt. John T. Eastman (P-47D 42-76007) was last seen at about 11.20 hours:

Lt. R.D. Clark was leading the section in which Lt. J.T. Eastman was number four man. Lt. J.E. Senften was in number two position and I [1st Lt. John L. Bower] was in number three. Our section made a turn into the enemy aircraft that were attacking from above. The last time I noticed Lt. Eastman was when he was in his turn. He was a little behind the other three planes of the section. It is impossible to give any detailed description because we were occupied with the enemy aircraft who were approaching us head-on.

Eastman to survived to become a PoW.

454TH BG AND 325TH FG