Lee Rayford
Military
332nd FG - 100th FS - 15th AF
Object Number - UPL 24979 - Captain Lee Rayford 332nd FG - 100th FS - 15th AF
Connections
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Units served with
- Unit Hierarchy: Group
- Air Force: Twelfth Air Force
- Type Category: Fighter
Places
- Site type: Airfield
Events
| Event | Location | Date | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Born |
1 April 1918 | ||
|
Other Graduated Pilot Training/Commissioned |
Tuskegee, AL, USA | 20 May 1942 | |
|
Other Combat Mission |
Memmingen, Germany | 18 July 1944 | On July 18, 1944, Lee Rayford led 66 Mustangs from all four squadrons of the 332nd Fighter Group to the briefed rendezvous point over southern Germany, but the bombers of the 5th Bomb Wing, scheduled to strike the Luftwaffe base at Memmingen in Austria, were nowhere to be found. Rayford decided to orbit the Undine-Treviso area, which was already known to be a hotbed of Luftwaffe fighter activity, and as the bombers finally approached, the Mustang pilots spotted a swarm of 30 to 35 Bf 109s to the right of the formation. The enemy fighters attacked in groups from three o’clock high and five o’clock low, then split-S’ed away. Twenty-one of the Mustangs rushed to break up the attack, destroying 11 of the German fighters. Once this threat had been dealt with, the formation continued to Austria, but over the target 30 to 40 enemy aircraft – mainly Bf 109s, Fw 190s and Me 410s – were sighted. Eventually, four Fw 190s swooped in to attack, and two were shot down. The tally for the day was impressive, with Clarence “Lucky” Lester bagging three, Jack Holsclaw two and Lee Archer, Charles Bailey, Walter Palmer, Roger Romine, Ed Toppins and Hugh Warner one apiece. Palmer’s victim was a Bf 109, which he hit with several short bursts after it made a pass at the bombers. “On the second of third burst I noticed his engine smoking badly, so I broke it off because there were others to shoot down,” Palmer later wrote. He closed in on a second Bf 109 but is guns jammed. Her considered chopping off the enemy fighter’s tail with his propeller, but the Bf 109 headed into a cloud bank shrouding the tops of the Alps, convincing Palmer to break off the pursuit. Toppins destroyed his opponent by diving at him at a speed so high that when he pulled out, he warped the fuselage of his fighter – the Mustang had to be scrapped after the mission. Two more P-51s were lost in the fray, with Lt. Gene Browne surviving to be taken prisoner and Lt. Wellington Irving being killed. Oscar Hutton was also lost when his Mustang was hit by a drop tank jettisoned by another P-51. |
|
Died |
29 April 1967 | ||
|
Buried |
Alexandria, VA, USA | 1 May 1967 | Alexandria National Cemetery Alexandria Alexandria City Virginia, USA Plot: B, 5127 |
| Washington, DC, USA |
Revisions
Contributor466thHistorian
Changes
