DUELING IN THE FAST LANE
The European theater held more surprises for the Allies than the Pacific theater did. The Germans were leaders in developing state-of-the-art weapons, and if the war had lasted into 1946, it might have held some very lethal surprises for New York City and Washington, D.C. Using conventional aircraft, the AAF and RAF had to tangle with the Luftwaffe’s new jet-propelled aircraft, and they did a superb job of it. Basically, it was the P-51 Mustangs protecting the bombers deep into Germany, as they were pelted with attacks from the Me 262 and Me 163 Komet. These encounters were just an inkling of future dogfights in the fast lane.
The first time a Mustang had a chance to bag a 262 happened on August 28, 1944, when two pilots from the 78th FG shared in a kill. To the pilots from the various fighter groups who encountered these jets, it was a
