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In the skies above Nazi-occupied Europe on D-Day, 1st Lt. Vincent Massa engaged enemy fighters in deadly aerial combat. His firsthand intelligence report reveals the split-second decisions and raw courage that helped secure Allied victory in the pivotal hours following the Normandy landings.
OFFICE OF THE INTELLIGENCE OFFICER
83RD FIGHTER SQUADRON
INTELLIGENCE COMBAT REPORT
PLAN “STUD”
I was flying White two on a strafing and dive bombing mission. We strafed three trains and then ran into 8-12 FW 190s. Col. Gray fired on one and then overshot it. I chopped throttle and closed to about fifty or sixty yards and fired a burst. I pulled up beside him with my excess speed and flew formation with him. He had jettisoned the canopy and was trying to bail out, but he seemed to be wounded. He pushed over steeply and the centrifugal force pushed him out and he opened his chute.
I claim three trains damaged and 1 FW 190 destroyed, shared with Col. Gray.
?VINCENT J. MASSA,
1st Lt., A.C.,
83rd Fighter Squadron.
