were spotted so they could be
covered by the others.

Soon they picked up the Forts and Libs and were headed across the
channel toward Flushing. Day broke and they could see the bombers below
them. The air was clear and cold but there were many scattered banks of
clouds all around. Stan kept his eyes open. Today he was not watching
the beauty of the bomber formation, he was checking on his own flight of
fighters. Sim was holding his ships in perfect formation. They roared
along with Stan and his boys using gasoline from their reserve tanks so
that they could get rid of them as soon as possible.

Their first action came near the coast. A flight of Focke-Wulf 190's
broke out of a big cloud and roared in on them.

"Break for action. Cover specials!" Sim called.

The formation of Thunderbolts broke up and the fight was on. As usual
the Jerries were not aiming to close with the Yanks. They were willing
to pick off a cripple or a plane cut out from the flight but not to make
it a real battle. Their job was to delay and to pull the fighters away
from the bombers.

Sim handled the situation well. The Thunderbolts did not break away, nor
were they delayed. They met each thrust and stab, but they refused to be
pulled into side shows. For once O'Malley was ignoring a Jerry fighter.
He was well up in front heading straight for Germany. Stan was in the
rear where he had been spotted. Sim was flying his cover, having dropped
back for that purpose.

"I guess he's all right," Stan muttered. "He's making it his personal
business to see that I get through."

At that moment two FW's dived down at the tail ships. Stan did not shift
course.

All Sim had to do was to make a pass at the Jerries, loop over and shoo
them away. Suddenly Stan realized Sim was not making a pass. He had
stabbed at a Jerry coming in far to the side.

Kicking his rudder, Stan went into action. The Jerries, seeing their
chance, had cut him off and now he would be sucked into a fight. The
Thunderbolt responded awkwardly. Stan reached for the tank release, then
his hand froze. If he kicked loose his tanks, the Jerries would be wise
to the trick. They would radio the information to base. Grimly Stan
dived and then zoomed.

The two Focke-Wulfs gleefully tore in upon him. Stan gave one of them a
burst but missed. He was caught like a clumsy float plane and knew it.
Up he went and over, using every evasive trick he knew. Out of the
corner of his eye he saw tha