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Lieutenant Colonel Herman Ernst
Lt. Col. Herman E. Ernst Born in Philadelphia, his family moved here when he was very young and and he graduated from Central High School in 1936. He attended the University of Chattanooga briefly, before Enlisting in 1940, Herman Ernst arrived in the ETO with the 422nd during the build up to D-Day. He quickly got into action with his P61 Borrowed Time, shooting down a buzz bomb on his first combat mission. He finished the war an ace with 5 air victories and over 70 combat missions including hazardous ground support missions in the Battle of the Bulge. He was discharged from active service in 1945 but continued service in the Tennessee Air National Guard until 1978. He retained a life long passion for flying and was long and active member of the Chattanooga Flyers Club. Sadly Lt. Col. Herman E. Ernst died aged 85 on February 28th 2003.
| Lieutenant Colonel Herman Ernst - Signed Nicolas Trudgian Aviation Art Prints Pilot and Aircrew Signatures |
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Twilight Conquest by Nicolas Trudgian. The Black Widow is a formidable creature. It lurks in the dark, carefully chooses its moment of attack and strikes unseen, cutting down its prey with deadly certainty. Northrop could not have chosen a more apt name with which to christen their new night fighter when the P61 Black Widow entered service in the spring of 1944. The first aircraft designed from the start as a night fighter, the P61 had the distinction of pioneering airborne radar interception during World War II, and this remarkable twin engined fighter saw service in the ETO, in China, the Marianas and the South West Pacific. Under the command of Lt Col O B Johnson, one of the P61s greatest exponents, the 422nd Night Fighter Squadron was the leading P61 outfit in the ETO, destroying 43 enemy aircraft in the air, 5 buzz bombs and hundreds of ground based vehicles, becoming the most successful night fighter squadron of the war. Flying a twilight mission in his P-61 Black Widow on October 24, 1944, Colonel Johnson and his radar operator have picked up a formation of three Fw190s, stealthily closing on their quarry in the gathering dusk, O.B. makes one quick and decisive strike, bringing down the enemy leader with two short bursts of fire. Banking hard, as the Fw190 pilot prepares to bale out, he brings his blazing guns to bear on a second Fw190, the tracer lighting up the fuselage of his P-61. |
| Lieutenant Colonel Herman Ernst Squadron details |
| Lieutenant Colonel Herman Ernst Aircraft details |
![]() Black Widow | Black Widow The P-61 Black Widow built by Northrop was the first operational American military aircraft designed specifically to use the new technology of radar, The Black Widow twin engine, all-metal aircraft was used primarily as a night fighter by the United States Army Air Force squadrons in all theatres of world war two. It replaced earlier British-designed night-fighter aircraft that had been updated to incorporate radar when it became available. The P -61 Black Widow of the 548th NFS aircraft Lady in the Dark on the night of 14th August 1945, was unofficially credited with the last Allied air victory before victory over Japan was declared and the end of world war two. |
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