This was the moment the later Medal of Honor story actually began.
Howard had already destroyed one German aircraft. He had already done his duty as an escort fighter pilot. He was now isolated in hostile airspace, surrounded by enemy fighters and a bomber stream that stretched across the sky.
The safest professional choice was obvious.
Find the other Mustangs.
Instead, Howard looked at the bombers.
One group seemed to be receiving a disproportionate share of the German attack.
It was the 401st Bomb Group.
Howard decided to stay.
THE 401ST BOMB GROUP WAS HAVING ITS HARDEST DAY YET
The B-17s Howard saw belonged to a unit still relatively new to combat. The 401st Bomb Group had begun operations in late November 1943. January 11 was only its fourteenth combat mission. Before that day, the group had experienced losses, but nothing on the scale that awaited it over central Germany. Its crews were still learning the practical meaning of deep penetration into heavily defended airspace.
The group was flying as part of the First Bombardment Division and had taken part in the attack on aircraft-industry targets around Oschersleben and Halberstadt. The bombers had survived the run to the target, the flak, and the first waves of fighters. Now they had to return to England.
For a heavy bomber crew, the return leg could be worse than the approach. Formation discipline deteriorated as aircraft accumulated damage. Engines ran rough. Fuel leaked. Wounded crewmen needed attention. Bombers that could not maintain speed drifted toward the rear, where German fighters looked for isolated targets. The fighter escort schedule also became harder to maintain after hours of weather, navigation errors, and combat.
The 401st had lost aircraft during the day's wider battle. Its crews knew German fighters were still nearby. Then they noticed a single Mustang staying with them.
The bomber crews did not initially know who the pilot was. From their perspective, the important fact was that he did not leave.
Howard throttled back to remain near the slower B-17 formation. The speed difference between a Mustang and a bomber created another tactical complication. A P-51 was designed to maneuver and fight at higher speeds. If Howard simply matched the Fortresses indefinitely, he risked giving up the energy that made the fighter dangerous. He therefore had to alternate between staying close enough to observe threats and accelerating away to intercept them.
He also had to stay far enough from the bombers' own guns to avoid being mistaken for a Bf 109. Early P-51B silhouettes could be confusing at combat distances, especially for bomber gunners who had been scanning constantly for German fighters and who had only seconds to decide whether to fire. Howard was defending men whose guns could kill him if he crossed the wrong angle at the wrong time.
At one point he came close enough to a B-17 to see crew members inside. The proximity made the mission personal in a way escort sometimes was not. The “big friends” were no longer a formation symbol on a briefing map. They were individual aircraft carrying men who could see the lone Mustang beside them.
Then more German fighters arrived.
HOWARD WAS NOT TRYING TO WIN A THIRTY-ON-ONE DOGFIGHT
The phrase “one fighter against more than thirty” creates an image that can be misleading. Howard was not surrounded by thirty aircraft all turning directly toward him in one giant dogfight. The German fighters had another objective: the bombers. That objective gave Howard a narrow but important tactical advantage.
The Luftwaffe aircraft had to approach the B-17 formation. Their attack paths therefore became partially predictable. Howard did not need to hunt thirty fighters scattered across Germany. He needed to interrupt whichever ones were moving into firing position against the 401st.
This transformed the numerical problem. Thirty German aircraft still represented overwhelming strength, but only a few could occupy an ideal attack position against the bombers at any particular second. Howard could concentrate on one threat, force it away, then turn toward the next.
The same logic had shaped his combat in China. A fighter pilot facing superior numbers survives by refusing to fight every opponent simultaneously. He uses speed, altitude, timing, and aggression to create short local contests. For several seconds the fight becomes one Mustang against one Bf 109, or one Mustang against one Bf 110. Then the pilot breaks away before the larger formation can concentrate against him.
Howard understood another fact: the German fighters did not know he was alone in the same way he knew he was alone. A Mustang appearing aggressively beside the bombers might be the first aircraft of a larger flight. Other P-51s could be above the clouds or approaching from another direction. Every German pilot had to consider that possibility.
Howard therefore used aggression as a form of deception. He behaved like a pilot who expected support.
He did not orbit cautiously beside the B-17s. When a German fighter moved in, he accelerated toward it. He made firing passes. He chased attackers away from the formation. When ammunition later became unavailable, he continued making threatening passes to force German pilots to break off.
The effect was larger than the number of aircraft he physically destroyed.
Escort success is not measured only by kills. A German fighter that breaks away before firing has been defeated for that attack. An interceptor forced to dive below the bomber stream loses altitude and position. A pilot who spends thirty seconds defending against a Mustang is not using those thirty seconds to fire at a B-17. Howard's presence changed the German pilots' choices.
That distinction is central to understanding why bomber crews believed one fighter had saved them even though dozens of German aircraft remained in the area.
ANOTHER BF 110 CAME IN
Twin-engine Bf 110s were dangerous bomber attackers because they could carry substantial forward-firing armament. Against maneuvering single-engine fighters, however, they were at a disadvantage if caught without protection.
Howard saw another Bf 110 moving toward the Fortresses. He accelerated, attacked, and hit it. The German aircraft began smoking and descended.
He did not follow it all the way down.
That choice illustrates the discipline required for escort. Fighter pilots naturally wanted confirmed victories. A damaged aircraft might recover. A pilot who followed it to low altitude could make sure it crashed and receive clear credit. But every thousand feet Howard descended away from the bombers left them more exposed.
His mission was not personal scoring.
He returned to the B-17s.
Soon another German fighter appeared behind the formation. Howard attacked again. The German pilot tried to escape by diving. Howard followed long enough to fire effectively, then pulled back toward the bombers after the enemy aircraft trailed smoke.
The repeated sequence was physically exhausting. Each engagement demanded abrupt acceleration, high-G turns, dives, and climbs. At altitude, the pilot also depended on oxygen. The cockpit was cold. Engine noise and radio traffic never stopped. The control forces of a P-51 at high speed could become heavy. Pulling several Gs forced blood away from the brain and toward the lower body, narrowing vision and increasing fatigue.
Howard had no second pilot to share the workload. He could not relax after one attack while a wingman watched the sky. Every time he looked at one German fighter, another portion of the airspace went unseen.
That made situational awareness as important as marksmanship.
THE MUSTANG GAVE HIM RANGE, BUT RANGE DID NOT MEAN UNLIMITED FUEL
The P-51B had solved a strategic escort problem by carrying enough fuel to reach deep into Germany. That did not mean Howard could fight indefinitely.
Long-range escort missions consumed fuel during every phase. The Mustang climbed from England, crossed toward continental Europe, rendezvoused with bombers, maneuvered at altitude, and then had to return. External tanks extended range, but they were usually discarded before serious combat because they created drag and impeded maneuvering.
Combat consumed fuel rapidly. High power settings, repeated climbs, and violent acceleration used far more than steady cruise. Every time Howard pushed the throttle forward to intercept another German fighter, he shortened the amount of time available to return to England.
Fuel therefore became a tactical clock inside the larger battle.