By Pierre Kosmidis

Photos, documents and additional information by Lt. Col. (ret.) Hans Peter Eisenbach, used by kind permission.

Click the links below for additional reading:

A personal account of a Luftwaffe pilot in Greece: Friedrich “Fritz” Eisenbach in Kefalonia, Rodos, Leros – The Ju 87 “Stuka” dive bomber operations in Greece, 1943

Identified! WW2 German Stuka Ju 87 aircraft S7+GM shot down in a dogfight on October 9 1943 recovered west of Rhodes

Hell over the Aegean: The Ju-87 “Stuka” attack of I./StG 3 against the Royal Navy, 9 October 1943

Dogfight over the Aegean: A minute by minute account of the Air Battle west of Rodos island, October 9, 1943

“Bogeys at one o’clock, slightly high, approaching the convoy from the Northwest.” This is how the dogfight over the Aegean started and in just a few minutes, 7 Ju-87 “Stukas” were shot down in flames.

On October 9, 1943, a dogfight of epic proportions took place on the skies over the Aegean, when USAAF P-38 “Lightnings” intercepted a wave of Ju-87 “Stukas” that started at 12:15 hrs as a second wave to attack a convoy of Allied naval ships.

A first wave of dive bombers had already attacked the formation between 12:00-12:05, sinking one destroyer and causing damages to a light cruiser.

Lt. Col. (ret.) Hans Peter Eisenbach has put together a minute-by-minute account of this dogfight, which claimed 7 Ju-87 “Stukas” shot down and one destroyed at an emergency landing on the nearby island of Rodos.

Thanks to Lt. Col. (ret.) Hans Peter Eisenbach it is now quite clear that the Ju-87 “Stukas” attacked in two waves, which performed their attacks with a time difference of approximately 15 minutes.

The first wave, which had taken off from Megara is the one that managed to sink HMS Panther and damage HMS Carlisle, while the second wave, which had taken off from Argos, was the one intercepted by the USAAF P-38 “Lightnings”, suffering terrific losses, with 7 Ju-87 “Stukas” shot down and another one destroyed during the forced landing in Rodos island.

Army Air Corps Colonel William L. Leverette was one of only two American pilots in World War II to score seven victories in a single encounter with the enemy. SOURCE: https://www.tigernet.com/forum/thread/Clemsons-Military-History-441660

USAAF Major Bill Leverette, 37th US Fighter Squadron, reported on the following day the exact specifics of the dogfight and the full report can be seen below. Leverette claimed for himself the 7 aircraft shot down.