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Sweetwater, April 5-First Lt. Gordon H. McDaniel, 21, son of Mr. and Mrs. Louis F. McDaniel, destroyed five German fighter planes in one day of fighting, the AAF reported today from Italy.
Pilot of a P-51 Mustang, Lt. McDaniel was participating in high altitude escort of heavy bombers attacking the Nove Zamke railroad yards in Hungary.
A leader of a flight of Mustangs, Lt. McDaniel led his flight in an attack on a formation of 13 Focke-Wulfs.
"When I first saw the enemy planes", he said, "I pulled alongside of their formation to make positive identification. When I saw their markings, I pulled in behind one and gave him a short burst. The plane exploded."
The enemy formation started down into a layer of clouds and Lt. McDaniel followed. Firing from close range, he watched his second victim crash in flames. Telling of the third victory, he said, "The canopy flew off the third plane and I saw the pilot jump out, but didn't see his parachute open. The fourth plane I attacked spun down and crashed after the right wing had been shot off. I saw pieces fly off the fifth plane and watched it start to spin down from a low altitiude." Members of the flight confirmed the crash of the fifth. Lt. McDaniel is a veteran of 40 combat missions. He is also credited with the destruction of one German transport plane on the ground and two locomotives by strafing.
A graduate of Sweetwater High, he entered service in 1942. His wife Mrs Mary Nola McDaniel lived in Elizabethton, Tennessee.

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This article appeared in the Knoxville News Sentinel April 5, 1945

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Sweetwater Flier Knocks Down Five Nazis in One Day