There’s a similar story in Martin Caidin’s book Thunderbolt about 56th Fighter Group P-47 ace Robert Johnson.
On June 26, 1943, Johnson’s P-47 was hit by German aircraft and badly damaged during a patrol over France. Despite severe damage to his plane, including a jammed canopy and a ruptured hydraulic system, he managed to regain control of the aircraft and fly it back to base in Britain.
Johnson was escorting bombers over France when his flight was attacked by sixteen FW190’s. His P-47 was hit by multiple cannon shells and machine-gun fire resulting in a jammed shattered canopy, ruptured hydraulic system, engine fire, loss of rudder, and Injuries to his leg and partial blindness from hydraulic fluid.
Johnson managed to regain control of the falling aircraft by using rudder and stick. He could not bail out due to the jammed canopy. He decided to try to fly back to his base.
A German FW190 continued to fire at Johnson as he tried to escape. The German pilot eventually stopped firing, reportedly out of amazement at the P-47’s resilience. The pilot later saluted Johnson before flying away.
Johnson made it back to his base and was taken to the hospital. His P-47 had over 200 bullet holes. He recovered and return to flight duty 5 days later.
Johnson was credited with 27 kills.
Johnson managed to regain control of the falling aircraft by using rudder and stick.
Thought his rudder was ‘lost’??
I read that book when I was about 10 years old in the late 60’s and was fascinated by it