[ NOTE : Major Harry L. Downing is often mistaken for Captain Harry L Downing Jr - O-437990 who was a pilot in the 373rd Fighter Group/411th Fighter Squadron - shot down on 17 June 1944 in P-47 # 42-26323 which crashed near Brix, 9km West of Valognes, France. He managed to evade capture with the help of French citizens and made contact with advancing US troops - Escape & Evasion Report E&E 782 ]

Major Harry Lee Downing, pilot in the 78th Fighter Group / 84th Fighter Squadron was shot down by enemy aircraft on 19 March 45 in P-51 #44-72407 which crashed near Lingen, Germany. His P-51 was last sighted North of Osnabrück. Major Downing, who was Commanding Officer of the 84th FS was made prisoner. On that 19th March 1945 mission, the 78th Group encountered the toughest aerial battle it had fought. The action took place in the Osnabrück area when around 125 enemy planes engaged with 46 Mustangs. “The FW 190 pilots were the most aggressive and probably the most experienced of the enemy fighters. They are believed to have shot down three out of the four in one flight of the 84th Fighter Squadron, including Major Harry L. Downing. “I saw Maj Downing shoot down one Me 109,” said 2nd Lt Thomas V. Thain. “Later I heard him say over the R/T that he shot down another aircraft. He called and said there was a lot of meat there. I then heard him say he was hit and was bailing out. His last words were, “So Long, Gang.” I recognised this voice as his right away.”

Claims were submitted for the destruction of a Focke Wulf 190 and an Me 109 by Major Downing. Captured, Major Downing was made a prisoner of War (POW) and interned at Stalag Luft 1 in Barth, Northern Germany, until the liberation of the camp May/June 1945. Harry Lee Downing retired from the US Air Force as a Colonel after 30 years of service. He passed away in 1991 in Tacoma, Washington.