Fred J. Christensen, a leading American ace of World War II who once shot down six German transport airplanes in a day, died April 4 at the Beaumont nursing home in Northborough, Mass. He was 84 and had diabetes.
Christensen was a captain in the Army Air Forces in Europe and assigned to the 56th Fighter Group, a unit called Zemke's Wolfpack, for its commander, Col. Hubert "Hub" Zemke. Among the group's star fliers were David Schilling and Francis "Gabby" Gabreski, who was credited with 28 downings and was the top American ace in Europe.
From his single-engine P-47 Thunderbolt, Christensen managed 21 confirmed aerial kills and shared another.
Though he had a magnificent war record before July 7, 1944, his actions that day brought him national notice.
He was guiding a squadron over central Germany at 10,000 feet when he spotted below a series of large German transport planes -- JU-52s -- as they were preparing to land at a Luftwaffe airfield. He dove in for a close look, alerting other members of the squad first, he told the old United Press wire service.
"They wanted to know if they should stay up there for top cover for me, and I said, 'Hell, no, might as well come on down, too,' " he said. "I just kept moving up the line, shooting them down. They were only about 50 to 100 feet off the ground, and they didn't have a chance."
