Smoke
Over The Hedgerow
signals a crash site and Lt LeFebvre and his platoon
went to check it out |
At
The Scene
the left wing of the C-47 was largely intact |
Vertical
Stabilizer
was also in one piece indicating the aircraft came down as one
assembly and burned on the ground |
Tail
Number
315101 is for aircraft registration 43-15101.
If was a C-47A-DL, built at Long Beach, Daugherty Field,
California in 1943. Aircraft registries list it as "Destroyed, June 6, 1944".
Note the "S" on the tail that indicates the radio
Call Sign of the
plane within the squadron which flew as 3 V's of V's, i.e.,3 aircraft
times 9 V's totaling 27. "S" would be the 19th aircraft in the squadron.
Patrick Elie of France wrote after seeing the earlier post of this
page and said, "43-151012 was Lt. Raymond C. Howard's plane. They
crash-landed during mission Chicago. P and CP were killed (not
during the crash-landing but after).. P by Germans and CP by P-47
strafing on POW convoy) RO and CC were POW.
The plane crash landed near the road between Chef du Pont and Pont
l'Abbé, south side, in front of Rue de Prusse." |
MACR
440606![](../../images/france/macr_43_15101_2_small.jpg)
(Missing Aircraft Report) lists the pilot as "unknown" and that the
plane was flown by the 434th Transport Carrier Group, 71st Troop
Carrier Squadron for Operation Neptune, Chicago serial (508th was in
the Boston Serial).
Aircraft last sighted "with left engine smoking and then a large
sheet of flame plunging to the ground". |
Lt.
Foley and Lt. Rex Combs
sit on P-38 wreckage. The U.S. "Stars and Bars" and a "7X"
indicate it was from the 479th Fighter Squadron, part of the 65th
Fighter Wing stationed at RAF Wattisham, England. |
Lt
John P. Foley and Lt Rex
Combs
inspect wreckage of a downed U.S. P-38 aircraft . |
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