UPL 78575 UPL 78575 The Royal Flush (42-6087) of the 8th Air Force, 100th bomber group, 418th Bomber squadron, was assigned to Thorpe Abbotts Field and flew 75 missions before being lost in the skies above France. She had seen plenty of battle and was famously flown by Robert “Rosie” Rosenthal on October 10th 1943 along with 12 other B-17 crews on a bombing mission to destroy essential targets in Munster, Germany. The Flush was the only plane to return that day.

The Flush, also known as “Harpers Ferry” and “Askes’ Angels” flew her final mission on August 11th, 1944. The target that day was the air field and German Stuka dive bombers at Villacoublay, France outside of Paris.

Shortly after noon Flying in the number 2 position in low squadron, and after their bombs hit their targets, the flush took a direct anti-aircraft hit between the number 3 engine and fuselage. The ensuing fire and additional flack hits disabled the damaged aircraft to the degree that it went into a left descending turn out of the formation towards the ground.
Of the crew of 9, only 5 survived.
Co-Pilot- 2nd Lt Charles S. Barber-POW/ESCAPED (from Hospital in Paris along with Nekvasil with the help of French Resistance)
Radio Operator- Sgt Charles M. Nekvasil POW/ESCAPED (from Hospital in Paris along with Lt Barber with the help of French Resistance)
Bombardier- 2nd Lt James D. Magargee POW
Waist Gunner- Sgt Armando F. Consorto POW
Ball Turret Gunner- Sgt Norman C. Fernaays- EVADEE (Last out of the plane, landed on a roof in Meudon and was injured. Hidden by the French Resistance until Paris was overrun by the Americans on August 25th, 1944.)
All five bailed out of the Flush and into a hail of German bullets and flak as the enemy turned their attention from the fatally wounded bomber to those that were now slowly falling to earth.
The four that did not make it were:
Navigator - 2nd Lt Gordon E. Davis- Died in crash
Top Turret/ Flight Engineer-Sgt Robert F. Williams-Killed by Germans while descending in parachute.Tail Gunner- Sgt Stuart R. Allison- Killed by Germans while descending in parachute.
Pilot- 2nd Lt Alf Aske Jr. – Reports surrounding the final moments of the Flush are somewhat contested but eye witness reports describe how Aske controlled the aircraft’s decent and subsequent explosion into a wheatfield avoiding innocent lives in the nearby village of Clamart. Aske and the other airmen that lost their lives that day were taken by the people of Clamart and honorably interred until they were later returned to the US after the war. The grateful people of Clamart erected a monument for those US airmen that were lost that day in appreciation for the efforts to free France and sacrifice shown to save the residents of Clamart. Ironically, the Flush, who was the sole surviving fortress in the Munster raid in 1943 was the only plane lost on what was considered and successful mission over Villacoublay.

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