42-7915

P-47D-1-RE 42-7915 UPL 79146 UPL 79146 "The QP-U shot is very interesting as the serial is not as it appears. The third digit looks as though it might be either a six or an eight, but neither fits. 42-7615 is not a P-47 serial number and neither is 42-7815. I can only conclude that this is in fact 42-7915 which I certainly have listed as Clyde Smith’s P-47 and in which he bailed out of on 8th October 1943 to become a POW. Conclusion therefore is that the stencil for the third digit has been applied upside-down to appear as a six when it should be a nine! - Peter Randall

Photo from the personal collection of Robert S. Markham

42-7915 On

Object Number - UPL 79146 - "The QP-U shot is very interesting as the serial is not as it appears. The third digit looks as though it might be either a six or an eight, but...

P-47D-1-RE 42-7915 was assigned to the 4th FG/335FS at Debden, UK. On 8-Oct-43 the aircraft, piloted by F/O Clyde D. Smith, was flown to the airfield at Shipdham to serve as a forward operating base for the despatch of the unit to escort B-17s attacking at Bremen, Germany. F/O Smith was shot down by German fighters. He managed to bale out of the doomed aircraft before it crashed at Nijveen, Holland and he was captured as a Prisoner of War (POW) 1POW MACR 857.

Connections

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Units served with

People

  • Military/Civilian/Mascot: Military
  • Nationality: American
  • Unit: 334th Fighter Squadron
  • Service Numbers: T-190572
  • Highest Rank: Flight Officer
  • Role/Job: Pilot

Places

Missions

Events

Event Location Date Description

Other

Failed to Return

8 October 1943 Shot down by enemy aircraft on a mission escorting bombers attacking Bremen, Germany. Crashed at Nijeveen, Holland

Revisions

Date
Contributormblattman
Changes
Sources

Photo from the personal collection of Robert S. Markham

Date
ContributorLee8thbuff
Changes
Sources

Lee Cunningham 3-Jul-2015. Made connection to Squadron, Place(s); and Mission within existing website data; Added FTR event per MACR 857 & 937; Added Description based on "The Losses of the 8th & 9th Air Forces", Stan Bishop & John A. Hey. MBE.

Date
ContributorAAM
Changes
Sources

MACR 857 & 937 / Paul Andrews, Project Bits and Pieces, 8th Air Force Roll of Honor database

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