42-96199
IWM, Roger Freeman Collection
#42-96199 took off from station 162 Chipping Ongar, Essex UK on a mission to bomb Chartres’ airfield. Around 1755, just as the plane, part of the first bombing group, was starting its run, a flak barrage scored a direct hit on the No.2 engine. The latter plummeted free of the aircraft and landed near the town church. The plane itself went into a slow dive. The pilot dropped both 900 kg bombs in order to free the bay door for a potential bail out. The rest of the group thought it to be the attack signal and dropped theirs as well. The damage caused was enormous, killing about 50 civilians and setting the town library on fire.
Crew: First-Lieutenant Robert Nathan Smith (Pilot), First-Lieutenant Neil G Bartholme (Co-Pilot), Second Lieutenant Walter L Wright (Bombardier), Staff-Sergeant George R Farfaras (Radio Operator), Staff-Sergeant William L Brown (Gunner), Staff-Sergeant Clyde S Morton (Mechanic).
Connections
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Units served with
- Unit Hierarchy: Group
- Air Force: Eighth Air Force
- Type Category: Bombardment
- Unit Hierarchy: Squadron
- Air Force: Ninth Air Force
- Type Category: Bombardment
People
- Military/Civilian/Mascot: Military
- Nationality: American
- Unit: 387th Bomb Group 557th Bomb Squadron
- Service Numbers: O-677649
- Highest Rank: First Lieutenant
- Role/Job: Co-Pilot
- Military/Civilian/Mascot: Military
- Nationality: American
- Unit: 387th Bomb Group 557th Bomb Squadron
- Service Numbers: 14004054
- Highest Rank: Staff Sergeant
- Role/Job: Gunner
- Military/Civilian/Mascot: Military
- Nationality: American
- Unit: 387th Bomb Group 557th Bomb Squadron
- Service Numbers: 32438932
- Highest Rank: Staff Sergeant
- Role/Job: Radio Operator
- Military/Civilian/Mascot: Military
- Nationality: American
- Unit: 387th Bomb Group 557th Bomb Squadron
- Service Numbers: 17044975
- Highest Rank: Staff Sergeant
- Role/Job: Mechanic
- Military/Civilian/Mascot: Military
- Nationality: American
- Unit: 387th Bomb Group 557th Bomb Squadron
- Highest Rank: First Lieutenant
- Role/Job: Pilot
Places
- Site type: Airfield
- Known as: Willingale
Events
Event | Location | Date | Description |
---|---|---|---|
Crashed |
Chartres, France | 26 May 1944 | |
Other Memorial |
Fontenay-sur-Eure, France |
Revisions
Transferred details from duplicate record.
MACR 5034 / Paul Andrews, Project Bits and Pieces, 8th Air Force Roll of Honor database
-FRE image coming soon-
Robert Nathan Smith, via American Air Museum memory book correspondence.
Aircraft of the 557th Bomb Squadron
Page at US Memorials Overseas