David Elder Cruickshank

Military ROLL OF HONOUR

Assigned to 496FTG, 8AF USAAF. Transferred to 55FS, 20FG, 8AF USAAF. Fatal crash on training flight in AT-6D 42-84591 17-Sep-44. Died Non Battle (DNB).

Awards: DFC, AM (3OLC), PH.

Connections

See how this entry relates to other items in the archive by exploring the connections below.

Units served with

20th Fighter Group

Unit Hierarchy: Group
Air Force: Eighth Air Force
Type Category: Fighter

496th Fighter Training Group

Unit Hierarchy: Group
Air Force: Eighth Air Force
Type Category: Fighter

Pilots of the 79th Fighter Squadron, 20th Fighter Group, stand around a map at Kings Cliffe air base before mission over northern France, October 1943. L to R: First Lieutenant Merle B. Nichols, Seattle, Wash.; Major Nathaniel H. Blanton, Earlsboro, Oklahoma and First Lieutenant Richard P. Gatterdam, Columbus, Ohio. Censor has drawn lines across the map. Each of these pilots went on to command one of the squadrons of the 20th Fighter Group. Gatterdam commanded the 55th Fighter Squadron, Nichols the 77th a

55th Fighter Squadron

Unit Hierarchy: Squadron
Air Force: Eighth Air Force
Type Category: Fighter

79th Fighter Squadron

Unit Hierarchy: Squadron
Air Force: Eighth Air Force
Type Category: Fighter

People

William R Taylor

Military/Civilian/Mascot: Military
Nationality: American
Unit: 20th Fighter Group 55th Fighter Squadron
Service Numbers: O-763782
Highest Rank: Second Lieutenant
Role/Job: Fighter pilot

Aircraft

42-84591

Aircraft Type: AT-6 Texan/Harvard
Unit: 20th Fighter Group 55th Fighter Squadron

Places

Goxhill

Site type: Airfield

Kings Cliffe

Site type: Airfield
Known as: Kingscliffe, Apethorpe

A P-47 Thunderbolt (PZ-A, serial number 42-8699) nicknamed "Prairie Farme (Spirit of Los Angeles City College)" of the 352nd Fighter Group prpepares for take off at Wittering. Written on slide casing: 'PZ-A 28699 Cpt Andrews at Wittering.'

Wittering

Site type: Airfield

Events

Event	Location	Date	Description
Born	Aberdeen, Scotland	10 July 1916	Son of David Dunn Cruickshank.
Enlisted		14 November 1941
Based Transferred	Wittering	12 February 1944 - 17 September 1944	Transferred to 55FS, 20FG, 8AF USAAF.
Other Promotion		3 May 1944	Promoted to 1st Lieutenant.
Died	North Walsham, UK	17 September 1944	Fatal crash on training flight in AT-6D 42-84591 17-Sep-44. Died Non Battle (DNB).
Buried		18 September 1944	Interred Cambridge American Cemetery and Memorial
Based	Goxhill	12 February 1944	Assigned to 496FTG, 8AF USAAF.
	Makaweli, Kauei, Hawaii

Revisions

Date17 Oct 2018 16:52:21

ContributorAl_Skiff

Changes

Sources

https://www.fold3.com/record/529898310-david-e-cruickshank
https://www.fold3.com/image/310762426?terms=David%20E%20Cruickshank
https://www.fold3.com/record/85407581-david-e-cruickshank
https://www.fold3.com/image/611813420?terms=David%20Cruickshank
http://www.aviationarchaeology.com/src/dbasn.asp?SN=42-84591&Submit4=Go

Date27 Sep 2014 18:07:01

ContributorAAM

Changes

Sources

Combat Chronology / Drawn from the records of the National Museum of the Mighty Eighth Air Force, Savannah, Georgia / Ted Damick, VIII Fighter Command pilots list