Shot down 5 January 1944 in B-17 42-31212. Evaded. Copies of telegrams and picture of boat pp. 119-121.



Ralph Patton's plane had been shot down over the Brest Peninsula - seven of the crew managed to bail out and were assisted by the French Underground. In May 1984 Patton visited with former members of the Resistance in the area who said they knew exactly where his B-17 had come down. Following an 'outstanding' lunch five carloads of happy Frenchmen and one lone curious American drove for twenty minutes to an old stone farmhouse. The farmer had collected a pile of aircraft parts every time he plough his fields, many of which Patton could identify. Finally in the barn he was shown the escape hatch door which had been thrown out of the plane. As far as he knows it is still there.



He founded the US Air Forces' Escape & Evasion Society.



Purple Heart; Air Medal