Ray Clifton Langford
Military
media-38087.jpeg
UPL 38087
Ray Clifton Langford
Fighter Pilot
404th FG - 507th FS - 9th AF
Fighter Pilot
404th FG - 507th FS - 9th AF
Connections
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Units served with
- Unit Hierarchy: Group
- Air Force: Ninth Air Force
- Type Category: Fighter
- Unit Hierarchy: Squadron
- Air Force: Ninth Air Force
- Type Category: Fighter
Places
- Site type: Airfield
Events
Event | Location | Date | Description |
---|---|---|---|
Born |
Hillsboro, Texas | 4 September 1919 | |
Enlisted |
Dallas, Texas | 24 April 1941 | 5'11" 155 lbs |
Other Crashed on Take Off |
Winkton Airfield, UK | 29 May 1944 | Ray Longford of the 507th had an even worse experience. Bumps in the runway threw him into the air with inadequate flying speed. He wobbled and mushed across the treetops and finally crashed down out of sight. His wingtip had hardly disappeared when a huge column of bright flame exploded up. Nobody gave him one chance in a thousand. Lieut. Dike Pisegna from Group Headquarters hopped fences and ran across fields to the scene and found-two shattered gas tanks and a scorched area in someone's backyard bean-patch, a twin-row radial engine steaming in a backyard, an intact fuselage, nose down on top of a truck,. with the tail just clearing the side of a house in a small village and Ray himself sitting in the living room of a house his plane had just hurdled. He was badly burned about the face and wrists, and shocked, and ready for a long stay in a hospital, but he was still with us. |
Died |
Houston, Texas | 18 December 2006 | |
Buried |
Forest Park Cemetery, Houston, Texa | 21 December 2006 | Forest Park Cemetery Houston, Harris County, Texas, USA |