Killed in Action (KIA) near Heteren in P-47 42-8635.



78th FG 83rd FS. 2nd Lt Dunstan Hartley, from Sagle, Idaho, was lost (MIA) on 23rd September 1944 when he was hit by flak in the area just west of Heteren while flying as wing-man to Col.Gray during Operation 'Market Garden'. At the time of his crash there was 7/10 Cumulous with excellent visibility under 3,000 ft. His intended destination was Nijmegen, Arnhem.



An extract from Col. Gray’s report of the mission is as follows: “I was leading the 78th Fighter Group on a “Flak Busting” mission to Arnhem, [Holland] on September 23 1944, in support to the First Allied Airborne operation in the Nijmegen-Arnhem area.



We bombed and strafed the Arnhem sector from 1526 to 1640 hours, and succeeded in destroying seven light multiple flak positions and damaging seventeen other similar gun positions.



The cost to our group was one P-47 Thunderbolt and pilot, seven planes category “A” damage, five planes category “AC” damage and one plane category “E” damage. This was balanced against the saving of several score C-47s and Stirlings – planes that would have been practically annihilated by the concentration of ground guns the Germans had amassed in our target area.



After circling the town of Arnhem, coming up from the south, and making a 90-degree turn to the west, we drew near Kasteel and met a terrific barrage of light flak, both 20mm and 40mm.

Someone called out the location of a hedgerow lined with several ditches just on the outskirts of a wooded area north of Kasteel. Flak was issuing from the hedge-row and from the wooded area behind.



I took one squadron in this location. We succeeded in silencing the guns….”



“My wing-man, 2nd Lt Dunstan Hartley of Sagle, Idaho, was our only casualty. He went in, on our first pass, when hit by light flak in the area just west of Heteren.”



Dustan Hartley was survived by his wife, Grace E Hartley.