Heyward Claude Spinks
Military
Added photo
Object Number - UPL 37476 - Lt Heyward Spinks (USAAF photo)
Lt Heyward Spinks was flying Mustang Serial 43-6935 on the strafing mission over the Paris area on 20 June 1944. Due to engine problems, he had to crash-land his plane at La Garenne des Postes, near Eve, NW of Meaux, France. Helped by French citizens and members of the Résistance, he was hidden in various places before being guided to the secret camp in the Fréteval forest near Châteaudun. The camp was liberated by US troops on 14 August 1944 and Spinks, wounded in a truck accident, was flown back to England on 15 August. See the story of his evasion at http://www.evasioncomete.be/fspinkshc.html
Connections
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Units served with
- Unit Hierarchy: Group
- Air Force: Eighth Air Force
- Type Category: Fighter
- Unit Hierarchy: Squadron
- Air Force: Eighth Air Force
- Type Category: Fighter
Aircraft
- Aircraft Type: P-51 Mustang
- Nicknames: Hurry Home Honey
- Unit: 357th Fighter Group 364th Fighter Squadron
Missions
- Date: 20 June 1944
Places
- Site type: Airfield
- Known as: Theberton/Saxmundham
Events
| Event | Location | Date | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Born |
10 July 1920 | Lanett, Chambers County, Alabama | |
|
Enlisted |
3 September 1942 | as a Private in the Air Corps in Atlanta, Georgia | |
|
Other crash-landed |
20 June 1944 | his Mustang 43-6935 (engine trouble), at La Garenne des Postes, near Eve, France (NW of Meaux) | |
|
Other evaded capture |
20 June 1944 - 14 September 1944 | with the help of French citizens and members of the Résistance, he was hidden in various places before being guided to the secret camp in the Fréteval forest near Châteaudun. The camp was liberated by US troops on 14 August 1944 | |
|
Other flown back to England |
15 September 1944 | after his being wounded in a truck accident on the road from Laval to Bayeux on the day before | |
|
Died |
27 January 1990 | Beaufort, Beaufort County, South Carolina | |
|
Born |
LaGrange, Troup County, Georgia | ||
|
Buried |
Heyward Spinks rests at the Beaufort National Cemetery in Beaufort, Beaufort County, South Carolina (His grave stone has his middle initial wrongly as "O"...) |
Revisions
MACR 5962
WWII Draft Cards
NARA WWII Enlistment records
Escape & Evasion Report E&E 963
SSDI Death Index
