James Briggs Cheney
Military
Museum object reference no. BAM_0356 Bottisham Airfield Museum
Information provided by Bottisham Airfield Museum
Object Number - UPL 18393 - Major James B. Cheney who later became Squadron Commander of the 376th Fighter Squadron at Little Walden, Essex. Cheney was shot down 15th Oct. 1944...
Assigned to 376FS, 361FG, 8AF USAAF. Awarded the DFC on his 50th combat mission (GO. #33) on April 19, 1944. Failed to Return (FTR) patrol to Munster in P-51D 'Scat-Cat' 44-14219 on his 75th combat mission. Mech failure, streaming oil prior to engine quitting crashed near Dorsten on 15-Oct-44. Prisoner of War (POW) MACR 9502. Retired as Lt. Col. USAAF. Authored his own book citing his experiences in the war, "Under His Wing", published in 2003. Lt. Col. Cheney passed away in 2011.
Awards: DSM, DFC (OLC), AM (2OLC), Croix de Guerre, PH, POW, WWII Victory, EAME.
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
Places
- Site type: Airfield
- Site type: Prisoner of war camp
- Known as: Stalag 7a, Moosburg
Events
| Event | Location | Date | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Born |
Briggsdale, Ohio | 8 February 1920 | |
|
Enlisted |
546 Jack Gibbs Blvd, Columbus, OH 43215, USA | 7 November 1941 | Fort Hayes, Columbus, Ohio |
|
Other Crashed |
506/508 Main St, Schertz, TX 78154, USA | 12 September 1942 | Taxiing Accident Randolph Field, TX Cat 2 damage 2Lt James B Cheney, 12-Sep-42. BT-9 36-63 - 47SchSq |
|
Other Baled out |
Dorsten, Germany | 15 October 1944 | Failed to Return (FTR) patrol to Munster in P-51D 'Scat-Cat' 44-14219. Mech failure, streaming oil prior to engine quitting crashed near Dorsten on 15-Oct-44 POW MACR 9502. Shot down by Flak. |
|
Other Prisoner of War (POW) |
Moosberg, 37170 Solling, Germany | 15 October 1944 | Prisoner of War (POW). Stalag Luft VIIa. |
|
Died |
Urbana, OH 43078, USA | 1 October 2011 | |
|
Other Promotion |
Byrd Field, Richmond, Virginia | Promoted to Captain. | |
|
Based |
Bottisham | 15 October 1944 | Assigned to 376FS, 361FG, 8AF USAAF. |
|
Other Promotion |
Bottisham, Cambridge CB25, UK | Assigned as squadron operations officer. Promoted to Major. | |
| Franklin County, OH, USA | |||
|
Other Promotion |
Assigned as commanding officer, of the 376th Squadron. | ||
|
Other Liberated from POW Camp |
Liberated from POW camp by General Patton's 3rd Army. | ||
|
Other Promotion |
Promoted to Lieutenant Colonel . |
Revisions
Drawn from the records of the National Museum of the Mighty Eighth Air Force, Savannah, Georgia / MACR 9502 / Paul Andrews, Project Bits and Pieces, 8th Air Force Roll of Honor database / Ted Damick, VIII Fighter Command pilots list
