Donald Hugh Wright
Military
Object Number - UPL 44411 - Donald Wright’s Dog Tag on page 6 at https://catalog.archives.gov/id/131494816 (NARA)
Donald Wright was a Pilot in the 355th Fighter Group/358th Fighter Squadron. He was shot down in his P-51 Mustang #43-6842 “Mona Lou” on the 16 March 1944 bomber support mission. He was last seen south of Ulm in a dogfight with an ME109 and made an emergency landing in Niederschopfheim, Germany where he was immediately captured. Prisoner of War (POW). Missing Air Crew Report – MACR 3392. After returning to the US, he was killed in an aircraft accident on 26 October 1945. He was on a training flight on board an AT-6D Serial #44-44640 which crash-landed at Craig Field, Selma, Alabama. Also on board and killed was F/O Robert E. Bell, from Paris, Illinois.
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: Mona Lou
- Unit: 355th Fighter Group 358th Fighter Squadron
Missions
- Date: 16 March 1944
Places
![P-51 Mustangs of the 355th Fighter Group break formation, ready for landing, over the ground support vehicles and control tower of Steeple Morden Airfield. Image signed on reverse with the approval of station censor. Handwritten caption on reverse: '355 FG Steeple Morden, Control Tower, read crew + P41 [sic] group peeling off for landing.'](https://assets.americanairmuseum.com/s3fs-public/styles/teaser_thumb_x2/public/freeman/media-377141.jpg.webp?itok=zxxvSLfB)
- Site type: Airfield
Events
| Event | Location | Date | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Born |
6 February 1921 | Pana, Christian County, Illinois, United States | |
|
Enlisted |
19 January 1942 | Bowman Field, Louisville, Kentucky | |
|
Other Prisoner of War (POW) |
16 March 1944 | captured after emergency landing in Niederschopfheim, Germany. Interned mainly at Stalag Luft 3 Sagan/Zagan, Poland. NARA WWII POW record “Returned to Military Control 21 July 1945.” | |
|
Died |
26 October 1945 | in an aviation accident at Craig Field, Alabama | |
|
Born |
Evansville, Indiana | ||
|
Buried |
Donald Wright rests at the Oak Hill Cemetery in Evansville, Indiana |
Revisions
MACR 3392
NARA WWII Enlistment records
NARA WWII POW records
German document KUJ-721 at https://catalog.archives.gov/id/131494816 (NARA)
https://www.newspapers.com/clip/26760972/two-airmen-killed-in-craig-fie…
page 50 at https://www.repository.law.indiana.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1007…
Drawn from the records of the National Museum of the Mighty Eighth Air Force, Savannah, Georgia / MACR 3392 / MACR 3392, Losses of the 8th & 9th Air Forces / Paul Andrews, Project Bits and Pieces, 8th Air Force Roll of Honor database / Ted Damick, VIII Fighter Command pilots list
