Military
1st Lieutenant Hipolitus T Biel.
Photo of Lieutenant Thomas Biel (left), Major Gerald Montgomery (centre) and Captain Victor France (right), with the pool of £30 that would be paid to the pilot who would claim the 334th Fighter Squadron's 50th kill.
1st Lt. 'Tom' Biel gets the final word on his P-51B Mustang from his crew chief before a mission in March 1944.
1st Lt Hipolitus 'Tom' Biel and Capt Vasseure 'Georgia' Wynn strike a heroic pose in front of a Mustang in early April 1944.
First Lieutenant Hipolitus "Tom" Biel of the 4th Fighter Group in the cockpit of a P-51 wearing an RAF lifevest.
Hipolitus Biel was the son of Polish immigrant parents. In 1936 he applied to the United States Army Air Corps to enter their pilot training programme. Unable to meet all of their strict entrance guidelines he applied to the Royal Canadian Air Force, and on 5 August 1941 he was enlisted. He later graduated as a sergeant pilot on 24 July 1942.
He later arrived in England on 18 August, where he flew Miles Masters and Spitfires as part of his further training - which he finished on 7 March 1943. He was later discharged and transferred to the U.S. Army Air Force as a Flight Officer. On 7 September 1943, he was assigned to the 4th fighter Group, 334th Squadron flying P-47s.
He was promoted to 2nd Lieutenant in January 1944 and 1st Lieutenant in February.
Biel was killed in action when he was shot down in aerial combat on 24 April 1944 near Darmstadt in P-51 42-106636. He was credited with 11.3 enemy aircraft destroyed, five of them in aerial combat, the rest by strafing on the ground.
Military | Captain | Fighter Pilot, Pilot
Captain Raymond Clare was from Angola, Indiana, and had enlisted in the Royal Canadian Air Force before the United States' entry into the war. He arrived in England in March 1942 and was assigned to No. 71 Eagle Squadron of Americans in the RAF...
Squadron
The 334th Fighter Squadron was the successor to No. 71 Eagle squadron of the Royal Air Force when the 4th Fighter Group was activated on 12 September 1942. They were based at Debden Field, Essex. The "Fighting Eagles" as they were called, flew...
P-51 Mustang
This Mustang was flown by Lt Hipolitus T. Biel when it was lost on 24 April 1944.
Statement in the Missing Air Crew report - MACR 4311 : "No report from Lt. Biel after Group encountered 34 Fw190 and Me109s. No one reports seeing Lt Biel go down."
P-51 Mustang
Assigned to 334FS, 4FG, 8AF USAAF. Aircraft sustained flak hits while strafing an airdrome near Osnabruck. Pilot Capt David Van Epps pulled aircraft up and baled out at 1,000ft. POW. MACR 3749.
24 April 1944
Military site : airfield
RAF Debden, construction of which began in 1935, is perhaps most famous as a Battle of Britain fighter airfield, partly responsible for the defence of London in 1940. In 1942 it was also home to three RAF 'Eagle Squadrons’ of volunteer American pilots...
| Event | Location | Date |
|---|---|---|
| Born | St Paul, Minnesota, USA | 28 July 1916 |
| Killed in Action (KIA) | Worms, Germany | 24 April 1944 |
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His Mustang was last sighted above the Darmstadt, Germany, area and crashed near Worms. |
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| Buried | Calvary Cemetery, Saint Paul, Minnesota, United States | 1949 |
| Date | Contributor | Update |
|---|---|---|
| 16 November 2016 10:52:21 | general ira snapsorter | Changes to biography |
| Sources | ||
Merged with duplicate entry to include details from: |
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| Date | Contributor | Update |
| 30 August 2015 10:41:15 | ED-BB | Changes to nickname, biography, events and mission associations |
| Sources | ||
Mission number |
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| Date | Contributor | Update |
| 21 March 2015 20:11:55 | apollo11 | Changes to middlename |
| Sources | ||
Personal research & 'The Debden Warbirds' by Frank Speer. |
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| Date | Contributor | Update |
| 03 March 2015 20:05:45 | apollo11 | Changes to highest rank, role, biography, awards, events and place associations |
| Sources | ||
Personal research & 'Eigthy-One Aces of the 4th Fighter Group' by Frank Speer. |
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| Date | Contributor | Update |
| 27 September 2014 18:13:03 | AAM | AAM ingest |
| Sources | ||
Drawn from the records of the National Museum of the Mighty Eighth Air Force, Savannah, Georgia / MACR 4311 / Paul Andrews, Project Bits and Pieces, 8th Air Force Roll of Honor database / Ted Damick, VIII Fighter Command pilots list |
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