Watch recovered from 1944 C-47 crash
 

Re: Watch recovered from 1944 C-47 crash
 

MACR 1906
440112
C-47
41-18681
62 TCG 8 TCS
Nowotny, Raymond Alvin
06133 Maestrello-Santo Gratignano, Italia
onto Monte Tezio

Re: Watch recovered from 1944 C-47 crash
 

Hi Frankie

The date on the document must be incorrect - Operation Shingle did not commence until 22 January so the statement "a direct attack on a German airfield that was being used against the Anzio beachhead" must refer to something other than 12 January 1944.

Allan

Re: Watch recovered from 1944 C-47 crash
 

The attack on Perugia by the SAS was preparatory to Operation Shingle. Explosives were placed on several German aircraft but some of the devices were discovered.

Re: Watch recovered from 1944 C-47 crash
 

Hi Nick

Thanks for the additional information - however, the statement "a direct attack on a German airfield that was being used against the Anzio beachhead" is still incorrect as the beachhead did not exist on 12 January - unless of course we told the Germans we were coming, and the intended location!!

Either way - great news about the watch if it gets back to the right family.

Allan

Re: Watch recovered from 1944 C-47 crash
 

The SAS operation was called " Pomegranate " operation. Only two of six parachutists arrived to S. Egidio airport (Perugia). Only two planes Ju.88 and Fi 156 exploded. The other nine planes mined, including other six Ju. 88 . didn't explode because the mines were quickly de-fused ba german soldiers after the explotion that killed Widdrinton iniured Hughes during the de-fusing the rest of mines not used, before escape from the airfield. I discovered the crash site of C 47 dropping the six SAS's parachutists.

Re: Watch recovered from 1944 C-47 crash
 

Hello,
An oddity within the MACR.
Page 10 has Crew- 5
Passengers - 7

But
Page 12 has names list.
Crew - 6 names
Passengers - 6 names.

Could it be that the Flight Sergeon was not a crew member but the seventh passenger ?
Did he perhaps volunteer to go with the British team ?

Alex

Re: Watch recovered from 1944 C-47 crash
 

Jimmy Hughes' book, "Who Cares Who Wins" refers to "Tony Widrington, me and the four men we had chosen" and "Lt. Col. Nowotny … was to pilot the C-47 … With him he had an all-star team. Capt. J.J. McNeil, Capt. J.L. Nocentine, Lieut. J. Patiak, Technical-Sgt. R.A. Holmes and Sgt. S. Singer made up the crew of the plane." So I make that six SAS and six aircrew.

Re: Watch recovered from 1944 C-47 crash
 

Crash site and report of German soldiers

Re: Watch recovered from 1944 C-47 crash
 

Since the original date on the Fox News story was 2013, I wondered what had happened since then. I found this link from 2017:

Original Italian:
https://www.ilmessaggero.it/umbria/d...o-3399387.html

Google translate of the story:

PERUGIA - From Texas to the top of Mount Tezio to pay tribute to the great-uncle soldier of the US Army, 73 years after his death. It was called JJ jr. Mc Neill, captain and co-pilot of the crew of the American C-47 who during the Second World War, January 12, 1944 at 22, rushed a short distance from the Cross of the Pieve. In the impact, the lives of five other US soldiers died, remembered in a commemorative plate placed next to a cross. They have been posted there by those who have long worked with dedication to reconstruct the history of the event, even managing to recover artifacts that have remained hidden over the years. Like a Longiness watch, returned to the soldier's family. This is also the reason why Tuesday 28 November Bennie Frances Perhaps with her daughter Phillis she reached the summit of Mount Tezio, where she wanted to leave two flags, one from Texas and one from the United States, next to the plaque where since 2013 we remember the soldiers who lost their lives in the impact. One was his great-uncle, owner of the clock recovered thanks to the commitment of Glauco Mencaroni, one of the people who, together with Silvano Marti, a great fan of historical aeronautics and Mauro Bifani, author of a book on the subject, mobilized to get to the Tuesday. An important moment of a journey that began in 2011, when Glauco interviewed two impact witnesses, Pietro Piattellini and Cesare Ercolanelli, set out on the trail of the American plane. The memories put in a row pushed the will to reconstruct the story, arriving at the identification of the point of the incident where they were identified some small metal remains that helped to pull a thread of clear memory. The C-47 was on a mission that evening in January '44. The crew had recently unloaded six English parades from the second Sas department, in an area between Castel Rigone and Colpiccione. A sabotage mission had begun, codenamed "Pomegranate", with destination the Sant'Egidio airport that was occupied by the Germans. The American aircraft, however, did not return to the base: in the crash they lost their lives in addition to Captain McNeill, the pilot Colonel Raymond A. Nowotny, Captain Joseph L. Nocentini, Captain John Jr. Piatak, Sergeant Ross A. Holmes and Sergeant Saul Singer.
In front of the plaque commemorating the sacrifice of those soldiers Bennie wanted to arrive despite the difficulty in covering the paths of Mount Tezio. There he left his homage and, with his daughter (who had already been there two years ago) and the guardians of the history of the plane, he posed for a photo that will remain as a testimony of facts rediscovered after years. The names of those who made everything possible were engraved in a tile given in homage to the family of Captain McNeill, who was given the watch found with painstaking research. Research that has also allowed to reconstruct the story of another plane fallen a short distance, right under the Cross of the Pieve. He was a Junkers Ju.52 German who crashed after losing a wing for the impact with the mountain on February 13, 1941. Another page of the history of Tezio witness of war, today guarded and made known thanks to the commitment of volunteer enthusiasts and the Monti del Tezio cultural association (among others there was also Paolo Cicuti). To them the graces of the soldier's family: "It was a great pleasure to be here and to have met you".
Thursday 30 November 2017 -