Capt. Reginald C McDowell P47 Groesbeek
 

Hello, i have a engine cowl of a P47.

I am searching for the history of this cowling.
I was told that the cowling was part of P47D-25-RE 42-26534 "Angeleyes".
This P47 was flown by Lt. Wiggins, but not that day.
This P47D was doing supporting the troops that landed at a droppingszone at Groesbeek or Ginkelse Heide during "Market Garden"in the 18th of September 1944.
The P47 was hit by ground fire and made a succesfull emergency landing.
The pilot. Capt. McDowell reached the edge of a wood/bushes where he bumped into General John "Shane"Hackett.
McDowell evaded for the area.
I cant find anything about Capt. McDowell, there must be an Debriefing report of Evasion Report. Is there anyone who can help me out?
There where two P47, s that went down during Market Garden.
Thank you very much, any information is very much appreciated! With kind regards, Eduard

Re: Capt. Reginald C McDowell P47 Groesbeek
 

His service number was O796003.
As a 1st Lt he was credited with a FW 190 destroyed on Feb 10, 1944.
Access to E&E reports is described here: https://narations.blogs.archives.gov...ilable-online/

I did not try to see if there is a report for McDowell

Enjoy!

Frank.

Re: Capt. Reginald C McDowell P47 Groesbeek
 

There is a brief reference to what happened to McDowell in this link, search for McDowell.


https://www.ang.af.mil/Portals/77/do...-19-121824-273

This was an interview with Maj. Gen. Donald J Strait. In the interview, which "jumps around" some, Gen. Strait was asked a question about the Battle of the Bulge but he brings this incident up. The footnotes in the text note:

"Captain McDowell evaded capture after being shot down on 18 September 1944
in P-47D 42-26534; if this is the incident General Strait refers to, it is not (during) the Battle
of the Bulge."

"MAJ. GEN. STRAIT: Oh, yeah, we did. We were flying P-47s then. In fact my roommate, Reggie McDowell, got shot down that day.

He got hit in the engine and he crash landed in the battle area and American troops came up to the airplane, got him out of the cockpit, put a helmet on his head, gave him a rifle and he spent a week in the trenches. When he came back home, we finally got him out of there and got him into France and back into England, he never flew again. He was so operationally exhausted that the flight surgeon sent him home."

"He was the nicest guy too. He lives in Florida right now. But he got hit badly. He was my roommate, Reginald C. McDowell."


If this description is correct (but the date was misremembered) there would not have been an "Escape and Evasion" report as McDowell was with allied troops the whole time.

His name does not show up in this 4 page list of MIS-X reports on evasions. http://www.conscript-heroes.com/Art38-MIS-X.html


He died in 2015. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/...rence-mcdowell

He was living in Arizona at that time having moved there from Florida.

Re: Capt. Reginald C McDowell P47 Groesbeek
 

I'm afraid that Donald Strait's memory must have been failing him. McDowell went down on 18th September, as you correctly stated, so it certainly was not during the Bulge! He returned on 24th September and completed his (2nd) tour on 11th October. (sent home)
Peter

Re: Capt. Reginald C McDowell P47 Groesbeek
 

McDowell was in QI-M (bar), 42-26534 on this date. He wrote a rather long story of his adventure after he returned to England and it is in the 361 Fighter Squadron history for the month of September. In it he says he bellied in east of Forst Reichswald (4QE 7552) at 1345 hours. Spelling is exactly how it appears in the records. While he did stay with the 361st a bit before going home, he never flew another mission after September 18.

Kent

Re: Capt. Reginald C McDowell P47 Groesbeek
 

Goodmorning from Hollland,

I would like to thank all the people who replied on my question!!
Thank you Thank you!
I recieved a picture of Dutch citizens sitting on the crash landed P47D, that belonged to 1Lt. Wiggins, called "Angeleyes".
Not "Angel Eyes", correct me of i am wrong!
I cant find any paint on the engine cowl of this P-47D QI-M.
I guess the nickname was painted somewhere else in the kite.
The cowling is painted 1/2 Olive Drab and 1/2 alumimium.
I ll put it up on display and maybe i can share a picture.
Now....its going to be importnant to write the correct information with the Cowling.
100% correct is: The P-47D made a crash landing after being hit by ground fire on September 18th 1944 during ground strafing during Operation Market Garden.
The location: Klein Amerika, Groesbeek.
Now i have the story about MacDowell fighting shoulder to shoulder with the Army.
I also heard a story he bumped in to General Hackett.
How can i find the personal report of Reginald MacDowell?
I ll read your posts again and hopefully we can put the correct story on paper for the next generations.
I would love to have a picture of this Hero.

again, thanks for your help!!!

Regards,

Eduard

Re: Capt. Reginald C McDowell P47 Groesbeek
 

Without a photo of 42-26534 the name and location is anyone's guess.
His previous P-47 42-26272 a D-22, had Angel Eyes as two words, see photo. This was lost on 9th August 1944.
However his later P-51 had it as Angeleyes - one word.
42-26534 was a D-25 and he would most likely have had to wait about ten - fourteen days before getting the replacement. It would therefore have been flying missions for about two weeks before its loss. Perhaps in this short space of time the name had not been painted on?
Don't forget the code was QI-M(bar) or underscored it you prefer!

Peter

Re: Capt. Reginald C McDowell P47 Groesbeek
 

Kent mentions in post 5 that the story is in the 361st FS history for September (1944). You can order the September History from AFHRA:

https://www.afhra.af.mil/

This search of the AFHRA index is for 0361 Fighter Squadron:

http://airforcehistoryindex.org/sear...0SQUADRON&h=25

It shows one item for September 1944:

http://airforcehistoryindex.org/data/000/059/008.xml

If Kent would verify that this item ( IRISNUM 00059008 which is for
IRISREF A0785, REEL 0000000829 ) is the file he was referring to, you can place an order.

To order the "CD", which at this point will be a very large free downloadable pdf file (not a "physical" CD) see the instructions in "Ordering Digitized Microfilm" on the AFHRA page. Typically the download will contain many more items than just the September file.

Note: If someone has a copy of the large "CD" file, they can just create a small pdf file of just McDowell's story and send it to you.

Re: Capt. Reginald C McDowell P47 Groesbeek
 

It is roll A0785 but the AFHRA is shut down indefinitely due to the virus issue. The CD is 1,333,209 KB and covers the 359 Fighter Squadron from January 1945 thru end of the war then all of the 360 and 361 Fighter Squadrons. McDowell's report is on pages 1232 to 1234 in their September history. In it he says he ran into a LtCol. and Col. at the Battalion Command Post and was later taken to a Divisional Command Post and met a Brig Gen. He gave no names of any of the three officers.

Kent

Kent

Re: Capt. Reginald C McDowell P47 Groesbeek
 

Here you go Eduard, this is the extract from the 361FS CD (Roll A0785) from AFHRA.

In addition to this, squadron records indicate that Captain McDowell was sent for 7 days R&R to Furzedown House effective 30 September 1944

Hope it helps

Ashley