View Single Post
  #12  
Old 20th June 2011, 03:08
Martin Gleeson Martin Gleeson is offline
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: Limerick, Ireland.
Posts: 678
Martin Gleeson is an unknown quantity at this point
Re: Roland 'Bud' L. Wolfe, USAAF pilot with 4 victories ?

Hallo Paul,

Thanks for your reply. Last Wednesday my attention was drawn to an article that appeared in a daily newspaper in Northern Ireland earlier this month. The writer stated this dig was planned for the end of June as part of a new television series. (Has the dig happened ?) This was a total surprise to me, not least that they had apparently received permission to carry out the dig.

There were several statements in the piece that really made me sit up and take notice. One was the suggestion that the unnamed pilot - 'Bud' Wolfe obviously - had four 'kills' in his USAAF service. I had no evidence from my previous research to back that up so I posted my query a few days ago. The information from you and our other colleagues was both new to me and much appreciated.

The file on this crash in the Military Archives in Dublin has little on the 1941 salvage operation. It appears the Spitfire dived vertically into a boggy area on a mountain side. Very little was recovered at the time except for two badly damaged machine guns and many rounds of ammunition. The impact hole was flooding so the army personnel filled it in.

I don't know the people involved in this dig. However I feel they may be disappointed by the results - the famed preservative properties of Irish bogs notwithstanding ! I could yet be proved wrong but in the meantime remain an interested spectator.

Regards,

Martin.
Reply With Quote