James Forrest "Lou" Luma kill on 6 March 1944 in south west of France

[gilles collaveri]

"Lou" Luma from 418 Squadron

( http://www.acesofww2.com/Canada/aces/luma.htm)and
(http://www.geocities.com/CapeCanaver...1/canada1.html)


shot down near Pau a German Aircraft believed to be a FW190D but most likely an Arado96.

This was his third kill and he was awarded the American DFC for this
(quote Lou: ""The American DFC was for a specific action. It was for shooting down an enemy aircraft in southern France near the Spanish border. I was a little too close when I shot it down, and picked up a little of the debris from it that hit my starboard radiator that was located in the leading edge of the wing. We lost all of the coolant, so the engine had to be shut down. We returned to England on one engine.")

I am looking for the mission report of this flight: would somebody help me for this ?

I also wonder if Lou is still alive. Any idea ?

The reason behind these questions is that I found the site and the remains of the Arado96 that was shot down that night.

All the best.

GC

[gilles collaveri]

Hi guys,

I received the mission report for this night (thanks Mark!) and now, it is clear that Lou shot down the Arado 96 I mentioned in a previous post:

http://forum.12oclockhigh.net/showthread.php?t=29201

So, the puzzle is completed, thanks to you.

So, the last question now is:

is Lou Luma still alive ??

GC

[gilles collaveri]

good evening to all;

yes, Lou is alive and kicking.

Thanks to your inputs, I managed to have a direct contact with him; This will give me the opportunity to write a great article about this Arado96.

Internet is definitely great.

rgds

GC