Ernest oliver mcgehee usaaf kia 19/10/1942

[russg10]

Hi,

I am looking for any information on 1st Lt. Ernest McGehee who, after transferring from the ATA in September 1942 was killed whilst in charge of operations on a flying mission with the USAAF (presumably the 8th Air Force) based in the UK. He was killed on 19th October 1942.

Any information on how he died and with which squadron etc. would be greatly welcomed.

Many thanks in advance,

Russ

[dp_burke]

He was not 'killed in action' per the NARA record on wwiimemorial.com
He is Died non battle (DNB)

Where is the infirmation about flying operations coming from?

AAIR contains nothing for October 19th that might have him. Seem to be all single engine.

He might have died of earlier injuries, died of illness or been on a British aircraft.
I seen online, his headstone and post war transcriptions of his burial service from his local paper. This type of source might not be the most reliable.

No mention of him here either
http://airforcehistoryindex.org/data/000/877/079.xml

[russg10]

Thanks for your reply Dennis,

The information did indeed come from googling his name where I got to the Oklahoma War Memorial. From this I got that he died in an aeroplane crash but as you say the information given seemed vague hence my post.

Cheers,

Russ

[dp_burke]

As soon as I type this someone will give the answer, are you curious enough to apply for his IDPF from the Army? Details are over on armyairforces.com forum research section.

[russg10]

Thanks again Dennis,

I'll look into that,

Russ

[Leendert]

Russ,

Sorry, no answer, but you may be interested to see http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchi...0-%201304.html where (here) First Officer McGehee is pictured with other American pilots who had joined the Air Transport Auxilliary.

Indeed, follow the above suggestion to ask for a IDPF. Have some patience though before receiving an answer.

Regards,

Leendert

[Leendert]

Russ,

Did some further googling and found this info in the online book "Old Pilots Never Die: They Just Fly Away" by R. William Reisert.

In it he writes with date April 28, 1942 that he (also) met First Officer McGehee "a blue eyed fellow who was later killed in the Liverpool balloons while flying a Hurricane on a weather check. At the time he had been in the USAAF Transport Command as a First Lt. but a month. Too bad he didn't check with Maps & Signals for the balloons and which he learned about it in ATA"

Not sure yet, but the Hurricane may have belonged to VIII Air Force Support Command.

Regards,

Leendert

[russg10]

Thanks very much Leendert,

You have pretty much answered my question in full!

Cheers,

Russ

[Leendert]

And from a former post on this very website http://forum.12oclockhigh.net/archiv...p?t-17796.html

the Hurricane may very well have been Z4049 with crash location Lower Tranmere, Birkenhead.
In this thread it is already suggested that the a/c (and pilot) was of the USAAF.

Regards,

Leendert

[dp_burke]

His headstone does have a (loose) rendering of a Hurricane on it!
http://image2.findagrave.com/photos/...1855422841.jpg

it would not be the first aircraft type that would spring to mind for a stateside headstone unless they knew about it.

Good work. Annoyed I missed that google books reference.