April 26th Shot down of 2 P-61 by friendly fire

[Rolfeb]

Hi Brick,

thanks for your feed back. I'm living in the area where Cartmells P-61 crashed.
I'm very interested where the third P-61 you mentiond crashed. There must be an additional crash in the same area either from 417th NFS or 415th. Crash site most probably located but no evidence on plane.
Therefore any additional help would be great.
Are there some photos of Cartmells crew in your book?

Thanks
Rolf

On April 26, 1945, P-61B-10-NO, AAF SN 42-39559, was shot down by friendly fire at approximately 2130. It was from the 417th NFS, flying out of Giebelstadt, Germany, flying a night intruder mission in defense of the Ulm-Dillingen Bridgehead. The location of the crash site was recorded as "Vicinity Altishein, Germany T 30821"

The pilot was 2LT Thomas E. Cartmell USAAF (my uncle), flying his first combat mission. IDPF records suggest a catastrophic crash and burn. The radar operator was 2LT Hal Anderson, who bailed out before the crash but because of the low altitude, his parachute did not fully deploy and he was killed on impact. Tom is buried at the AMC in St. Avold, France, and Hal was buried in the U.S.

More details of the loss, plus transcribed letters of Lieutenant Cartmell during his training and wartime service can be found at https://brooksidepress.org/cartmell/

Mike Hughey

I am a nephew of LT Thomas E Cartmell USAAF, the pilot of the P-61B that was shot down by American friendly fire on April 26, 1945, while on a night intruder mission over the Dillingen Bridgehead. After reviewing the burial records contained in his IDPF file, the site of the crash was identified as in the vicinity of Altishein, T 308201 (military map coordinates). I had a knowledgable friend help me translate this location into contemporary coordinates of 48.73777 10.87816. Tom was initially buried in the German military cemetery in Reutti. His remains were later moved to the US military cemetery in St. Avold, France.

I have produced a website that provides more detail about the incident, and moreover a collection of all of his wartime letters written to his family. I've also posted all of the related documents (flight logs, etc.) that belonged to him or were related to him. You can view this site at https://brooksidepress.org/cartmell/