P-47 42-8435 on 20th february 1945

[Flupke]

Hello to all

During the same ferry flight the Capt Gildersleeve John R.(KIA)O-353421 (514FS)was loss

2nd Lt Deja was found dead at MONS (near Liege ) the 19 March 1945

Regards
Phil

[ssg keay]

If he would have been 513th FS, I could have helped you, as I have the daily mission logs for that unit. But the records for the 512th might be located in Pima, Arizona. The whole 406th FG documents are now held at Pima Air Museum. Danny

[Horst Weber]

Good evening !

Just to rise the confusion in this case, the french P-47-database site reports, that P-47, AAF-s/n 42-8435, crashed on 20 Feb. 1945 near Hunsel/Holland. The pilot Earl L. Abbot bailed out and was WIA. The cause of the crash was engine failure. The unit is noted as 352nd FG.

Best regards !

Horst Weber

[Flupke]

It’s quite strange because the 328th FS was equipped with P-51 at that moment
It was his former A/C Nicnamed “Sandra Lee” , the A/C was probably transferred to the 9th AF

Best Regards
Phil

[Flupke]

I wonder if the abbot's A/C was not the 44-15212 , but not sure
Best regards
Phil

[Horst Weber]

Originally Posted by Flupke

It’s quite strange because the 328th FS was equipped with P-51 at that moment
It was his former A/C Nicnamed “Sandra Lee” , the A/C was probably transferred to the 9th AF

Best Regards
Phil

Well, this a/c have may had been an ex-ship of 352nd FG. But why was a ferry-flight of such an "old" P-47 undertaken in February 1945 from England to the Continent in this stage of war ?.

Horst Weber

[Leendert]

Horst,

Major Earl L. Abbott went missing on 24 Jan 45 in the Aachen area in P-51D 44-14710 of 352nd FG. He's still on the MIA list with date 26 Jan 46.

As Flupke writes, two 406th FG P-47s went down on 20 Feb 1945, one with Capt Gildersleeve, the other with Lt Deja. Both KIFA.
Losses covered in MACR 12553 and 12554.
Capt John A. Gildersleeve is buried in Belgium (Neupré).

Mons is near Visé, just south of the Dutch province of Limburg.

Regards,

Leendert

[ssg keay]

Yes, and Abbott will be a pain in the tush anyways. He was last seen in combat near Aachen, but there are assumptions that he actually did not crash in this area. If I am not mistaken he was last seen south of Geilenkirchen (general area of Aachen). I live near Geilenkirchen and no one knows about a fighter crash during that time period. Danny

[bronco]

Gentlemen, I have been doing a genealogy research and ran across this web page.
My Uncle was Henry Deja and indeed is buried in St. Maries, Idaho. My father was also in WW2 and a gunner on a B-26 bomber and survived the war and told us the Uncle Hank was shot down over Belgium but thats all I know. He came from a family of 8 kids in the woods of northern Idaho and always had a smile on his face and was very soft spoken.
Anyway another bit of information I can put in my research.

Patrick Deja
Port Angeles, WA USA

[ssg keay]

Bronco, thanks for that information. And welcome to the forum by the way. Danny