About a P 38 shot down on 17 June 1944 (France)

[canonne]

Hi,
Can we identify the P-38 shot down near Damville (North Chatres, between Evreux and Dreux France). It seems begining of the afternoon.
Thank you
Philippe

[Alex Smart]

Hello Philippe,
There were about a dozen P38's that warented an MACR that came down in France on the date you have.
There may well be others that had no MACR due to the a/c or pilot arriving in allied territory.
The pilot's name would perhaps help ?
I looked in 8th & 9th Losses book and it may well be a 9th AAF loss.
P38J - 15-LO
42-104180
367FG/392FS.
2Lt. Henry T. GILLESPIE.
MACR 6278
Last seen at 1435hrs near Evreux. Crashed at Maillebois between Brezolles and Chateauneuf-en-Thymerais.
Pilot was killed.

Two others were 2Lt. Earl L. Peters and 2Lt. George S. White.
Alex

[KM1957]

T o expand a bit on losses on 17 June, besides the three above, the Eighth Air Force lost two P-38's from the 479th Fighter Group. For the 367th losses of Peters and White, they are on MACR 6502 and 6503, respectively, both with times of 1435 hours and both last seen near Epernon. Peters was in 42-68060 and White in 42-104079.

For the 479th, Lt. James K. Ohligschlager was killed after colliding with another P-38 on MACR 5958 in 43-28729. According to German J-1437 document, he crashed 1 1/2 km north of Montge, 30 km SE of Creil. Capt. Calvin J. Butler (POW) was lost to flak in 44-23168 on MACR 5965. German J-1419 states his ship crashed 1 km south of Themericourt, 15 km northwest of Pontoise.

Kent