C-47 losses on September 18th,1944

[paul peters]

Gentlemen,
Is there anybody on this board who could complete the list of C-47 losses on 18 September 1944 during the re-supply missions of Market Garden?

42-24206 61 TCG MacLintock
42-24177 313 TCG Crouse
42-92839 314 TCG Egbert
42-93001 314 TCG Merz
42-100896 314 TCG Hale
43-15180 314 TCG Ottoway
43-15175 315 TCG Tucker
43-16032 315 TCG Spurrier
43-15185 316 TCG Wharton
43-15498 316 TCG Murrell
43-15638 316 TCG Johnson
43-15641 316 TCG Melvin
43-15643 316 TCG White
43-15629 434 TCG Levine
43-15663 434 TCG Brett
42-100556 436 TCG Webster
42-93098 439 TCG Beck
There is at least one more C-47 with radio call sign "S" lost to flak near Tilburg (Neth). Does anybody have more data?
Most anxious to read your answers,
Paul

There is footage of Stirlings going down to SS flak at Arnhem, including one piloted by the "Whacko" actor Jimmy Edwards. How many Stirlings were lost? How many Allied aircraft of all types were lost as a result of enemy action during the operation?

[Laurent Rizzotti]

The RAF transport units suffered the following losses

38 Group RAF

190 Sqn: no loss on 17 Sep, 12 Stirlings lost, 39 KIA (+ 12 dispatchers), 15 POW during the entire battle

196 Sqn: no loss on 17 Sep, 10 Stirlings lost, 26 KIA (+ 8 dispatchers), 2 POW during the entire battle

295 Sqn: no loss on 17 Sep, 3 Stirlings lost, 7 KIA (+ 2 dispatchers), 1 POW (+ 2 dispatchers) during the entire battle

296 Sqn: no loss

297 Sqn: no loss

298 Sqn: no loss on 17 Sep. A Halifax crashed on 21 Sep (3 KIA), but unclear if in Arnhem mission or SOE usual one.

299 Sqn: no loss on 17 Sep, 5 Stirlings lost, 3 KIA (+ 1 dispatcher), 10 POWs during the entire battle

570 Sqn: a Striling lost on take-off on 17 Sep, wrecked but crew survived; 11 Stirlings lost, 23 KIA (+ 4 dispatchers), 16 POWs during the entire battle

620 Sqn: no loss on 17 Sep, 5 Stirlings lost, 8 KIA (+ 7 dispatchers), 7 POWs during the entire battle

644 Sqn: no loss

46 Group RAF

48 Sqn: no details on 17 Sep, but 7 Dakotas lost, 16 KIA (+ 9 dispatchers) during the entire battle

233 Sqn: no loss on 17 Sep, 4 Dakotas lost during the entire battle, unknow crew losses

271 Sqn: no loss on 17 Sep, 5 Dakotas lost during the entire battle, unknow crew losses (VC on David Lord on the 19th; One of the 3 271 Dakatoas to go down on the 21th was piloted by Jimmy Edwards, who would later find fame as a popular entertainer, and for his bravery in attempting to crash land the aircraft, which at the time was being shot at by an Fw-190, he saved the lives of his four wounded air despatchers, who could not bail out, and so was awarded the DFC)

437 Sqn: no loss on 17 Sep, but 6 Dakotas lost, 12 KIA (+ 4 dispatchers) during the entire battle (a seventh Dakota was "successfully crash-landed" and may or not have been scrapped)

512 Sqn: no loss on 17 Sep, 3 Dakotas lost, 2 KIA during the entire battle

575 Sqn: no aircraft loss on 17 Sep (one pilot was killed by Flak but the co-pilot brought the damaged Dakota back to base), 2 Dakotas lost, 5 KIA (+ 4 dispatchers) during the entire battle (two other Dakotas were crash-landed and may or not have been scrapped)

[DavidIsby]

One additional loss on 18 September is detailed below (excerpt from McCormick, 1 Lt. William J, Jr.: Market Mission Narratives (442nd TCG/53rd TCW), RG 18, Entry 7, Box 118, USNARA.:



1 Lt. William J. McCormick Jr. of the 442nd TCG was pilot of C-47A 43-15139 on 18 September, 1944, on the first glider mission to Eindhoven. Crew: FO Logan Atterbury (co-pilot), SSgt Nichalos J. Carone (engineer), SSgt James Powell (radio operator).



I took off on the 18th September 1944, 1240 hours on a glider tow mission towing [a CG-4A flown by] F/O Herbert H. Bollum in Glider Chalk No. 64B. Our objective was LZ W[illiam] as prescribed in Field Order No. 4, located north of Eindhoven in Holland.



About twenty-eight (28) miles away from target, at Breda, Holland at 1600 we ran into an intense concentration of light flak and my left engine was hit. I couldn’t see any signs of smoke or fire at this time because of the position [where the] aircraft was hit, but F/O Bollum, whom I was towing, told me afterwards that smoke was pouring out of my left engine, from the time we were hit at Breda.



I flew on to the LZ and released the glider over the objective at 1615. All this about the time the left engine was “running rough”. About twenty-two (22) miles from the Dutch coast on the way back from the LZ, over the Channel at 51 degrees 49’ N-03 degrees 12’ E, my left engine went out. I feathered the left prop, but it immediately unfeathered. By this time the aircraft was filling up with smoke and the radio operator caught sight of flames under the floor. I instructed the co-pilot to go the rear of the plane and get the crew ready to jump if the fire became more acute. At the same I cut the mixture on the right engine in order to lose altitude and ditch in the shortest possible time. I could not communicate with the rest of the formation, apparently the radio was hit too.



I decided to ditch and told the crew to stand by for ditching. The crew remained calm and behaved in a very creditable manner. I nosed the plane down into practically a vertical dive. I looked at the hydraulic pressure gauge and noticed it was indicating “zero.” I looked out the window and saw the gear was down. The fire must have burned out the hydraulic system. The red warning lights of the heating system were on and both spill valves were open.



I dived the plane at 220 mph indicated from 4000’ indicated altitude, at the same time turning into the wind and started breaking my dive at 1000’. I slowed the plane down to 120mph and came in and set the plane in a tail low altitude. The last time I looked at the air speed it indicated 80 mph. Shortly after that, with a slight impact the tail hit, immediately followed by a more violent impact when the nose hit the water. The time was 1652 hours.



From the time the plane filled with smoke, the rest of the crew were in the rear of the plane. The sudden impact of landing tore the dinghy loose from its lashings and threw it forward in a tangled heap. Rather than take valuable time in untangling the dinghy inside the aircraft and because of the possibility of explosion, I instructed the crew to jump and swim clear of the plane. I followed, dragging the dinghy with me. All of us had our life jackets on. In the water, the tide was pinning us down between the trailing edge of the wing and the fuselage. We finally got clear by pulling ourselves alongside the trailing edge of the wing until we were about to the wing tip. The wing was bobbing up and down and we managed to get to the leading edge of the wing by ducking under the bobbing wing.



Once in the clear and safely away from the plane, we inflated the dinghy and climbed into it. At this time I noticed a large hole on the outboard side of the left engine nacelle. The plane stayed afloat about eighteen (18) minutes. After approximately fifteen (15) minutes in the dinghy, a British air sea rescue launch picked us up and took us to a shore station at Ipswich. There we received a medical examination and were issued new clothes. On behalf of my entire crew, I went to express my thanks and gratitude for the excellent handling accorded us by the Air Sea Rescue Service.



Injuries to the crew were as follows, Pilot, bruises and lacerations on right leg; Co-Pilot, none; Engineer, None; Radio Operator, burns on left hand and forearm.

[paul peters]

Thank you all for your replies.
I would advise Nonny to read the book "Green On!" by Arie-Jan van Hees ISBN 90-806808-2-6, which gives a detailed survey of the British re-supply sorties during M G.
I have not verified the data of Laurent yet.
David gave an interesting contribution to the list, but this is not the C-47 "S" near Tilburg, which was shot down by the same German AA unit that shot down B-24 44-40210.
Who has more?
Paul

Correction: Actor Jimmy Edwards http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0250096/
was shot down in a 271 Squadron Dakota, not a Stirling
http://www.arnhemarchive.org/batt_271.htm

His famous moustache was grown to hide his injuries from that crash
http://myweb.lsbu.ac.uk/~stafflag/jimmyedwards.html