Allied aircraft crashed in Piacenza area in september 1944

[Gianandrea Bussi]

In a night of september 1944, at about 9.00-10.00 p.m., an allied aircraft crashed in the village of Gusano (Gropparello, Piacenza, Italy).
According to some witnesses, it was a twin engine aircraft with a crew of two that were both killed.
In the past years some parts used by local farmers were recovered.
Could anyone identify the type of the aircraft from the joined pictures and ?
Could be a Beaufighter of one of the USAAF NFS Squadrons?

Thank you very much

Gianandrea

[Gianandrea Bussi]

Some other pictures

[Revi16]

I can't identify the two large panels. Not sure what they are from. Can you post bigger pics of them? The reverse side as well.

Pictures c.jpg & img005.jpg look like a Spitfires aileron.
http://fc08.deviantart.net/fs46/f/20..._Sceptre63.jpg
http://www.airliners.net/photo/Super...a28046a5459418

I believe the Beaufighter had cloth covered ailerons and have a different profile.
http://ipmsauckland.hobbyvista.com/G...F.X/beau31.jpg
http://ipmsauckland.hobbyvista.com/G...F.X/beau32.jpg

Pictures img006 & img007 are parts from a Beau's landing gear.(You are holding it upside down.)
http://data3.primeportal.net/hangar/...i_56_of_93.jpg


Numerous Beaufighter crashes,
http://www.accident-report.com/Serials/rafa.htm
but only one in Sept. 44, ND-294 BEAUFIGHTER 440925 ITALY, (MACR 9709)

414th NFS (near bottom of page)
http://forum.armyairforces.com/tm.as...ge=&print=true

http://www.8mmfilmtransfers.com/414n..._nose_art.html

You can join Footnote.com for free for 7 days and get a copy of the report,
http://www.footnote.com/search.php?f...&submit=Search

[FrankieS]

alternatively?

440905 B-26 42-95937 320 ITALY 8090 shot down by AAA over Pavia
440909 B-25 43-27735 310 ITALY 8382
440918 B-25 43-27771 310 ITALY 8938 hit by flak and collided with 43-28068
440918 B-25 43-28068 310 ITALY 8940 shot down by flak Sep 18, 1944 5 mi W of Rimini
440923 B-26 42-107555 319 ITALY 8936
440926 B-26 42-95785 319 ITALY 8941

[Gianandrea Bussi]

Thank you for the very useful informations.
I didn't took the pictures, I've received them. There is not a view of the rear part of the large panels. I join a bigger picture of them.

Gianandrea

[Alex Smart]

Hello Gianandrea,
Are ALL the parts from the same crash site ?
As ssome seem ti show Spitfire while others seem to show Beaufighter ?
Or could we be seeing the result of a collision between the two a/c types ?
Then again we could just be looking at some parts from a wreckage collection site.
All for now
Alex

[Gianandrea Bussi]

Hi!

If that piece come from a Spitfire, I think that the owner of the wrecks mixed them up! There are other crash sites in the Piacenza area.
But I still think that it could be a USAAF Beaufighter: according to witnesses the two crewmembers were american and the aircraft had two radial engines.

I've checked MACR's in the Footnotes site.
Beaufighter ND294 crashed near the airport of Lonate Pozzolo (a translated german report is included) so it can't be the aircraft I'm looking for.

Two other Beau that crashed probably in Northern Italy are MM 935, missing on 18 novembre 1944 (Howard John M. - Murphy John S.) and KV944 missing on 17 novembre 1944 (Graham Joe Scott - Richard Burton).
Even though they crashed in november, perhaps one of them could be the aircraft crashed at Gusano.
Does anyone know the crash place of these two Beaufighters?
Is it possible to find the place of the first burial of the crewmembers?

A third aircraft could be MM 917 missing on 29 november 1944 (Billie Joe Fox- Ralph Donald Mulhollen): unluckily, in the Footnote MACR the page with the infos about the aircraft and his mission is missing (there is that one of B-17G 44-6549 instead): does anyone could give any informations?

Thank you very much for the help

Gianandrea

[dp_burke]

Try to contact the museum at Duxford in the UK, they are rebuilding a Beaufighter at present and ought to be very familiar with parts of the airframe.

http://duxford.iwm.org.uk/

Also, in the area where the debris was recovered, was there local Italian police or security forces? Are there any surviving local archives? Did any of the local churches perhaps have the men buried in their cemeteries?

[PeterA]

This item is without doubt a starboard Spitfire aileron and begs the question where did it come from and are there anymore parts to go with it.

At worst this was from a belly landing.

PeterA

[Revi16]

Not the best pic, but img013.jpg may be the overwing nacelle panels.
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...-1234S-041.jpg