USAAF C-47 Loss at Beachy Head

[Andy Saunders]

At some date fairly soonish after 6 June 1944 a C-47 struck the South Downs and crashed at Beachy Head close to the Beachy Head Hotel. It was one of three aircraft returning together from France, and was laden with empty stretchers and headed for RAF Friston. Of the five on board, the Pilot, Co-Pilot and Wireless operator were killed. A Master-Sergeant on board was badly injured and died later in an Eastbourne Hospital. The fith man, the navigator, was thrown clear on impact and survived. I do not have his rank, but his name was Frank J. Priest (dob 15.5.21) and he died 29.8.94 in Redondo Beach. I have been unable to establish a date or any other details for this loss. Can anyone fill in any of the missing pieces of information, please?

[Martin Gleeson]

Hallo Andy,

Do you have the names of those who died ?

Regards,

Martin Gleeson.

[Andy Saunders]

Sadly, no. All I have is contained in my first post. Nothing else at all to work from.

[Martin Gleeson]

Hi Andy,

No joy I'm afraid. I have reasonably good unit histories from a Roll of Honour point of view for the 314th TCG, the 316th TCG and the 27th Air Transport Group. Nothing remotely matching your incident in any of them. Checked a few other sources as well but to no avail. Sorry I could'nt be of more assistance.

Regards,

Martin Gleeson.

[Andy Saunders]

Martin

Thank you for looking! I think I will see if I can find any local record of casualties that may tie in. Certainly a mystery, although it certainly happened. A crew entry door turned up at the site a few years ago and bore the remains of a large 6 or 8 in white.

[Amrit1]

Hi Andy

Could it be much later? 42-93726 of 97th Squadron (440th Troop Carrier Group) crashed on/near Beachy Head on 14/09/1944.

Pilot was Lt. Roy O. Yonker

A

[paulmcmillan]

Roy O. Yonker
First Lieutenant, U.S. Army Air Forces
Service # O-757364
97th Squadron, 440th Troop Carrier Group
Entered the Service from: North Dakota
Died: 14-Sep-44
Buried at: Plot D Row 3 Grave 96
Cambridge American Cemetery
Cambridge, England
Awards: Air Medal with Oak Leaf Cluster

He was married and from Garrison, North Dakota

From the NARA AAD

ARMY SERIAL NUMBER NAME RESIDENCE: STATE RESIDENCE: COUNTY PLACE OF ENLISTMENT DATE OF ENLISTMENT YEAR SOURCE OF ARMY PERSONNEL YEAR OF BIRTH

17063489 YONKER#ROY#O############ NORTH DAKOTA MC LEAN MINNEAPOLIS MINNESOTA 42 Civil Life 22


http://aad.archives.gov/aad/record-d...g=1&rid=228347

[Leendert]

If 42-93726 is the C-47 we're looking for, then possible other killed crew members SSgt William E. Batchelor and SSgt James M. Lewis.
They both also died on 14 Sept 1944 and are buried at Cambridge American Cemetery.
Source: www.abmc.gov

Did a search by unit.

Regards,

Leendert

[Martin Gleeson]

Hallo all,

Just to add there is a Form 14 Accident Report available for this incident. One can purchare it on at least 2 websites, including Craig Fuller's AAIR. That (report) should answer all your questions.

The 440th TCG Association had their own website but it appears to have been taken over by a music site.

Regards,

Martin.

[Andy Saunders]

Thanks all for your help!