18^th August 1944

 

Squadron Leader Eugeniusz HORBACZEWSKI

 

"Mustang III" # FB355

PK-K

 

315 Polish Squadron "Debliński"

 

Velennes (Oise)

 

                                                                                                                                Copyright © 2018 - Association des Sauveteurs d'Aviateurs Alliés- All rights reserved -
                                                                                                                   En français 

 

 

Eugeniusz Horbaczewski was born on 28^th September 1917, in Kiev (now in Ukraine), to Polish parents.

Attracted by the Aviation, in 1935 he obtained his glider pilot's license on the Ustianowa field before continuing, in 1936, his secondary studies at Brzesc (now Brest-Litovsk, in Belarus).

In 1937, at Bielsko-Aleksandrowice, he began his apprenticeship as a pilot of a powered airplane.

In January 1938 he joined the Deblin Cadet Polish Air Force School.

On 1^st September 1939, he graduated as a fighter pilot in the Polish Air Force the very day the German Army invaded his country without a declaration of war. Although a novice, between 9^th and 11^th September, he made 3 reconnaissance missions during the Battle of Poland.

The swift defeat of the Polish Army against the German invader gave birth to a deep sense of revenge. On 17^th September, without a declaration of war, the Soviet Army, in turn, entered Poland. At the end of October, after many difficulties and like many Polish airmen, he managed to reach Rumania and, via Yugoslavia and Greece, he joined France and the Bordeaux-Merignac base.

On 10^th May 1940, the Wehrmacht attacked the West. Six weeks later, the defeat was consumed on French soil. On 22^nd June, the armistice was signed in the clearing of Rethondes, near Compiegne.

On 24^th June, S/Lt Horbaczewski arrived in extremis, with many compatriots, to embark aboard a ship, from the port of Saint Jean-de-Luz, to Liverpool, England, to continue the fight.

In the summer of 1940 he joined the Royal Air Force and the Bristol School for an accelerated training on British equipment.

At the end of August 1941, Eugeniusz Horbaczewski was assigned to 303 "Kościuszko" Polish Squadron, integrated into the Royal Air Force. Within this Squadron his war missions began over the Channel facing a Luftwaffe then at its zenith. On board his Spitfire Mk V, he recorded his first victory on 4^th April 1942 by shooting down a Focke-Wulf 190 over the Pas-de-Calais. His second victory was on 16^th April and a third on 19^th August during Operation Jubilee at Dieppe. He showed himself to be a talented pilot.

On 15^th July 1941, he was transferred for a few days to the 18 OTU specialized in the training of bomber pilots before joining the 58 OTU which trained the fighter pilots on the famous Spitfire.

From 10^th September 1942, he joined 302 "Poznański" Polish Squadron. Aerial fights were exhausting. At that time, he had already flown 65 war missions. Given leave on 3^rd December 1942, he went back to 58 OTU, this time as an instructor, with the rank of Flying Officer.

At the beginning of 1943, he volunteered to fight the Afrikakorps. In Tunisia, he and other Polish pilots formed the famous "Skalski Circus". Voluntary certainly, but retained after a drastic selection of 16 pilots.

Polish Fighting Team in Tunisia – Eugeniusz Horbaczewski is seated on the left.

In the Polish Fighting Team under the command of S/L Stanislaw Skalski, Eugeniusz Horbaczewski's talent as a fighter pilot literally exploded. In less than two months (from 18^th March to 12^th May), the intrepid Polish pilots, aboard their Spitfire Mk IX, created a sensation with the Allied High Command by destroying 25 aircraft of the Luftwaffe and of the Italian Regia Aeronautica + 3 probable. Lieutenant Horbaczewski was the most successful pilot of the "Skalski Circus" with 5 victories: four Messerschmitt-109 and a twin-engined Junkers 88 were shot down under by his machine-guns in 41 war missions. Since the beginning of the conflict, he had 8 confirmed victories. In high places, his vista was noticed.

After the dissolution of the Polish Fighting Team, Eugeniusz Horbaczewski remained on the Mediterranean front while most other pilots joined Great Britain.

North Africa liberated, he left Tunisia for Malta. He first joined 601 RAF Squadron and then joined 43 Squadron of the Desert Air Force on 6^th July 1943, taking command on 9^th August. In the sky of Sicily and southern Italy he again shot down three enemy aircraft.

On 20^th October, he was finally recalled to Great Britain, where the Allied invasion of the continent, somewhere between northern Brittany and the Belgian coast, was being prepared under the seal of secrecy.

At the end of 1943, Eugeniusz Horbaczewski had 11 victories + 1 probable + 1 damaged.

In January 1944 he was posted to the Northolt airbase for conversion to a new aircraft, the North American P-51 “Mustang III”.

On 15^th February, he took command of 315 "Debliński" Squadron of the 2^nd Tactical Air Force, recently created for the exclusive needs of the future invasion. He was officially promoted Squadron Leader.

On 20^th February, at the head of his Squadron, he began his missions. 57 others would follow over France, from northern Europe to Norway, leading dangerous attacks at low altitude on marshalling yards, port facilities and other Nazi strongholds, all bristling with the formidable Flak: the very dense defence against planes.

F/Lt Przymienski, F/O Swistun, S/L Horbaczewski, F/O Nowosielski, F/Lt Cwynar, W/O Jankowski and W/O Bedkowski.

After the Normandy Landings on 6^th June 1944, another arduous task was added to the airmen of 315 Squadron: to chase from the English skies the V1s, the Nazi very lethal flying bombs which terrorized and tried to demoralize the civilian population. S/L Horbaczewski shot down four of them.

The battle of Normandy was raging. On 22^nd June, during a fierce ground attack on German positions in Cherbourg harbour, Squadron Leader Horbaczewski spotted Sgt Tamowicz's Mustang III, seriously hit by Flak. The pilot was forced to land, as soon as possible, between the enemy and American lines, in a marshy area of the Cotentin Peninsula. Eugeniusz Horbaczewski, who had watched the scene, circled above his Squadron companion. Although injured in his legs, Sgt Tamowicz managed to get out of his plane, indicating to his Leader that he was safe.

With the spirit of decision that animated him permanently, Eugeniusz Horbaczewski landed on Azeville airfield only just fitted out by the Americans. Immediately borrowing a Jeep, he headed for the area where his teammate's aircraft was.

Meanwhile, Sgt Tamowicz's Mustang sank deeper and deeper into the mud. To his surprise, the pilot suddenly saw Eugeniusz Horbaczewski coming to rescue him. Wading in the marsh, the two men managed to join the Jeep then the Allied lines and finally Horbaczewski's aircraft. Although planned for one man, Tamowicz then took his place in the Mustang cockpit before his Squadron Leader sat on the knees of his moaning companion.

Reaching the end of the runway, the aircraft took off full throttle towards England under the hoorays of the American soldiers who had witnessed the scene.

After landing at Coolham, Horbaczewski and Tamowicz were this time cheered by the staff of their own Squadron, stunned to see two men get out of the cockpit of the Mustang. Sgt Tamowicz was quickly transferred to a hospital and treated.

Those who attended this scene always remembered the heroic action and the panache of Eugeniusz Horbaczewski. This unusual rescue remained in the annals of the Royal Air Force.

During the summer of 1944, the Polish pilots of 315 Squadron also carried out bombing escort missions to the distant Norwegian ports. S/L Eugeniusz Horbaczewski, nicknamed "Dziubek", fully fulfilled his role, advising caution to the impetuous neophytes who were there to learn. These raids were often difficult. Around these targets, the Flak was more than dense. The return was long with sometimes some of the aircraft damaged.

At the end of July, he obtained even more credits, totalling at that time 14 victories (including 1 shared).

On Friday 18^th August 1944, the mission "Rodeo 385" was decided by Fighter Command. The Polish pilots of 315 Squadron were ordered to patrol the triangle formed by the cities of Boulogne-sur-Mer, Le Havre and Paris and to destroy any target on the ground just as in the air.

S/L Horbaczewski had been suffering from severe bronchitis with fever for several days, but ignored medical advice which tried to dissuade him from flying. Horbaczewski had the presentiment this time that in case of confrontation with the enemy he would not come back. He decided, however, to carry out the planned mission.

On Brenzett airfield, 12 "Mustang III" of 315 Squadron took off around 7:15 am and then headed for the English Channel: radio code "Central"!

A passage and a possible attack of the airfield of Abbeville-Drucat were planned but the air base seemed deserted ... The Polish pilots then took the direction of Beauvais-Tillé, a dangerous aerodrome, above which, in the past, the Royal Air Force had suffered losses.

At least three dozen enemy aircraft came against them ... Although the radio silence was broken, the pilots of 315 Squadron did not hear as usual their Leader give them the latest instructions, advise them and direct them in the fight ... These were JG 26's Focke-Wulf 190 A8s. Others were seen taking off, just seconds apart, waving the grass of the airfield.

The bad surprise was total for the German airmen. Having dropped their extra tanks, the Poles emerged from the sun, burst onto the enemy and literally grabbed him by the throat... Although feverish, flu victim and with a radio broken down, their leader led his Squadron masterfully with his eleven teammates sticking together. On the German side, an unusual outburst went to squadrons on takeoff or already in the air. Eugeniusz Horbaczewski shot down two Focke-Wulf 190s in quick succession.

After a violent reversal, another Focke-Wulf appeared in his collimator and quickly shot down in flames. A fourth was seriously hit. The dogfight was raging. The Polish airmen wreaked havoc and then abruptly the fighting stopped.

Very quickly the pilots of 315 Squadron noticed the absence of their Squadron Leader. All had seen him shoot down three enemy aircraft but nobody in the following attacks had seen him disappear. They returned to fly over the place without observing anything concerning him. With a heavy heart, the Polish pilots regrouped and then returned to England. The sixteen Focke-Wulf 190 claimed as destroyed did not mitigate their immense sadness.

In Velennes, a small village near the Beauvais-Tillé airfield, three young boys, Daniel Loncke, 14, and Constant Loncke, 7, were in front of the family farm gate with their 8-year-old friend Michel Lasne. Accustomed to aerial combats above their heads, they observed the one on that morning of 18^th August rather distractedly despite its magnitude. Suddenly, the kids heard a plane engine whistling abnormally. Behind a row of trees, a huge thud was heard, followed by a gigantic cloud of black smoke rising high in the sky ... No explosion! In the next few minutes, the children learned that an aircraft from the aerial combat had gone into a dive, and stuck deeply into the soft ground of a field. The aircraft was broken into two parts. The engine was completely buried, as if it had disappeared. The fuselage was broken at the cockpit, almost intact, revealing the British cockade.

Velennes - The crash site

Around 9:30, the smoke stopped escaping from the wreckage but no one dared to get too close to the allied aircraft. The cockpit appearing empty, the majority of witnesses, just like the Germans, thought that the pilot had parachuted out. Luftwaffe "ground crews" retrieved the machine guns from the wings detached from the fuselage.

As evening approached, at the crash site, the plain of Velennes found calm after the dramatic effervescence started early in the morning. After 4:30 pm, no more villagers walked, no more German soldiers were busy around the plane.

It was at this moment that five children of about ten years old appeared as a friendly symbol. Michel Lasne, accompanied by his brother and his sisters, laid a large bunch of dahlias near the wreckage of the unmanned aircraft ... and then left quickly.

Velennes, October 2017 - Michel Lasne and Constant Loncke at the crash site.
For the two friends, the drama of 18^th August 1944 remains an indelible memory.

At the end of August 1944, the Liberation was imminent. Everyone forgot the plane. It was time for joy to be liberated soon. The British Army being at the gates of Beauvais, the Germans blew up their installations at Beauvais-Tillé before evacuating. The end of four years of misery was approaching.

In October, the farmer who owned the field harnessed his horses and had them pull back the fuselage before filling in the hole containing the engine. He could then cultivate again.

At the beginning of 1946, prison camps in Germany were emptied but there was still no trace of Squadron Leader Eugeniusz Horbaczewski.

In late 1946, a Research Commission of the Royal Air Force Missing Airmen in cooperation with the French Red Cross, conducted searches in the Beauvais-Tillé area.

At the beginning of 1947, the identified remains of the Polish officer were finally found at the crash site in Velennes. In the extreme violence of the shock, the pilot's body had slipped under the engine of his aircraft and remained in the ground. His remains were buried in Creil, where he has since been resting with 54 other Royal Air Force airmen who fell in the Creil area and most of them during the terrible year 1944.

His grave in the cemetery of Creil (Oise)

Third best Polish fighter Ace during WWII, S/L Horbaczewski flew a total of 250 war missions during which he had 16 confirmed victories + 1 shared + 1 probable + 1 damaged and 4 flying bombs V1 shot down.

 

Distinguished Service Order

Distinguished Flying Cross + bar

Virtuti Militari (2 Silver + 1 Gold posthumously) – Polish

Polish Cross of Valour and 3 bars (4 times)

 

On 23^rd June 2018, a memorial honouring Squadron Leader Eugeniusz Horbaczewski was unveiled in the village of Velennes (Oise).

 

 

 

4^th August 1944

 

Victoria Cross, Distinguished Flying Cross

 

Avro Lancaster MkIII ND811

F2-T

 

RAF 635 Squadron 

 

 

Senantes (Oise)

 

 

Ian Willoughby Bazalgette was born on 19^th October 1918 in Calgary, Canada, from Anglo-Irish parents, third child of a family running a farm.

His father, who had been wounded and gassed in the First World War, still suffered the after-effects. Having difficulty in administering his farm, he finally gave up his job.

During his youth, he developed a passion for writing music, reading and photography. 

In July 1939, a few months before the outbreak of the Second World War, Ian W. Bazalgette enlisted in the Royal Artillery and found himself assigned in Scotland, to the 51^st Highland Searchlight Regiment which was equipped with radar controlled searchlights.

From 1940, the Battle of Britain began. The Luftwaffe of Marshal Goering first attempted to destroy the British convoys in the English Channel and then took on in vain the Royal Air Force before starting the “Blitz”, the bombing of London and other large British cities.

In 1941, wanting to become more involved in the war, Ian W. Bazalgette got his transfer to the Royal Air Force which was in need of pilots. In June, he went back to England, to the n° 22 Elementary Flying Training School in Cambridge. After ten hours of dual instruction, he took  his first solo flight in a Tiger Moth on 3^rd August 1940.

 

On 30^th September 1942, piloting a twin-engined Vickers Wellington with crew, Pilot Officer Bazalgette flew his first mission over Holland.

From that time until the end of 1942, night missions over enemy territory became almost routine for P/O Bazalgette and the crews of 115 Squadron. Meanwhile, in November, he was promoted to Flying Officer.

In February 1943 a new aircraft, the four-engined Lancaster, began to replace the Wellingtons of 115 Squadron, requiring pilots and crews to be converted.

 

His first mission aboard this new aircraft comprising a crew of seven men was on the night of 22^nd to 23^rd March 1943. It was the bombing of Saint Nazaire harbour but the aircraft were recalled beafore reaching the target.

 

Throughout 1943, raids in which F/O Bazalgette took part, intensified over the Ruhr and German cities such as Berlin, Essen, Duisburg, Dortmund ... heavily defended cities, always entailing a high rate of losses among the Allied aircraft.

 

Promoted to Squadron-Leader and having completed his first tour of operation, Ian W. Bazalgette was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross on 1^st July 1943.

 

At the end of 1943, now an experienced pilot, he was sent as an instructor to Scotland before, after a few weeks of training, getting his transfer to the Pathfinder Force.

 

The missions started again, still extremely dangerous, over cities and strategic enemy sites, until the fateful day of 4^th August 1944.

That day, in the morning, S/L Bazalgette and his crew took off from the Downham Market airbase at about 11:15 am aboard the Lancaster ND811 "F2-T." This was his 58^th operational mission, being close to completing his second tour of operations.

 

 

The crew :

S/L Ian W. BAZALGETTE	RAF	Pilot	KIA
Sgt. George R. TURNER	RAF	Flight engineer	Evaded
F/L Geoffrey R. GODDARD	RAF	Navigator	Evaded
F/L Ivan A. HIBBERT	RAF	Bomb aimer	KIA
F/O Charles R. GODFREY	RAF	Wireless operator	Evaded
F/S Vernon V. R. LEEDER*	RAAF	Mid upper gunner	KIA
F/O Douglas CAMERON	RAF	Rear gunner	Evaded

 

*F/S Vernon Leeder, of the Royal Australian Air Force, was not part of the usual crew of S/L Bazalgette. He replaced F/S Hurnhall on that day.

 

Ten Lancasters of 635 Squadron of the Pathfinder Force were assigned to "mark" the target for the main force of 61 other Lancasters of the Royal Air Force. The target : the bombing of the V-1 rockets storage sites in Trossy - Saint-Maximin (Oise).

Since mid-June, these flying bombs hit the agglomeration of London and England. It was therefore extremely important for Bomber Command to annihilate this site permanently. Shelled heavily during night raids since July and heavily protected by antiaircraft defences and the German night fighters, the Royal Air Force had already lost a number of bombers.

This new mission was thus considered to be high-risk and most dangerous for the crews.

Approaching the target, while the formations flew straight, Flak was unleashed. Two aircraft preceding the Lancaster of S/L Bazalgette were hit by gunfire from the ground. One, piloted by F/L Robert W. Beveridge, dived in flames and crashed near the village of Saint-Maximin. All the crew perished.

It was S/L Ian W. Bazalgette that now took responsibility for marking the target, but in turn, his aircraft was hit by flak. Both engines and fuel tanks of the starboard wing caught fire. Flames licked the fuselage. Managing to keep the aircraft in the line of flight, Squadron Leader Bazalgette accurately dropped markers and bombs on the target, allowing the other Lancasters to bomb the site with precision.

Lightened of its load but destabilized, the four-engined aircraft went into a spin, rapidly losing altitude, rekindling the fire that devoured the starboard wing. The cool head and control of S/L Bazalgette allowed him to regain control of the aircraft.

Bursts of flak hit the front part of the Lancaster, badly injuring F/L Hibbert. His right arm half torn off, he was relieved of his position in a critical condition by Turner and Godfrey who took him towards the rear of the aircraft. Lying on a stretcher, he was injected with morphine.

On board, the crew fought the flames. Smoke and gas spread inside the aircraft, causing the asphyxia of F/S Leeder.

Flying to North-West, it was clear that the Lancaster could not make it back to England.

Having lost altitude, it was the turn of one of the engines on the port wing to stop.

In agreement with Flight Engineer Turner, S/L Bazalgette ordered the crew to evacuate. It was early afternoon. In the vicinity of the village of Senantes, in Oise, Cameron, Turner, Goddard and Godfrey abandoned the aircraft in turn from an altitude of 300 ft.

Aware that F/L Hibbert and F/S Leeder were unable to parachute, S/L Bazalgette refused to abandon them.

After avoiding the village of Senantes by making a wide turn, he decided to try landing the stricken Lancaster in a field. At about one kilometer from the village, the aircraft landed perfectly .... but exploded a few seconds later. The three airmen were killed.

Mr Simeon Desloges, a young child in 1944, remembers watching the burning aircraft avoid the village at low level. Then a large explosion was heard followed by a large cloud of smoke rising into the sky.

In the afternoon, the bodies of Flight Lieutenant Hibbert and Flight Sergeant Leeder were extracted from the wreckage of the aircraft. Taken to the church of Senantes, it was decided that they would be buried with dignity in the village cemetery on the following Sunday.
But in the morning of this Sunday 6^th August, while the population was preparing to pay tribute to the two airmen, the Germans took their bodies and buried them in the Beauvais-Marissel military cemetery.

The funeral having therefore not taken place, everyone went to the crash site, despite the fear of the arrival of the arrival of the Germans, and laid countless flowers as a sign of gratitude among the debris of the Lancaster.

The four surviving airmen, gathered around, soon reported to their rescuers, despite the language barrier, that they were seven on board the aircraft and the pilot's body was definitely still in the wreckage. Discreetly, searching started again. The remains of S/L Bazalgette were found in the debris.

The pilot's body was kept until the burial ceremony. It took place in Senantes on Sunday 8^th October 1944 in the presence of his sister Ethel, British and French military authorities and a large crowd who came to pay tribute to the airman.

In 1945, S/L Ian W. Bazalgette was posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross, Britain's highest military award, for his heroic sacrifice in not wanting to abandon his two wounded comrades who had remained on board.

The four survivors escaped German searching and arrest.

Charles Godfrey and Geoffrey Goddard landed close to each other near the village of Senantes. In the evening, they were hidden at the house of the schoolteacher of the village, Mr. Laluet, where they were provided with civilian clothes. Notified Henri Maigret came to interrogate them and took pictures which could be used for their false identity papers.

The next day, now taken in charge by the "Alsace" escape network, Henri Maigret took them in a cart to the Desserre family, managers of the farm of La Boissiere in Blacourt, where they stayed until 20^th August, namely for a period of twelve days.

For safety reasons, it was decided to move the two airmen. In a cart, Henri Maigret took over their transfer, in the middle of retreating German troops, to La Neuville-sur-Auneuil in Pierre Muller‘s farm.

The arrival of Allied troops was imminent, the Liberation approaching. Farms in the region were full of airmen. Many of them were hidden in the vicinity and lodging opportunities were becoming few and far between.

It was therefore decided to create a temporary camp and to gather together the airmen in a thick wood in Le Saussay, located near the village of Porcheux.

Pierre Muller took Charles Godfrey and Geoffrey Goddard to this camp on the evening of their arrival.

A British armoured column freed them on 30^th August.

 

George Turner landed near the hamlet of Bois-Aubert, a few hundred metres from Senantes. Injured in his back, he was collected and lodged by René Cocu, a farmer in the hamlet of Groscourt, where he was to await the Liberation.

After landing near Glatigny and having narrowly escaped the Germans, Douglas Cameron was hosted by the Anse family in Glatigny and the Roisse family in Hanvoile. He chose to participate with the local Resistance in different acts of sabotage against the enemy until the Liberation.

Charles Godfrey and George Turner came back several times after the war to thank their rescuers. They were also present on 4^th August 1994, accompanied by the daughter of Douglas Cameron, for the dedication ceremony of the memorial erected on the crash site in memory of their comrades who were killed fifty years earlier.

On 27^th July 1990, in the Bomber Command Museum of Canada in Nanton, South of Calgary, Alberta, a ceremony took place in memory of Squadron Leader Ian Willoughby Bazalgette. On this occasion, his sister Ethel, George Turner and Charles Godfrey unveiled a plaque in honour of the pilot and a Lancaster, with the same markings that he was flying during the tragic mission of 4^th August 1944, became the Ian Bazalgette Memorial Lancaster.

On 15^th August 2009, at the Museum of Nanton, was signed by their respective mayors, the act of twinning the village of Senantes and the Canadian city in memory of the courage and sacrifice of S/L Bazalgette.

On 27^th June 2014, a ceremony was held at Senantes.

"Baz", the biography of Ian W. Bazalgette VC, written by Dave Birrell.

 

2 August 1944

 

2^nd Lt. Gerald C. CHAPMAN

 

P-51B « Mustang » # 43-6846

VF-A

 

4^th Fighter Group

336^th Fighter Squadron

8^th Air Force

 

Le Mesnil-sur-Bulles (Oise)

 

                                                                                                                                Copyright © 2014 - Association des Sauveteurs d'Aviateurs Alliés- All rights reserved -
                                                                                                                    En français 

 

4^th Fighter Group

     Born on 16^th September 1923, 2^nd Lt. Gerald C. Chapman came from Stoughton, a town south of Boston, Massachusetts. Trained for many months in the United States, he was sent to the European Theater of Operations in December 1943 and assigned to the 4^th Fighter Group based in Debden, Essex. 

2^nd Lt. Gerald C. Chapman

     On 2^nd August 1944, a patrol of "Mustangs" of the 4^th Fighter Group including 2^nd Lt. Chapman took off from the Debden Air Force base. Led by Captain Otey M. Glass Jr, their mission was to search over France for potential enemy targets to strafe. The mission almost completed, the "Mustangs" were preparing to return to England when they flew over the Beauvais-Tillé German airfield. Preparing to strafe possible aircraft on the ground, anti-aircraft batteries protecting the base began to target the attackers who were forced to disperse in a sky with poor visibility.

     East of Beauvais, the "Mustang" piloted by 2^nd Lt. Gerald C. Chapman was again targeted by a German mobile anti-aircraft battery positioned on the edge of the Bois de Mont to protect the large fuel depot located there. The German gunners fired on 2^nd Lt. Chapman’s "Mustang" as it approached at low level.

     Hit head-on and immediately catching fire, the out-of-control and destabilized aircraft crashed into a field near Huyard Woods, close to the road between Fournival and Le Mesnil-sur-Bulles, about 400 meters from the German battery, leaving the young 20-year-old pilot no chance to evacuate his plane. It was about 8:30 p.m.

     It was harvest time. Witnesses working in a nearby field recalled the plane crashing. The Mustang's engine was torn apart on impact and thrown into the woods on the other side of the road.

Crash site

     The pilot's horribly mutilated body was taken away by the Germans. The dog-tag found on his body allowed his identification. On 5 August, they buried him in the Beauvais-Marissel cemetery. His grave, surmounted by a British-style metal cross, bore the inscriptions found on his identification plaque: "0-815581 T43 S43 AP, Gerald C. Chapman USAAF 2-8-44."

     Several months after the Liberation, members of an American commission inspected his grave and confirmed the pilot's identity. On 15^th June 1945, 2^nd Lt. Chapman's remains were transferred to the U.S temporary cemetery in Champigneul, Marne. The pilot's family was then contacted to see if they wished to have his body repatriated to the United States. They choose to keep it in France.

     Exhumed once again on 23^rd August 1948, the body of 2^nd Lt. Gerald C. Chapman now rests in Epinal-Quépremont American cemetery, Vosges.

Epinal - Grave of 2^nd Lt. Gerald C. Chapman