Looking for a pilot of the 381st fighter squadron?

[ottoman]

Hello, I am a belgian aviation enthusiast.
On 24 may 1944 a P51 serial nr 106834, 381st fighter group, 363 fighter group 9th airforce crashed in my hometown Wingene in Belgium. The P51 had a engine failure during a bomber escort on a mission to Berlin.
The pilot was taken prisoner and was releashed in 1945.
Can anyone help me with information about the pilot?

Thanks very much
Ottoman

[Chappie]

Ottoman,

PM me your email address, I have a source for aircraft accident reports, but not sure it includes overseas losses.

Chappie

[Jack Cook]

The pilot was my friend Col Charles "Chuck" Smith USAF ret.
After Chuck was released from POW camp he returned to the Pacific and flew with the 44th FS
18th FG in the Philippines staying with them for a couple years through P-51Ds and P-47Ns.
After he retired he lived in Concrete, WA and passed away a number of years ago. He flew
P-51B s/n 42-106834 B3+Q. His wingman was WIX's Robbie Stuart's dad Charles!!

Major Chuck Smith 44th FS in his P-51D with Crew chief Cpl Hansen PI 1946.

[Chappie]

Holy cow! The stuff you can find on WIX!! Great stuff Jack!


Chappie

[Jack Cook]

It wasn't on wix it 's on my computer and in my memory banks.............

[Chappie]

It wasn't on wix it 's on my computer and in my memory banks.............

Ah...right...I realize that. I meant the kind of things you can see and hear from other people on WIX be it on their computer or in their heads.

Chappie

[Robbie Stuart]

Jack you are the man! That made my day. Take Care.
Robbie

[Jack Cook]

Jack you are the man! That made my day. Take Care.
Robbie

Here ya go!

[Robbie Stuart]

Jack you are the man! That made my day. Take Care.
Robbie

Here ya go!

Jack, I am speechless, WOW! I am always amazed at your resources, however somehow I am not surprised
expect a phone call soon.
Robbie

[Robbie Stuart]

Jack, I am sure Dad would say thanks!
We will never know again the likes of men & women from that generation, & they should never be forgotten.


My Dad Lt Charles F. Stuart JR

111 Combat Missions WW2
Robbie

[ottoman]

Thank you very much for all this information.

We would like to place a commerative plaque in our townhall. On this plaque we will write the story about
Lt. Smith and his fellow comrades in their fight for our freedom.

Could it be possible that Lt. Charles Smith flew over Belgium to return to England instead of returning direct over the sea? Because Wingene is faraway from Bergen aan Zee.
Has anyone information about his POW period?


Sincerly Ottoman,

[Robbie Stuart]

Here is a little more information about the 381st's mission that day, it was one my father would never forget;

The following account is as was told to me by my late father, then Lt. Charles F. Stuart Jr., a P-51 pilot with the 381st Fighter Squadron, 363rd Fighter Group, 9th AAF, during WWII. The following event took place May 24th, 1944 my father’s flight was returning to England after an escort mission to Berlin.

“We were down on the deck, looking for targets of opportunity to strafe. (Anything that looks like it needs shooting at) If you look at the back of your right hand, your first finger would be a fellow named Shea, the next would be Schmidt, and the third finger would be this new replacement pilot Kennedy, I was on the far right. We had passed over some trees and then all of a sudden there was a German airfield right in front of us. The darn thing was sort of pear-shaped. Shea was way over on the left side. He was nearly a quarter of a mile from me, we were spread well out. Schmidt was in there and he kept calling this new pilot (Kennedy) to ‘get off my wing’. The guy was flying right on his wing, close formation, just a few feet off the ground. I mean, it’s suicide to fly like that; you need to spread out so you have a little maneuvering room. I hit the field at the narrow end – the little end of the pear – and when I saw the thing there was a flak tower right square in my gunsight. They didn’t even see me coming. I recall it had three or four 20mm on it, maybe ten men manning the thing, and they were raring back and shooting like the devil at Schmidt and that wingman out in the middle of the airfield. Shea was a little bit out of their range. I am not sure if they actually hit the new man, or whether he got scared, but he flipped over to the left & into Schmidt. The two of them went across that German airfield in one great big hellish ball of flame. A split second later, I hit my trigger and cleaned that platform out like a bowling ball knocks a strike down the alley. I think I knocked every darn one of them off the platform, but just a hair too late. That was about enough for Shea, & I that day. We both revved back on the stick and got up to 15 or 20,000 feet. Without a word between us we closed back in a few yards or so apart, flying abreast. Finally, Shea comes in and says, ‘Did you see what I saw’? I said ‘Yes, I saw what you saw, too’. As well as I can remember, we didn’t say anything else until we got back to England.”

My father related several stories to me about his combat flying. This is one that really bothered him. Bill Schmidt, & dad were pretty good friends. Very sad loss that day for all involved.

[ottoman]

Hello Robbie,

Thank you very much for this story.

Your father must have been a great man. We owe much to these men.

I think that the airfield is Ursel, that is only about 10 miles from Wingene.

It is still a reserve airfield for the Nato forces.

Sincerly Ottoman

[Robbie Stuart]

Hello Robbie,

Thank you very much for this story.

Your father must have been a great man. We owe much to these men.

I think that the airfield is Ursel, that is only about 10 miles from Wingene.

It is still a reserve airfield for the Nato forces.

Sincerly Ottoman

The midair collision occurred while strafing Nordhorn Airfield.

Robbie

[graleigh]

I wish I'd found this forum sooner. My father-in-law is the late Don L. Boatright, who flew Destiny's Tot. Jason Schillereff posted an excellent photo of him under "9th AAF, 363rd Fighter Group, 382nd Fighter Squadron photos". Though he was quick to talk about flying, England, and the 363rd Fighter Group, he was reticent to speak of himself, so we don't know much about his career. We have the Kent Miller book "Seven Months over Europe: The 363rd Fighter Group in WWII", and he gets a mention for the day he was hit and knocked out of the war, but facts are tantalizingly bare. He seemed embarrassed to talk about himself, and it almost seemed he was ashamed of being hit and grounded. All we know is that a 20mm round passed through his cockpit just above the instrument panel somewhere over Germany, and he sustained glass and shrapnel wounds to his face and left eye. When a nice lady ventured one day to ask how he'd made it back to England with his cockpit breached, blind in one eye, and bleeding, he said only, in a patient tone, "Well, I couldn't land in Germany."

After seeing the amazing research in this thread, I couldn't help wondering if anyone has more information about my father-in-law, 2LT Don L Boatright.

A side note- Mr Miller erroneously listed his name as Donald L, but it was actually Don L. For those who knew him but lost track, he made it home and in the early 50's owned a photographic studio in Eldorado, IL. He worked for roughly 35 years with Babcock and Wilcox, Bucyrus Erie, and Peter Healey Brass. He retired in the mid 80's.

The day before he passed, my wife dreamed she saw him in an open cockpit aircraft impatient for the weather to clear so he could take off.