Warbird Information Exchange

This was taken July 8, 1944 at the tiny RAF grass airfield at Towyn, Wales, which was used mainly for target towing aircraft. The crew were uncertain of their position on a flight from North Africa, fuel was running low and the weather was closing in. They flew on up the Welsh coast until Towyn appeared. It was hardly suitable for a B-17 but they had no choice. The Fort trundled off the airfield across a railway line and hit an air raid shelter, which caused a fire in the wing root. All 15 on board were unhurt and got clear while the station firemen tackled the blaze with the help of Towyn's local fire brigade. This 390th BG aircraft was probably returning from detached service on shuttle missions.

Nice... thanks much for sharing your stuff here!


Fade to Black...

My goodness...

My mother's cousin, Lt. William Pflug, and the rest of Crew 28 flew this aircraft on two missions: April 10, 1944, to attack an airport at Maldegem (sp), Belgium, and again on April 22 to hit the marshalling yards at Hamm, Germany. Just two days later all of Crew 28 perished in a different Fort that exploded mid-air over Friedrichshafen.

Thank you very much for posting this pic, Dave. Might I have your permission to save it in my files?

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It was a good idea, it just didn't work.

Dave,
you are correct in that it was reurning from the 8th's first shuttle mission, Frantic II to Ruhland (remember the Poltava debacle). It was returning to Framlingham from Casablanca with 5 P-51 mechanics on board. Pilot was Ratcliffe.
H

Looks like a good model diorama idea! Copyright!

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Keep Em' Flying,
Christopher Soltis
Dedicated to the preservation and education of The Sikorsky Memorial Airport

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Chicks Dig Warbirds.......right?

Hell of a place to put that shelter!

Thats no prang, thats a crash.

Great stuff! Thanks for that info, Tailspin. Dan K feel free to save it. it's an amazing coincidence that a family member was a former crew member. The original came from the Operations Record Book for RAF Towyn held in the National Archives in London. They were several other prints but that was the best so I bought a copy. They were the equivalent of $25 20 years ago!
For Vanguard, unless you meant it tongue-in-cheek, prang was RAF slang for crash and the word is still in use over here.

Many, many thanks, sir.

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It was a good idea, it just didn't work.