Continuing with the 4th FG theme ...
I've always wondered just
where, exactly, did Gentile's P-51B end up, that is, there are several photographs of the wreck lying in a field with her back broken - where was that? Just outside the fence? 5 miles away? Where?
Well, we know from numerous eyewitness accounts that his prop (and air scoop - as indicated in the accident report??) struck the ground in the grassy area right in front of the 336 FS dispersal shacks (see "B" below). Shangri-La's parking spot (just across the peri-track from "B") was right in front of those shacks, along the southwest corner of the field, and there were many press and station personnel waiting for him to return from Schweinfurt that day (13 April 1944).
I've personally interviewed several of these eyewitnesses, and they do remember going out in the grass later and finding "chop" marks where
S-L's prop bit the ground. One of these men, a 336 FS Line Chief, told me he was in the very first jeep to arrive at the crash site (see "D" below), and Gentile simply said,
"I think I f***ed up!" He said he'll never forget that - those were his first words to the guys.
I was taken to the crash site ("D") myself by the then-(wartime)-teenage son of the then-landowner in 2002. It was amazing to hold up "then" photographs -- the distant landscape, particularly looking westerly, has not changed much at all, and the hedge visible in the wartime shots is there as well, though grown larger, confirming that we had the precise spot. Pics are on my site here:
http://wademeyersart.tripod.com/id38.html
I have also located the official Accident Report, which is very interesting. See that and
much more Gentile-related material here:
http://wademeyersart.tripod.com/id40.html
I have been commissioned to do a painting of the
takeoff for this last mission ... see it "in-progress" here:
http://wademeyersart.tripod.com/id76.html
A GoogleEarth image shows the final flight path(s!) - evidently the 'hi-rez' Google satellite look-downs stopped short of completely covering the area. Gentile started off at "A", flew north of 334's 1934 C-type hangar (taken down in 2003), crossed the runway, got too low and struck the ground at "B", got airborne with a mortally-wounded plane and aimed for "Debden Common" (just out of the pic to our left), narrowly missed striking Howe Wood at "C", and hit the field and slid to a stop at "D".
Wade
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