Crashsites B-17 en P-51 Mustang

Several aircraft crashed near this site on 27 May 1944 and a monument has been erected to commemorate them. The memorial consists of a rock with a plaque and a propeller from the B-17, remnants of the engine and a propeller from the Mustang and several panels with information about both crashes, the B-17 and the firefighters who were at the scene at the time.

Text the monument:
‘In honour of the 8 US crew members shot down here on 27 May 1944 during an air battle aboard a US Air Force B-17, USAF 510 Bomb Squadron, 351st Bomb Group (Heavy)’

Commemorative P-51 Mustang object:
Parts of the P-51 Mustang, (of the 357th Fighter Group) which crashed on the same day as the B-17, not far from this spot. It was piloted by LT Thomas L Harris, who survived and was captured.

A Plexiglas information panel in a wooden frame describes the history of the site:
This memorial is dedicated to the crew members of a US Air Force Boeing B-17G Flying Fortress aircraft that crashed a few hundred metres from here on 27 May 1944. This aircraft was part of the 351st Bomb Group 510th Squadron. It was marked 42-31975 and was nicknamed ‘Queen of the air’. It was shot down by a German Messerschmitt 109 attacking the US formation over Corcieux.

Another plane from the same group, flown by Lt Dean N. Post, crashed at Xéfosse. One of the biggest German aces, Major Horst Garganico, was killed in an air battle not far from here. This proves how intense the air battles were on that day in May 1944.

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Source

• Text: TracesOfWar & RJ Army
• Photos: RJ Army