Wednesday 16 December 2009

50th Fighter Group Tbolt



An interesting P-47. It was assigned to the 313th FS of the 50th FG and flew in combat in the summer of 44. On 13 September 1944 it was being flown by Yellow Flight leader LT Emmett Wyttenbach on an airfield strafing mission near Hanau. According to the MACR, they took intense light flak and Lt Wyttenbach was hit in the engine and radio compartment, setting his bird on fire. He pulled up to 800ft AGL and bailed out, landing on top of a building in the nearby town, while the airplane crashed into the town itself. Wyttenbach was burned on his legs, but survived and was captured, spending the rest of the war in a POW camp. He survived the war and passed away in 2001.