Incident Overview

Description
In the evening of 21 July 1944 the C-47-DL 41-18388 of 10th TCS, 60th TCG, USAAF, was approaching a landing ground in Croatia. The pilot, Lt. Morris R. Houser, saw a yellow light on the ground – the signal that the field was under attack. As he increased speed and began to climb, 20-mm shells from a German Ju 88 night fighter struck the left wing and engine and set them on fire. The pilot ordered his crew to bail out, but only the copilot, Lt Pinkney C Largent, was able to bail out before the airplane exploded in the air at 23.35 and spun into the ground 300 yards from drop zone (by 45 37 N 17 35 E, near Vocin), killing Houser and the three other crew. Largent was then rescued by partisans. They were shot down by Hptm Leopold Fellerer of Stab III./NJG 6, who claimed a DC-3 shot down at 2342 hrs at 1000 m in area coded 14 Ost N/OQ-29 (west of Brod) as his 37th victory. Crew: 2nd Lt Morris R Houser (pilot) KIA 2nd Lt Pinknet C Largent (co-pilot) rescued 2nd Lt Alfred W Gunthner (navigator) KIA S/Sgt James J Warren, Jr (flight engineer) KIA Sgt Dick J Tschantz (radio operator) KIA The four killed crew are now buried together in a common grave in Baltimore National Cemetery, Maryland, USA.
Source of Information
http://www.airforcehistory.hq.af.mil/Publications/fulltext/Fueling_the_Fires_of_Resistance.pdf, http://www.lesbutler.ip3.co.uk/tony/tonywood.htm, https://fr.findagrave.com/memorial/807243, https://fr.findagrave.com/memorial/732602, https://fr.findagrave.com/memorial/1296580, https://fr.findagrave.com/memorial/1264102http://www.airforcehistory.hq.af.mil/Publications/fulltext/Fueling_the_Fires_of_Resistance.pdf, http://www.lesbutler.ip3.co.uk/tony/tonywood.htm, https://fr.findagrave.com/memorial/807243, https://fr.findagrave.com/memorial/732602, https://fr.findagrave.com/memorial/1296580, https://fr.findagrave.com/memorial/1264102Primary Cause
German Ju 88 night fighter attack.German Ju 88 night fighter attack.Share on: