Smoke Over The Hedgerow
signals a crash site and Lt LeFebvre and his platoon went to check it out

At The Scene
the left wing of the C-47 was largely intact

Vertical Stabilizer
was also in one piece indicating the aircraft came down as one assembly and burned on the ground

Tail Number
315101 is for aircraft registration 43-15101.
   If was a C-47A-DL, built at Long Beach, Daugherty Field, California in 1943.  Aircraft registries list it as "Destroyed, June 6, 1944".
   Note the "S" on the tail that  indicates the radio Call Sign of the plane within the squadron which flew as 3 V's of V's, i.e.,3 aircraft times 9 V's totaling 27.  "S" would be the 19th aircraft in the squadron.
   Patrick Elie of France wrote after seeing the earlier post of this page and said, "43-151012 was Lt. Raymond C. Howard's plane. They crash-landed during mission Chicago. P and CP were killed (not during the crash-landing but after).. P by Germans and CP by P-47 strafing on POW convoy) RO and CC were POW.
   The plane crash landed near the road between Chef du Pont and Pont l'Abbé, south side, in front of Rue de Prusse."

MACR 440606
(Missing Aircraft Report) lists the pilot as "unknown" and that the plane was flown by the 434th Transport Carrier Group, 71st Troop Carrier Squadron for Operation Neptune, Chicago serial (508th was in the Boston Serial).
   Aircraft last sighted "with left engine smoking and then a large sheet of flame plunging to the ground".

Rebirth
For reasons unknown, aircraft 42-93251 (French civil registry F-BAXG) was restored and was painted as 43-15101.
   It is currently on static display at La Ferte-Alais Airport south of Paris

Lt John P. Foley and Lt Rex Combs
inspect wreckage of a downed U.S. P-38 aircraft .