From a USA aicraft crash site 45 km south\east of Salerno. Some idea?

[Matteo La Boccia]

Recently we find a crash site of a USA aircraft crashed near Laviano, 45 km south\east of Salerno. Do you are able to help us to identify type of aircraft and his pilot? Thanks!

Crash point

The search

Fragments of fusalege

Fragments of engine block

What is?

What is?

What is?

Bullets 12,7 marked DM 42, SL 42, RA 42

Battery

Fragment marked

Appear to be: ASSY N 9 I-3-1E9A

Fragment marked

75 03 97

Your help will be very appreciated from SALERNO AIR FINDERS www.1943salerno.it

 

Amazon Forum Fav 👍

How to Research for Treasure Hunting and Metal Detecting From Lead Generation to Vetting - Grab it through Amazon!

[DCMatt]

If you are sure the aircraft was a fighter, what fighter would have an emergency "door" release? Most fighters had a canopy not a door.

P-39 had a door and saw action in North Africa and Mediterranean in 1943.

DCMatt

 

Amazon Forum Fav 👍

A History of Mining on the Kenai Peninsula, Alaska - Grab it through Amazon!

[DCMatt]

I did a little more research and I believe the P-39 was the only fighter with a "door" used in the Med in 1943. It had an emergency door release lever because the door could NOT be opened by the pilot in flight due to air pressure. The lever cased the hinge pins to come out allowing the door to fly off. Pilots claimed it was the easiest fighter to bail out of because you simply pulled the lever and rolled out on to the wing.

US made good use of the P-39 in the Mediterranean during '42 & '43.

DCMatt

 

[Matteo La Boccia]

Thanks DCMatt. Do you know about some P-39 crashed around Laviano??

I did a little more research and I believe the P-39 was the only fighter with a "door" used in the Med in 1943. It had an emergency door release lever because the door could NOT be opened by the pilot in flight due to air pressure. The lever cased the hinge pins to come out allowing the door to fly off. Pilots claimed it was the easiest fighter to bail out of because you simply pulled the lever and rolled out on to the wing.

US made good use of the P-39 in the Mediterranean during '42 & '43.

DCMatt

 

[DCMatt]

Thanks DCMatt. Do you know about some P-39 crashed around Laviano??

Still researching. The P-39 had a short range - less than 600 miles. That means this aircraft was probably based in Sicily. The 81st Fighter Group was flying P-39's out of Castelvetrano in September of 1943. So far, that is the only squadron I can find flying P-39's in the Mediterranean theater of operation at that time.

DCMatt

 

[FC-Treasure]

So, I need to start my "job" and stop searching, but here is what I found:

Here is the USAAF Accident Report List for 1943 overseas by month. You can search Overseas reports for 1943, using country code ITA for all crashes in Italy in 1943. If you are sure it is a p-39, then cross reference 1943, ITA, and p-39 to come up with likely candidates.

USAAF Accident Report Monthly List

 

[FC-Treasure]

Just to be clear what I mean by "search".... The only way I could find was to click on each month, do a ctrl+f, type ITA and continue to press enter until I cycled through all the Italian crashes, looking for one's that involved P-39's, then going back to the month list and doing it again for another month...

 

[DCMatt]

So, I need to start my "job" and stop searching, but here is what I found:

Here is the USAAF Accident Report List for 1943 overseas by month. You can search Overseas reports for 1943, using country code ITA for all crashes in Italy in 1943. If you are sure it is a p-39, then cross reference 1943, ITA, and p-39 to come up with likely candidates.

USAAF Accident Report Monthly List

I am fairly confident the aircraft was a P-39 because of the Emergency Door Release plaque. I checked the database you listed and did not find any P-39 accidents for Italy in 1943. If a pilot was KIA, there has to be a record of it somewhere.

I'm wondering about the September 1943 date. That was the month that Allied forces began operations to take Sicily. As I mentioned, the P-39 had a limited range. There were P-39's in North Africa at that time, but the crash site is too far away for the plane to have come from Algeria or Tunisia. Squadrons moved to Sicily and Sardinia later in 1943 but even Sardinia would be a stretch for a P-39 on a combat mission.



DCMatt

 

[Matteo La Boccia]

Thanks to FCTreasure and CDMatt. Your help is always very precious! In July began invasion of Sicily. 9 september 1943 Allied landed at Salerno. They also do some airfield (like Paestum airfield) where landed P-38 and other aircraft. However I never read about P-39 operating around Salerno.

 

[DCMatt]

In January 1944, the three squadrons departed Hampton Roads, Virginia, on three
troopships that was part of a large merchant ship convoy. They sailed across the
Atlantic and Mediterranean, to Taranto and Naples, Italy. From aerodromes in
Naples and Montecorvino, the Group flew Bell P-39 Airacobra fighters with the
12th U. S. Army Air Force, performing combat patrol over the Tyrennean Sea and
strafing attacks in and around Cassino and Anzio, against the German army, until
late Spring.

P-39Q Airacobra, 332nd Fighter Group, Montecorvino Aerodrome,
Salerno, Italy - 1944

DCMatt

 

[Matteo La Boccia]

Thanks DCMatt. I read about these P-39 of black airmen in Salerno airport of Montecorvino. They stayed here in 1944. This crash should be 1943. Will be interesting if someone of 332nd FG crashed south of Salerno near Laviano. The front were in the north of Salerno in 1944 (Cassino).

 

[FC-Treasure]

Thanks DCMatt. I read about these P-39 of black airmen in Salerno airport of Montecorvino. They stayed here in 1944. This crash should be 1943. Will be interesting if someone of 332nd FG crashed south of Salerno near Laviano. The front were in the north of Salerno in 1944 (Cassino).

The Tuskegee airman, according to wikapedia, flew P-39's for about three months, from March 1944 - June 1944

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tuskegee_Airmen

 

[DCMatt]

From Wikipedia:

The major MTO P-39 operators included the 81st and 350th Fighter Groups, both flying the maritime patrol mission from North Africa and on through Italy. The 81st transferred to the China Burma India theater by March 1944 and the 350th began transition to the P-47D in August 1944, remaining in Italy with the 12th Air Force

DCMatt

 

[DCMatt]

From the 332nd Fighter Group:

Throughout its service life in the MTO from Tunisia to Rome the P-39 had a less
than satisfactory record with all groups that it served with. American fighter
groups flying the Airacobras from November of 1942 to April of 1944 lost 107
Airacobras in air to air and air to ground combat.

DCMatt

 

[DCMatt]

Could the ASSY N 9 item be part of the base assembly from an "N 9" gunsight? The N 9 was common on Allied fighters.

DCMatt

 

[DCMatt]

P-39 Emergency Door Release Lever



DCMatt

 

[DCMatt]

Another - different type

P-39 Emergency Door Release plaque



DCMatt

 

[Matteo La Boccia]

Many thanks! Do you have some info about this label on a A-36??

 

[digilucky]

Hey OP. New member here. I suggest you take your question to the forum at axishistory dot com. The war geeks there could probably narrow it down to the name of the pilot. It's that kind of place. Good luck.

 

[DCMatt]

Many thanks! Do you have some info about this label on a A-36??

The A-36 did not have a door. It had a hinged canopy. I searched but could not find any reference to any "door" on the A-36.

The only other fighter with a "door" in the MTO in 1943 was the Spitfire. The label did not come from a Spitfire.



Spitfire door

I am in contact with a museum in Texas that has a P-39. They said they will check for the label inside the cockpit but the plane is currently being painted an the doors are sealed shut.

DCMatt

 

[Matteo La Boccia]

Many thanks for your alway precious help DCMatt.
Best regards, Matteo (Matthew).