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Plane Crashes in the KMC Area |
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Landstuhl, Miesenbach, Kusel, Spesbach, Niedermohr, Kaiserslautern...familiar names to KMC military members. But these locations are also the sites of some 400 WWII plane crashes in this area. The link below to the Arbeitsgruppe Vermisstenforshung (in English) will keep you busy for hours: crashes, flak sites, bombing raids, it's all here in meticulous detail. I've summarized just a few crashes near Eichelscheiderhof below.
Please note the contact information if you need a speaker/presentation as the members of the group speak English and have presentations and displays ready to go for American audiences. Special thanks to Martina and Uwe Benkel for their help and the use of their photos. |
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Home page of the Crash Investigation Group:
http://www.flugzeugabstuerze-saarland.de/ |
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Crashes in the KMC area: http://www.flugzeugabstuerzesaarland.de/html/absturze.html |
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The Eichelscheiderhof Crashes: A Few of the 400 |
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5 November 1944: Two P47s collide while escorting a bomber over the ammunition dump northeast of Homburg (is this the Miesau Ammunition Depot next to Eichelscheiderhof?). Both planes go down between Eichelscheiderhof and Bechofen with the loss of both pilots. The body of 2LT Warren Marsh is never recovered. |
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2 December 1944: After a bombing run on Homburg, 2LT Joseph Price targets a truck on the road between Schoenenberg and Eichelscheiderhof. LT Price is caught in flak and crashes in the forest west of Eichelscheiderhof, suffering fatal head injuries. The truck under attack turns out to be transporting milk between the farm and town. The site today is inside the Miesau Ammo Depot. |
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17 December 1944: LTC Richard Harbeson takes flak over Landstuhl and crash lands his P47 "Barbara" on the clocktower at Eichelscheiderhof. He survives to become a POW, and returns to the USA after the war. The clocktower is restored in a recent ceremony with 150 visitors including the Crash Investigation Group. |
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Recommended Reading:
Those Who Fall by John Muirhead, a B17 pilot. Rated "One of the Ten Best WWII Books". Our favorite.
Masters of the Air: America's Bomber Boys Who Fought the Air War Against Nazi Germany by Donald L. Miller. A 500+ page giant on the 8th Air Force that gets the vote from our B17 navigator buddy, COL (ret) John Parker. He also recommends the movie "Twelve O'Clock High" as a little hokey but representative of the emotions of bomber crews.
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Home |
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Contact |
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