| Description |
: |
On 23 September 1943, 42-30647 "Polly Ann" KY-H was preparing to land at Chelveston, England. Lt. Norman A. Drouin was flying lead in the 366th BS. As the group descended through 1,000 feet, Lt. Drouin apparently slowed down too much as he collided with the lead plane of the trailing element, Verl Fisher in 42-30650. The two aircraft then fell into Lt. Robert Lang's 42-30809. Fisher and Lang managed to land at the airfield. "Polly Ann" never regained control and crashed into the ground killing all aboard. The Sikes crew was stood down on 9/23/43. One of Sikes’ crewmen was on the doomed Drouin aircraft to get his mission count even with Sikes. From the ground, Bill Sikes watched the sequence of events leading to the Drouin crash. To this day he recalls the event with difficulty, having witnessed the loss of his crewman. Sikes never lost an original crewman to enemy action. |
