Hi All, While reading my recently acquired copy of the excellent book "Looking Down On War - The Normandy Invasion June 1944" by Colonel Roy M. Stanley II, I have come across reconnaissance cover extracts therein which add significantly to our work here on the Forum. Colonel Stanley and the publishers, Pen & Sword Books Ltd. have both graciously allowed me to post extracts from the book, which can be purchased at the following links: Pen & Sword Books Ltd (UK) Amazon.com (US) Amazon.co.uk (UK) Book Depository.com My eye first caught the reconnaissance cover extracts showing an area we have looked at before during the 'Ballintine' quest. Regular readings may recall our Field 'E' as one possible landing site for Horsa #10 of Mission 'Keokuk' on the evening of the 6th June. F/O John C. Ballintine of the 434th TCG was the co-pilot and we had been contacted by John's son Bob and other members of the family requesting our help in researching possible landing sites for Horsa #10. What struck me immediately about the extracts published by Colonel Stanley for this area is that we now have two new sets of cover for Field E. The first is shown on page 74 and the second on page 82. However, before we look at these extracts, first let me show you what we had in terms of cover ourselves from The National Collection of Aerial Photography (NCAP): Image Credit: RCAHMS/www.aerial.rcahms.gov.uk This is NCAP_ACIU_US7GR_1857_4051, a very clear photograph flown on the 12th June. Note Sainte Marie du Mont at top right and Vierville at bottom centre. Our present Area of Interest is within the yellow rectangle, which is zoomed to below: Image Credit: RCAHMS/www.aerial.rcahms.gov.uk A possible location for John C. Ballintine's Horsa #10 is the glider which appears just above the letters "Fi..." of the label Field 'E'. I stress this is only one location (which I favoured at the time) but which was not necessarily that favoured by some other researchers...why I don't know In any event, the first extract shown by Colonel Stanley on page 74 of his book is reproduced below which I have orientated to north at top: Field 'E' above is zoomed to below and shows remarkable new clarity prior to the arrival of the Horsa which might be the Ballintine glider: The second extract, made up of two overlapping frames from a later sortie, is shown on page 82 of the book and is reproduced below, similarly orientated to north. However, we only see the very northern corner of Field 'E', now with a badly damaged Horsa therein: To show the reader where we are, I have produced the GE screenshot below with the black frame showing the larger, earlier frame extract and the yellow showing the extract from the later sortie: Note especially the locations of the black half arrowhead USAAF Register Collimation marks and the dark quarter circle corner marks. These give an indication of by how much and where the extracts exclude the complete frames. The presence of this particular type of collimation mark confirms both extracts were flown by USAAF aircraft rather than RAF as the diagram below shows the two distinct types used: So the extracts are both from American sorties - but which - and on what dates were they flown? Colonel Stanley does not have the original prints but is working to find the original scans for us. I think its pretty safe to say that the first extract must have been taken on the 6th June before Mission ‘Keokuk’ came in during the evening. There are no Horsas anywhere to be seen and the flat, shadow less lighting seems to confirm that the photograph was taken during dull overcast weather. Turning to the second extract shown on page 82, I have marked the ‘new’ parachutes (Mission ‘Memphis’ resupply chutes?) in yellow and the three ‘new’ (Horsa) gliders in blue on the second extract. This particular frame is obviously taken later in the Invasion timeline, most probably on D+1 or later. The clarity of the three Horsa gliders is new to me and a welcome addition to our knowledge base here on the Forum. The big question in my mind is whether there is also cover showing the possible Ballintine Horsa #10 from this sortie? Therefore, the next question is can we winkle out the sortie number for either or both extracts? The earlier, Waco only extract might be the easier of the two. I had a look at our available sortie plots for the 6th June and note that we have three in the Forum archive: US7_1734 US30_4078 US30_4079 Of these, I note a very good match for the earlier (Waco only) extract from page 74 with sortie 4078. I have shaded the approximate extract area in grey on the screenshot from sortie 4078 index plot below: The obvious problem is though that the frame from which the extract is taken is not marked up on the sortie index plot. This begs the question as to whether ALL frames were always indexed on these index plots? Comments and corrections welcomed and appreciated. Regards, Pat
Mmm... Either they don't have all of the frames from 4078 uploaded or my theory on the large extract being part of a frame from this sortie has just crashed and burned See the neat new feature on the NCAP site here To save yourself trying to locate each frame, just download the GE file by clicking the 'View Records in Google Earth' button. We need to keep a list of what sorties they have uploaded guys (change the sortie number in the search box). Regards, Pat
Here is an extract of the USAF Recce flights recorded for D-Day in the area of the invasion. I have some of the flight sketches at home and will look for them later to see if any seems to fit the bill. The follow on problem is that TARA doesn't have them even if we identify the correct sortie. I note that the photos extracted from the book credit NARA and therefore may be located in College Park. The fourth column is the specific US squadron of the 7th RG that flew the mission. Also note that the main PRS for the 82nd area was the 30th PRS which is not part of the 7th PRG. That squadron corresponds to the 4078 sortie number. I have the 30th at home and will look later. [IMG=800x362]http://i1182.photobucket.com/albums/x446/sirjahn/USAFRecceSortiesD-Day_zps1928a948.jpg[/IMG]
Thanks Dale, I marked the extracts '© NARA' as that is the presumed present home for the original film rolls and/or master prints from which these extracts are taken. I also wanted to protect potential future book sales and hence the watermark. I associated the 30th PRS with the 7th PRG because of the first entry in the 'Assignments' section on their Wiki page here but on reading down further, I now see they had been transferred to the 10th PRG on the 21st February 1944 - apologies for the oversight. Just to clarify; the sortie titles with '...US7GR...' therein (for example TARA_ACIU_US7GR_1857_4052) implies the mission was flown by an aircraft from an unspecified squadron of the 7th PRG while sortie titles with '...US30...' therein (for example NCAP_ACIU_US30_4079_1073) were flown by an aircraft of the 30th PR Squadron, 10th PRG - am I correct in this assumption? Regards, Pat
The 7th PRG had the 7th, 13th, 22nd and 27th PRS. The 10th PRG had the 30th, 31st, and 33rd PRS. The 33rd had a couple of D-Day sorties over the invasion area mostly in the 101st area and behind Omaha beach and the 30th had 6 successful sorties numbered US30-4065 (Bayeux to SME to Cherbourg), 4078 (north of St. Lo looping from SME to Etienville and then Valognes to south of Cherbourg) , 4079 (Bayeux to north of St. Lo to Cherbourg looping back to SME), 4081 (St Sauveur to Picauville looping north and south of St. Sauveur), 4088 (Viereville to Blosville and SME to Cherbourg) and 4091 (SME to Cherbourg). But as a mentioned earlier I checked with TARA and they don't have those sorties. When at TARA I found what looked to be sortie 4081 in the microfiche files but they couldn't find it in the photo archives.
Excellent stuff. What is so exciting is the fact that even after all this research being done and after 70 years, there is still new information surfacing ! Love it !
Here are the 33rd PRS missions that I have been able to find. Unfortunately the 33rd site has gone down. It had the complete sortie records from May June and July 1944 for the squadron. I will try to format the 30th PRS pilot sortie sketches into something more usable. Code: Date Sortie Pilot Cameras ATD/ATA Mission Objective Results & Comments 6-Jun 33/566 Roberts, T. A. 6"v/24"v 1535/1710 BDA Photos taken, 28,000'. Benerville being dive bombed by P-47s. All types warships in Bay of Seine firing into French coast. 6-Jun 33/567 Scott, William S., Jr. 6"v/24"v (K-18) 1530/1710 BDA Maisy Photos taken, 29,000'. Large convoys south from south coast England toward Caen at 1600B. Hundreds of small craft along beaches from Cherbourg to Le Havre. Large convoy headed southwest in Channel toward Caen. 6-Jun 33/558 Clevenger, William C. 6"v/40"spv 1305/1515 Bridges over Seine, about 8 Photos taken, 30,000'. Few pictures taken due to cloud coverage. No traces made. Pilot did not know exact location.
Hello Pat This begin to be excellent! perhaps time now (after my holidays) to subscribe to the zoomed images on their site. To know which sorties are uploaded for lower Normandy, go to this page : http://aerial.rcahms.gov.uk/database/results.php?query1=%22Lower%20Normandy,%20France%22&field1=where&DETAILED=1 And open records in Google earth !
What is cool is the search can have partial info like "US30/" and it will pull up all they have from the 30th PRS. I see a couple of new shots that I might order. Navman, No I don't know who ran it and the Internet Wayback machine doesn't have much saved from the site.
That's a shame. If they would have had trouble with webspace or cost, I might have been able to accommodate them.
Hi Guys, Dale, which Group was the 34th PRS with? I ask because I made contact with Richard Faulkner, the owner of the www.34thprs.org site which now seems to be also down. That was back in October 2011 and he had been working to locate some 'dicing' mission film rolls for me but I haven't heard from him since then. It was the period we were looking for the 'Mudflat 'S' C-47 crash site and I wondered at the time if there was anything on the dicing missions cover flown along Utah Beach and the flooded fields behind. I wonder if there is a connection between both sites being down. Patrick, yes I had been signed up for the 'extra' resolution status at NCAP but let my subscription lapse as I felt I never really got the full benefit for my Euros at the time. It's a vastly improved site now though and well worth subscribing to IMMO. Regards, Pat
The 34th PRS was part of the 10th PRG for a while in 1944 and then transferred to the new TAC Air 69th Provisional PRG. I believe most of the dicing missions were flown by the 31st PRS. I agree the NCAP has really expanded its offerings and I am considering a subscription after seeing their D-Day shots.
Pat, I just started my 1 year subscription to the RCAHMS site. Very nice to browse all the aerials and at about $27 a year, it should be well worth it. I'll be keeping busy ! John
Thanks again Dale, Richard has the complete microfilm record of the 10TH PRG but only prints the missions for the 34TH PRS as that's his squadron of interest. In one of his emails he states: He is referring to my request for any dicing missions flown along the Utah Beach sector but as you can see, there is a chance that these pilots done a bit of 'freelance' work which may have produced cover further inland over the American DZs/LZs. I sent him another email tonight in an attempt to re-establish contact. Before we move on to other extracts, I wanted to show readers a set of three stills I pulled from Tyler Alberts '82nd Airborne Division - Invasion of Normandy Series' DVD. Its just a couple of seconds of murky, low light footage with loads of camera shake - but boy what a gem! It is shot from what I assume to be the port side cargo door of a C-47 and shows gliders in free flight "some place in France" - the only such footage shot from the air that I know of: Does anyone spot where we are in frame 'C'? There is an automatic upgrade to 'Researcher' status for the first correct answer John, good to know we have eyes in Edinburgh - looking forward to seeing your discoveries Regards, Pat
Pat & John I will also subscribe to the zoomed pictures after my holidays, in 3 weeks! I leave France sunday morning [hr] Cotentin Peninsula? :blush: [hr] No more answer for the spot?? Field "E" !!! I am already on the good status
Hi Patrick, Correct, but you only get a Hershey bar The farmhouse at top right of frame 'C' is the 506th PIR CP at Culloville. BTW, why are you leaving France for your holidays while the rest of us are dreaming about going to France Regards, Pat
Okay I ordered the service too. I zoomed in on shots that I bought at 600dpi and the resolution is just as good at the highest and lowest view. FYI US30/4108 shot 1034 has Gen Falley's car still embedded in the LaGouche Farmhouse. US30/4073 shots 2021 and 2022 on bottom edge show the La Fiere bridge in the early afternoon with no obstacles in the road so must have been taken before the German attack and the troopers moving a wrecked German truck onto the road by the bridge. I can tell I won't be productive at work for the next week or so.
Hi Guys, Can I ask one of you who have taken out the new NCAP subscription to have a look for these sorties cut from one of Rich Faulkner's emails back in 2011 - I have no response from him to my latest email the other night: Not sure what the number in the brackets means. Thanks guys. Another related pair of interesting extracts appear on pages 81 and 83: Image Credit: Col. Roy M. Stanley II / Pen & Sword Books Ltd. Image Credit: Col. Roy M. Stanley II / Pen & Sword Books Ltd. Both are new to me and show cover over the area I have termed the 'Boutteville Marshes'. Below is a GE finder chart with the boundaries of the reclaimed marshland shown via the yellow and blue broken lines. Note Turqueville at top left and Boutteville at bottom centre: You can ignore the label 'Annex A Neck' as it relates to other work. The extract from page 83 fits into the red rectangle below on another photograph from my own collection. Both photographs were taken at different times as can be seen by the lack of hedgerow shadows on the wide angle shot: The small yellow square is the location of a common but very interesting tight group shot often reproduced in books and on the web: I am not sure who owns the rights to it (if anyone) but I have marked it to NARA as a matter of courtesy. I note with interest Roy's reference to a possible Hamilcar glider in the extract on page 81. AFAIK these gliders were not used in the American glider missions but I am open to correction on this. Roy does not indicate the possible candidate nor can I see which one he might be referring to. Anyone any ideas? Thanks, Pat