It was now morning daylight. Sometime in the morning hours, members of the French resistance army removed the remains of Chuckie and his four fellow comrades from the wreckage of the plane in a field near Saint-Cyr-de-Valorges, France and buried them in an unmarked temporary grave. They also worked very hard to quickly retrieve all the container canisters and packages of supplies strewn about and to hide them.

The Nazi’s would soon arrive at the crash site to retrieve any intelligence they could find.

Quickly burying the dead while under threat of the imminent danger of the arrival of the Nazi’s was a humane act of enormous compassion and respect by the French people. They protected Chuckie and the other fallen from any potential further desecration by the Nazi’s. It also allowed for Chuckie’s body to be identified and, at a later point, safely moved to a temporary cemetery and his subsequent permanent interment in December 1948 at his final resting place at Rhone American Cemetery in Draguignon, France.

Chuckie’s parents were never given many facts about how he died because on his “S E C R E T” Carpetbagger mission. They did have the comfort of knowing that their their son’s body was always treated with the dignity and respect he deserved for paying the ultimate sacrifice for Freedom.

Chuckie’s family never saw these photos of his crashed plane.
Today, they are easily findable by anyone on the internet.

Killed In Action – 28 April 1944
Lieut. George W Ambrose, Pilot; of Springdale, PA
Lieut. Robert H Redhair , Co-Pilot; of Bartlesville, OK
S Sgt. Charles M Wilson, Engineer; of Beaver, PA
Lieut. Arthur B Pope, Navigator; of Fulton, GA
Lieut. Peter Roccia, Bombardier; of Washington, D.C.

“It was the next day that they (the French) realized that two more Americans survived (in addition to Mooney). They found the chutes, 1st one and then another, which they immediately buried.“

Survivors of the crash included:
Sgt. James J Heddleson, Radio Operator; of Louisville, OH
Sgt. George W Henderson, Tail Gunner; of Santa Monica, CA
Sgt. James C Mooney, Dispatcher; of Englewood, NJ – He volunteered for this mission (his first) – the rest of the crew only met him shortly before take-off, as regular crew member Sgt. W. Bollinger had reported off sick that day.

“We assumed everyone was killed except Sgt. Mooney.
His condition was such, I found out later, that the man whose house he was taken to, had to turn him over to the Germans. He told me personally how sorry he was for having to do this. But I tried to assure him that in Sgt Mooney’s case (broken back) he probably saved his life as I heard the Germans took him to a hospital.“

Heddelson and Henderson were now on the move to evade the enemy, as trained

“We moved only at night as we traveled quite a way for the shape we were in. The French started to look for us they said in every direction possible. We skirted villages and main roads, avoiding everyone we saw, especially the Germans. Having no idea where we were, we headed South.”

Edited from transcribed copy of letter by crash survivor James Heddelson in the archives at the Air Force Academy June – 1998

A French secret agent on the ground that day also took the piece of the plane with the serial number.

It would soon be returned back to the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) headquarters at Baker Street in London as part of his field report to the Allied Forces command that the plane had crashed and USAAF men had died.

Not only was the B-24 demanding to fly, even for a fully-qualified pilot, it operated at such high weights that takeoffs became dicey even with full power on all engines. Flight stability was marginal, and escape from a stricken machine was extremely difficult once the pilot and copilot had let go of the controls. I imagine these were some of contributing factors on the night Chuckie’s plane crashed.

To better ensure accurate drops, pilots tried to get down to within 400 to 600 feet off the ground and to reduce their flying speed to 130 miles per hour or less. The low speed reduced the chances of damage to parachutes, as the shock of opening is much less at the slower speed. Personnel were normally dropped from a height of 600 ft with containers and packages being dropped from 300 – 500 ft.

Chuckie’s plane made two passes over the target and on the third pass, “we hit or clipped something”

Once again the flaps start down and the bomb-doors open and we are starting our approach. I can look out and see the hills, or mountains on our left side. Suddenly the plane shakes violently, apparently we hit or clipped something.”

The engines were racing and the plane was climbing, seemingly straight up. He yells for us to get out. . . .We no sooner cleared the plane when it starts down again, only this time it is too late, because it is burning when it crashes.”

Transcribed from copy of letter by crash survivor James Heddelson in the archives at the Air Force Academy June – 1998

At 02:10 hrs local Chuckie’s aircraft landed in a fiery crash in Saint-Cyr-de-Valorges, Loire, near Lyon France.

“He was killed. This is a definite.”

Chuckie was killed on impact. Individual Casualty Questionnaire‘s were completed by two of the three crash survivors when they eventually returned back to Harrington three months later after successfully evading the enemy with the help of the French resistance. Both confirm Staff Sgt Charles. M. Wilson was killed in action when his plane crashed. Copies of the actual questionnaires likely completely sometime in August 1944 were found in the MACR and posted below.

Next up: The Crash (part three) – seen like a beacon

Part one of four posts capturing the story of what actually happened that night of the fiery crash that killed Chuckie compiled from two first person survivor accounts, historical documents filed in the Missing Aircraft Report and WWII archival material.

Chuckie’s Carpetbagger mission the night he was killed was Operation Lackey 3A over the Timdale drop zone detailed in an earlier post. When his aircraft reached a position a few miles from the drop zone near Lyon, France the ‘S’ Phone was used. The system permitted direct two-way voice communication with an aircraft up to a range of 30 miles and the agents on the ground working behind enemy lines to communicate and coordinate landings and the dropping of agents and supplies. It was composed of a “Ground” transceiver and an “Air” transceiver and required the ground operator to face the path of the aircraft. It had the useful trait of transmitting signals that could not be picked up by enemy ground monitoring stations more than one mile away.

“He called over the interphone that he spotted the target.”

It was around 1:00AM in the morning when Chuckie and crew reached the target area. According to the first person account from survivor Sgt James Heddelson, they made the 1st pass over the pinpoint and members of the Resistance on the farmland below for identification. While the S-Phone provided directional information to the pilot it gave no range information for the drop. This could only be done by visual sightings of lights on the ground.

A few miles from the target area all available eyes began searching for the drop area, which would usually be identified by three high powered flashlights placed in a row, with a fourth at a 90 degree angle to indicate the direction of the drop. The recognition torches were placed in the pre-arranged pattern and the light codes were exchanged between the ground and the plane. The aircraft was most vulnerable to enemy fire over the drop zone. The pilot 1st Liet. George Ambrose wasted no time lining up the twinkling markers.

“We circled around for position to make the drop.”

Pilot Ambrose selected half flaps and made the run in at 135 mph – not much above stalling speed. He was guided by the bombardier, who would be releasing the containers over the drop zone. Speed was all important on the ground – the man sized containers were to be quickly taken away into the cover of trees.

(2nd pass) . . . the wing flaps start to come down and the bomb bay doors are starting to open. Suddenly they start back up, we don’t drop and it is like we were practicing and we climb back up.”

“As we start to circle around again, I can still see the lights on the ground in the distance on our drop area. We start in for the 3rd pass.“

“Sgt James Mooney is over the “Joe Hole.” He volunteered for this mission (his first) we only met him shortly before take-off, as a regular crew member Sgt. W. Bollinger reported off sick. I am over the smaller hole behind Sgt. Geo. Henderson, who is in the tailgunners position, getting ready to throw some packages out. Once again the flaps start down and the bomb-doors open and we are starting our approach. I can look out and see the hills, or mountains on our left side.“

“Suddenly the plane shakes violently. Apparently we hit or clipped something.”

Coming Next: The Crash (Part Two) – The plane hits high ground

Credits: Edited quotes compiled from crash survivor Sgt. Geo. Henderson and Sgt. James Heddelson Interrogation Reports detailing when they last had contact with Chuckie; and a first-person account transcribed from copy of letter from crash survivor Sgt. James Heddelson in the archives at the Air Force Academy.

Records show the secret code name for the Carpetbagger mission Chuckie was flying the night he was killed was Operation Lackey over the Timdale drop zone near Lyon, France –“TIMBALE DZ 45deg 57’N, 04deg 22’E”. The exact location of the planned drop is still a farm today and can be seen on Google maps is here.

On its final approach to make the drop “on lights” where members of the resistance were waiting on the ground, the plane hit a hill at 02:00AM and separated into four parts when crashing at nearby Saint Cyr de Valorges (Loire), France, killing five of the eight crew members including Chuckie.

Curious to see pictures of the village where Chuckie died on that hill, I did a Google search. Right there as I’d imagined. Beautiful, green rolling farmland, high wooded hills, peaceful, wide open expansive views. So familiar. It’s the same topography of Western Pennsylvania where Chuckie and this author grew up.

A very dangerous place to be flying a huge B-24 bomber in the dark of night just 130 feet above the ground at an airspeed of near stalling. The heroism, their bravery now even more clear. God bless them all.

One important lesson taught to the Carpetbaggers was the need to memorize the route to the drop zone. Pilots learned to literally map read their way by moonlight, memorizing landmarks – the most successful pilot sometimes spent hours studying the route. However, the B-24s were fitted with the best possible flying and navigational instruments. The most important flying instrument was a radio altimeter giving an accurate height readout on the low level flights.

The route to the drop zone was achieved by a team effort, the bombardier sat in the glazed nose on a swivel seat reading off landmarks to the navigator sitting at his table behind the blackout curtains. The pilot was provided with large blister windows giving a good downward view of the ground.

First radio navigation aid to be used on a mission was the Gee set, this recorded directional signals which were marked on a special chart – accurate within a quarter of a mile over England, but prone to jamming over enemy territory. The Rebecca / Eureka directional system explained on an earlier post consisted of a ground beacon (Eureka) set up on the drop zone, this was triggered by a signal from Rebecca set in the aircraft. Eureka then automatically sent out signals which were picked up by a calibrated receiver, this indicated the aircraft’s position in relation to the drop zone.

Coming up over the next 10 days are daily posts with details of that last mission, monuments to Chuckie and fellow Carpetbaggers by the grateful people of France and, for the first time, a family visits Chuckie’s grave in France for Memorial Day.