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Archive Report: US Forces
1941 - 1945

Compiled from official National Archive and Service sources, contemporary press reports, personal logbooks, diaries and correspondence, reference books, other sources, and interviews.

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USAAF Crest
26.05.1944 390th Fighter Squadron, P47D Thunderbolt 42-76293 2nd Lt. Victor J. Grisanti

Operation: Dive Bombing (attack ground troops at Corneillus France)

Date: 26th May 1944 (Friday)

Unit: No. 390th Fighter Squadron  366th Fighter Group

Type: P47D Thunderbolt

Serial: 42-76293

Code: B2-

Base: USAAF Thruxton, Andover, Hampshire

Location: Nucourt  France

Pilot: 2nd Lt Victor J. Grisanti 0-526348 USAAF Age 31. PoW Stalag Luft 1 (North 2 - Barrack 6 - Room 9)

REASON FOR LOSS: 

Statement by 2nd Lt Robert B. Jones made on the 28th May 1944:

I was flying on Lt. Grisanti’s wing. Immediately following our attack on ground target at Cormeilles-en-Vexin we pulled up to 4,000 ft flying in a North West direction. Lt. Grisanti called me on the RT and asked if I was OK. I then noticed that thick black smoke pouring from his turbo exhaust. I called and told him that his ship was smoking. Flames immediately appeared under the fuselage and right wing and I told him to bail out. 

He came out of the right side about 5 miles west of the target, plane went into a gentle glide and crashed about 8 miles north west of target. Lt Grisanti drifted westerly and the last time I saw him he was about 8 miles west of the target at 500 ft approximately.

Hit by Flak at approximately 17:10 hrs, captured at 17:30 Hrs.near Cormeillus, France, sent to the Military Hospital Paris-Clichy with 2nd and 3rd degree burns on face and both hands.

Burial details:

None - survived the war as a PoW.

Researched by Michel Beckers for Aircrew Remembered November 2015. Photographs from the Michel Beckers collection.

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Acknowledgments: Sources used by us in compiling Archive Reports include: Bill Chorley - 'Bomber Command Losses Vols. 1-9, plus ongoing revisions', Dr. Theo E.W. Boiten and Mr. Roderick J. Mackenzie - 'Nightfighter War Diaries Vols. 1 and 2', Martin Middlebrook and Chris Everitt - 'Bomber Command War Diaries', Commonwealth War Graves Commission, Tom Kracker - Kracker Luftwaffe Archives, Michel Beckers, Major Fred Paradie (RCAF) and MWO François Dutil (RCAF) - Paradie Archive (on this site), Jean Schadskaje, Major Jack O'Connor USAF (Retd.), Robert Gretzyngier, Wojtek Matusiak, Waldemar Wójcik and Józef Zieliński - 'Ku Czci Połeglyçh Lotnikow 1939-1945', Archiwum - Polish Air Force Archive (on this site), Anna Krzystek, Tadeusz Krzystek - 'Polskie Siły Powietrzne w Wielkiej Brytanii', Franek Grabowski, Norman L.R. Franks 'Fighter Command Losses', Stan D. Bishop, John A. Hey MBE, Gerrie Franken and Maco Cillessen - Losses of the US 8th and 9th Air Forces, Vols 1-6, Dr. Theo E.W. Boiton - Nachtjagd Combat Archives, Vols 1-13. Aircrew Remembered Databases and our own archives. We are grateful for the support and encouragement of CWGC, UK Imperial War Museum, Australian War Memorial, Australian National Archives, New Zealand National Archives, UK National Archives and Fold3 and countless dedicated friends and researchers across the world.
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Last Modified: 20 November 2015, 21:04

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