Archive Report: US Forces 1941 - 1945Compiled 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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Pilot: 2nd Lt. Earl Vann Skiff. 0-746201 U.S.A.A.F. Killed
REASON FOR LOSS:
Took-off from Honiton airfield on ferry flight to base, Mount Farm, Oxfordshire. (Station No.234) Augered into tree tops near Greenfield Farm, just over a mile south east of Watlington. Reason unknown.
2nd Lt. Earl V Skiff in his F5.
This tree can still be found at the crash site. It still caries the inscription, Clarence Abbot Laing. West Virginia. Dated the 20th Jan 1944, the day after the crash, it is believed to have been left by one of the US soldier's guarding the wreck.
BURIAL DETAILS:
2nd Lt Earl V Skiff was first buried at Brookwood Cemetery, Surrey, England, 5108 North, 9th Avenue. In January 1949 he was repatriated to the U.S.A. and now rest in peace, at Forest Hill Cemetery, Birmingham, Alabama.
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', Anna Krzystek, Tadeusz Krzystek - 'Polskie Siły Powietrzne w Wielkiej Brytanii', Franek Grabowski, Norman L.R. Franks 'Fighter Command Losses', 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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