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Operation: Bomber escort
Date: 30th July 1943 (Friday)
Unit No: 62nd Fighter Squadron, 56th Fighter Group, 65th Fighter Wing, 8th Air Force
Type: P47C Thunderbolt
Serial: 41-6209
Code: LM:C
Base: Halesworth (Station #365), Suffolk
Location: Oudelandsedijk, Oude Tonge, Holland
Pilot: 1st Lt. Robert Eugene Stover O-661392 USAAF Age 21. KiA
REASON FOR LOSS:
Weather conditions: Good with visibility excellent.
Left formation on way home over the Scheldt Estuary intending to attack a pair of Fw190s he had seen. He was not seen again by fellow pilots of the 56th. He actually bailed out but his parachute failed to open and he was found at Den Bommel, on the north side of Goeree-Overflakke Island, Holland, at about 10:30 hrs. (Losses of the US 8th and 9th Air Forces (ETO Area June 1942 to December 1943) - Stan D. Bishop and John A Hey MBE).
Shot down during a dogfight with Hauptmann Siegfried Schnell of III./JG 2, his 80th Abschuss and 2nd of the day.
Maj. Siegfried Schnell was the Kommandeur of III./JG 2 until the 11th February 1944 when he became Kommandeur of IV./JG 54 in Russia. On the 25th February 1944 he was shot down and killed by Russian fighters, his Bf109 coming down at Narva. He was credited with 82 Abschüsse and 4 unconfirmed. (Luftwaffe ACES - Biographies and Victory Claims (Mathews and Foreman) - Volume 3)
The aircraft was last seen smoking and going down over Walcheren Island by an unidentified pilot from the 4th fighter group. Some 17 x P-47’s took part in a search for the pilot from the base to within 40 mls (65 km) of the Dutch coast but without success.
Burial Details:
1st Lt. Robert Eugene Stover. Air Medal (OLC), Purple Heart. Ardennes American Cemetery, Belgium. Plot B. Row 43. Grave 21. Born in 1921 in Pittsburg, Kansas. Son of Walter Eugene and Mamie L. (née Brown) Stover of Pittsburg, Kansas. NoK recorded as his Aunt, Mrs Nina B. McKinley of Kansas City, Kansas, USA.
Researched by Michel Beckers for Aircrew Remembered (Jul 2016). Photographs of aircraft courtesy Steve Fleming, grave photo courtesy Dominique Potier, memorial courtesy Anneke Moerenhout - others from Nigel Julian and the Michel Beckers collection. Update to NoK details and loss information by Aircrew Remembered (Feb 2023).
MB 16-07-2016
RS 16.02.2023 - Update to NoK details and loss information
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