"Skip" (Wally) McCabe
I was giving a tour today at the Canadian Warplanes Museum and I mentioned to my tour group that my father was shot down on Aug 17,1942 - one of my visitors noted that was today and I had one those OMG moments!
72 years ago today he was 20 years old, piloting a Douglas DB-7B (Boston Havoc) with RCAF 418 Squadron when he was shot down by anti aircraft fire near Rouen, France. His 2 crew were killed and he was captured by the Luftwaffe, patched up and invited to the local air base for dinner. At about 4:00 pm the Luftwaffe squadron was scrambled to intercept a flight of 12 B17s and Spits - turns out it was the first mission of the US 8th airforce in WW2!
The Base Commaner then shipped him off to Stalag VlllB for the next 2 years!
I attached a couple of pictures - one taken by the Luftwaffe the morning he crashed! By the way his plane was WR8350.
-Art McCabe, Milton, Ontario