Introduction
Close to where I live is a monument to a fallen American pilot, 2nd Lt. Robert E. Jenkins, killed on the 15th of July 1944 when his P47 Thunderbolt crashed in the forest at Molineuf in central France. I took my mother to see the monument. She said "He must have been someone very important to have a memorial just for him". Intrigued, I decided to investigate further.
His story is remarkable, different versions of what happened in his final hour exist and my investigation isn't the first. I'll present in detail the available evidence from an engineer's perspective but without forgetting this is above all the story of a young man with a family that miss him, who lost his life during the liberation of France.
Perspective
The allied invasion of France started in Normandy on the 6th of June 1944, 39 days before the crash. The ground forces were still in Normandy, the Americans fighting 'the battle of the hedgerows' near Saint Lô, the British and Canadians fighting 'the battle of Caen'. They hadn't yet secured a sea port and were relying on the temporary harbour at Arromanches they'd brought with them. If the Germans had been able to bring reinforcements into the area then there was a real risk of the invasion failing. The allied air forces were given the task of preventing this; bridges, railways and aerodromes were amongst their targets. The allied bombing was done by the RAF at night and by the USAAF in the daytime, the bombers protected by fighters. Robert Jenkins was a fighter pilot in the 63rd squadron, one of 3 squadrons of 24 Rebuplic P47 Thunderbolts that made up the 56th fighter group based at Boxted, just north of Colchester in England.
High cloud across Europe kept the heavy bombers on the ground so the mission on the 15th of July wasn't as an escort, but to perform a ground attack on the railway infrastructure at Blois, 250km (155 miles) from the allied ground forces. This small town with a roadbridge over the river Loire and a railway linking Tours and Orléans had been badly damaged by the Germans in 1940. The rubble had been cleared away but no major rebuilding work had been undertaken. The bridge and railway had however, been mended, so Blois was once again a target.
The map shows the route taken by 56th Fighter group (the blue dot is where the author lives).
The raid (number 8AF 474) was led by Colonel Hubert Zemke. 62nd and 63rd squadrons, would fly south from Boxted, taking off at 5:27 pm, crossing the English channel, avoiding the battle zone of Normandy and the large city of Rouen then down to Orléans where they would turn to starboard, following the Loire to Blois.
Robert Jenkins had joined 63rd squadron on the 26th of June, 19 days earlier and had performed his first operational mission on the 11th of July. He was still considered a trainee and hadn't yet been allocated a P47 of his own. On this mission, he replaced Donald V. Peters in his aircraft 42-76578 (UN-O). He was one of the four aircraft in Daily White flight.
They suffered intense and accurate anti-aircraft fire west and south of Rouen. Arriving at 14000 feet (4300m) in the region of Blois at 6:50 pm, it became clear that there was too much cloud for a successful attack. Zemke split the two squadrons, he would lead 62nd squadron to attack the railway marshalling yards at Vendôme and Major Goodfleisch would take 63rd squadron to attack the airfield at Le Breuil near La Chapelle-Vendômoise north-west of Blois.
The airfield had been used by the Germans as a backup but it was attacked by P51 Mustangs on the 20th of April. A week later the Germans blocked the runway to prevent the allies using it.
63rd squadron would have found an empty grass airfield to attack. This is where the story splits, the Americans relating one story and the Germans another.
