Roach Stewart Jr. (Daily White 4)

Enlistment and career

In July 1942, he volunteered for the Army Air Force at Nashville, Tennesee and trained at Maxwell field, Douglas and Augusta, Georgia. Graduated and commisioned at  Spence Field, Moultrie, Georgia, in November 1943. Assigned to duty at Fort Myers and Page Field, Florida before being sent to England in April 1944. His service number is O-816176.

He joined the 63rd Fighter Squadron on 12 April 1944 as a Second lieutenant. He was promoted to first lieutenant and received the Air Medal with Oak Leaf clusters 7th July 1944.

At the time of his loss on 3 August 1944, he had completed 61 missions for a total of 238 hours, 45 minutes combat time. 

Aircraft flown

Roach Stewart's first aircraft was a  P47C2RE N° 41-6261 UN-B but it'd been previously used by Gordon Batdorf then Marvin Becker before being assigned to Stewart as UN-R. He crashed the aircraft on the ground at Boxted on the 21st April 1944.   The aircraft was repaired and assigned to 552nd Fighter Training Squadron as DQ-R where by a remarkable coincidence, its pilot, Clyde Behney lost control of it and had to bail out near Saredon Hall Farm, north of Birmingham, England on the 15th July 1944, the same day Robert Jenkins was killed in France.

His second aircraft was a P47D22RE N° 42-25969, it'd previously been assigned to 376th squadron and pilots John Duncan and Dale Spencer as E9-D.  Transferred to hime as UN-S.

Missing Air Crew Report 7448

On the 3rd August, 1944, first lieutenant Roach Stewart Jr. was on a mission in his aircraft P47D22RE, 42-25969 on the airfield at Essey-lès-Nancy. The squadron was attacked by a Focke Wulf FW-190 and there was intense, light flak in the vicinity of Blâmont, Meurthe-et-Moselle.  His aircraft crashed but it isn't clear whether he was shot down by the the FW190 or by the flak.

More detail is given in this extract from “Beware The Thunderbolt” by David R McLaren:

August 3 1944: VIIIFC FO 476. Bomber Command attacked strategic and tactical targets along the border between France and Germany, along with tactical targets around Paris. The 56th Fighter Group again went dive bombing. Col. Zemke led them off at 1306 with thirty-two Thunderbolts carrying one 250lb (115kg) each and fifteen P-47s as escort. The 62nd Fighter Squadron hit the marshalling yards at Saarebourg with only fair results coming from the bombing. However, strafing accounted for twelve locomotives destroyed and ten damaged. The 61st FS, Led by Capt. Smith, flew as top cover for the other two squadrons, and with no Luftwaffe to be seen, went down to strafe. They accounted for two locomotives destroyed and sixty boxcars damaged. Ten miles southwest of Saarebourg, on the railroad line to Luneville, Zemke spotted a cement factory and sent three flights of his 63rd FS down to bomb it. And then Zemke spotted a slow moving train. On his second strafing pass at the train an FW190 came in behind him, and White Two, 2nd Lt. Richard Anderson, cut in behind it and started to fire. The FW190 broke left and Anderson kept after him, firing again. The FW190 straightened out, and Anderson fired once again and the German pilot had enough and bailed out. A classic example of a good wingman doing exactly what he was supposed to do. 

Witness statement by Roy T. Fling

Capt. Roy Fling, leading Yellow Flight, 63rd FS, saw what he believed to be the loss of 1st Lt. Roach Stewart, Blue Three. "The plane was flying over an area which was heavily defended by light (caliber) flak and there was a heavy concentration at the time. The plane continued in a straight course, taking no evasive action whatsoever, and then started a gentle turn, loosing altitude slowly. Flames appeared around the cockpit and it rolled over to the left, crashing in a wooded area just east of Luneville and burst into flames immediately." When Fling had first spotted the P-47 it was already trailing smoke. The crash happened at 16:25.

German documents

The document J1856 from the German archives indicate that the aircraft was shot-down by anti-aircraft fire. 

No german fighter claimed a 'kill' in that area on the 3rd August 1944 but the FW190 was itself shot down so it's possible a report was never written. 

The German report J-1856 gives position of crash as 3.5 km West of Blâmont, Meurthe-et-Moselle and 30 km East of Luneville on the road between Antrepierre and Verdenal. His personal effects were his testament, Prayer Book, ID tag, and badge.