LOOKING FOR DOUGLAS C-53D #42-68810
In November
2017, I was contacted by Cedric Malhaire, an Aircraft Mechanic who works
for Yankee Delta, a company directed by Hugues Duval and based in France
at Rennes Saint-Jacques airport (Brittany). Yankee Delta organize scenic
flights and participate in airshows by the name of "Patrouille Tranchant"
aboard 'Fouga Magister' jets.
They are also involved in the "Aeronautical
Museum of Brittany" and wanted to buy, as part of this museum, a
C-47. The goal was to help them to find, if possible, an aircraft with
a WWII history, which was in Europe during the war and flew, at a moment,
in Normandy. The best would have been a D-Day veteran.
The first candidate
was really a great aircraft with a great History, having taken part in
Husky I & II, Giant I, Neptune, Market etc etc
But the aircraft is at the end of a runaway in a country where it's very
difficult to obtain authorizations to take an aircraft out of this country..
The idea was abandoned.
By the middle of December 2017 another serial number appeared. She was a C-53D, airworthy and based in France. The owner seemed willing to sell her. Her actual registration was N49AG but she was delivered to the U.S. Army Air Forces with the serial #42-68810.
Trying to find information about this serial during WWII
While speaking with Cedric, we remembered a discussion on a French forum where a log book of a British Liaison Navigational Officer was displayed. Flt/Lt. Charles W. West was in Detached Service with the 52nd TCW and, on august 14, 1944, he flew an Evacuation mission to ALG A-22 which was near Colleville-sur-mer, in Normandy. The aircraft listed was a C-53 with the last three digits '810'
Operation GIANT - 13 & 14 September 1943
During the nights
of 13 and 14 September 1943, aircraft from the 52nd TCW dropped paratroopers
of the 82nd A/B Division near Salerno to help and reinforce the Fifth
Army.
Three aircraft of the 52nd TCW Hq (4 C-47 and
1 C-53 type aircraft are assigned to the Hq) were used as Pathfinder aircraft
for each drop. It was the first time that pathfinders were used
in combat.
On 13 & 14 september, Joel L. Crouch was at the controls of the lead pathfinder aircraft, like we can see in these extracts from the 52nd TCW diary.
On the night of September 13 to 14, Colonel Harold L. Clark was co-pilot of the lead pathfinder aircraft while on the night of September 14 to 15, Lieutenant Colonel Dick R. Petty held this position. Lieutenant-Colonel Joel L. Crouch was the pilot on each mission.
We obtained Joel L. Crouch's individual flight record through the archives in St. Louis to verify which type of aircraft he had flown those two nights.
From this document we can see that he was a pilot, during a combat mission, in a C-53D of the 52nd TCW Hq. As previously explained, the only C-53D in the 52nd TCW Hq is #42-68810.
We obtained Harold L. Clark's individual flight record through the archives at St. Louis and Dick R. Petty's individual flight record from his grandson Evan. We were able to confirm the type of aircraft used as the Pathfinder lead aircraft on September 14, 1943. This agrees with information obtained from Joel L. Crouch's record.
The after action report from the 505th RCT give us also information : who was the pilot of pathfinder lead aircraft, who was the jumpmaster (Col. James M. Gavin) and the personnel who was aboard #42-68810
At the date of 17 October 1943, the 4 C-47 and 1 C-53 type aircraft are mentioned in the 52nd TCW Hq diary.
In February 1944, the aircraft departed Sicily for England with members of the 52nd TCW Hq at the controls. Colonel Dick R. Petty was the pilot. (Movement order in Annexes). In the diary, the nickname of "Mi-Ni-Woo" seems to be given to the aircraft (mispelled in this part of the diary).... But?
We will see later that the name of Lt. Col. Jay G. Brown will be found also in the logbook of Flight Lieutenant Charles W. West. At the end of February, #42-68810 returned to Sicily to pick up the last men of the 52nd TCW
She took off on March 1st and landed in U.K on March 18th. Unfortunately, I have not found in the March diary (like it's written in the february diary), the report of the strange odessey known as Finnegan's Folly... But 18 days to fly from Sicily to U.K..........
1st Lt Robert O. Bevis was the co-pilot of #42-68810 during this second trip from Sicily to U.K. His individual flight record show the days spent during this trip and the number of hours flown. It would be really interesting to find a report of this odessey.
Next information was found in the log books of Flt./Lt Charles W. West. Like I said at the beginning of this article : A C-53 with the last three digits '810', there was only one possibility : #42-68810.
On august 14,
1944 #42-68810 flew an air evacuation mission to ALG A-22 in Normandy.
You can see the name of Jay G. Brown who flew from Cottesmore to Northolt
at the beginning of the mission.
Then, Lt. Bevis took the controls during the air
evac mission. Lt. Bevis was also Co-pilot of 810 during the second trip
from Sicily.
This Evacuation mission is confirmed by two documents : The Individual Flight Record of lieutenant Bevis which show the same flights than the Flt Lt West on 8, 11 and 14 August and the weekly report of the 52nd TCW Hq which show one aircraft going to France to evacuate wounded.
Cottesmore is the airfield where is based the 52nd TCW but also the 316th Troop Carrier Group. When they arrived in England, all the aircraft of the IX Troop Carrier Command were applied squadron codes on both sides of the fuselage.
For the 316th Troop Carrier Group the codes were the following : 36th TCS (4C) - 37th TCS (W7) - 44th TCS (6E) - 45th TCS (T3)
Bastogne - Operation REPULSE:
Next information found about #42-68810 was during operation Repulse on December 27, 1944.
We have the account of the co-pilot
of an aircraft which took part in the glider tow mission. Also a document
from the 93rd TCS showing a part of the tugs used during this mission
associated with the name of the Glider pilot in tow.
We have also photographs of this specific aircraft
after the return from the mission, aircraft being hit in the left aileron.
The pilots are Phil Hecker and Allen Simmons from the 94th TCS. They are flying chalk #35 in the formation and they are towing a glider piloted by F/O Herbert Ballinger. They are not flying their usual aircraft, which was in maintenance, but the one of William Grieb. She is nicknamed "Gruesome".
This is the testimony
sent to Charles Young in 1985 when he wrote "Into the valley".
We can see that the aircraft serial number written is #42-68810. The serial
is written with a pencil. I think that, first, the testimony was sent
without the serial and Charles Young used the '003' (which was the nose
number) and thought they were the last three digits of the serial. Which
happened to be wrong.
After, Allen Simmons probably checked his log
book and added the real serial of the aircraft he flew during that mission.
(He did the same thing for his testimony about varsity)
We can see that, in the text written by Young,
the supposed serial number of the aircraft is wrong.. because 42-93003
was "what's up doc" and belonged to the 438th TCG.
No matter, because the document from the 93rd TCS give a precious indication.
On this document, recovered from the archives by my friend Bob Leicht to my request, we can see that, on the line of chalk #35, the last three digits of the serial number of the tug aircraft are '810'. It match with the serial given by Allen Simmons in his testimony and eliminate the one given by Charles Young.
Phil Hecker and Allen Simmons took also photographs after their return from Bastogne and these photographs give us important informations.
While studying these two photographs, we can make the following remarks:
Left and Right : Code squadron T3 indicate that the aircraft, at a moment, belonged to the 45th TCS based at Cottesmore. Probably for administrative purpose. (keep in mind the logbook and from which airfield she flew for each mission).
Right :
* If she is #42-68810, the red cross is related
to the Air Evac mission flown to Normandy on august 14, 1944. Two other
missions symbols are also present, difficult on the photograph to say
which kind of mission.. paradrop or resupply? More likely paradrop with
the Pathfinder missions at Salerno... But..
Left :
* The nose number was used by aircraft while they
were in Mediterranean Theater of Operations. From her history #42-68810
arrived overseas at Oran in august 1943, and was in Sicily with the 52nd
TCW.
* "Gruesome". The nickname. We don't
know exactly when it was applied. Perhaps since the begining because there
is also the nose number 003 and we know that aircraft of the 52nd TCW
Hq were wearing this type of nose number (i.e 001 was ‘SUGAR’,
002 was 'MI-NI-WOO')
* Code squadron T3: while being assigned to William
Grieb, a pilot of the 94th TCS, the code is not changed. Perhaps it's
a recent arrival? Perhaps the aircraft was in DS with the 94th TCS? I
was not able to find an indication in the diaries of the 45th TCS nor
of the 94th TCS.
* The line between the Olive Drab and the Grey...
It's a wave. It means that the aircraft was built as a C-47 DK at Oklahoma
City or a C-53 at Santa Monica. We can eliminate all the C-47 DL built
at Long Beach because the line between the two colors was a straight line.
Now we have to establish a list for all C-47 and C-53 ending with the last three digits '810'
| 41-7810 | 23Apr42 | C-47-DL | Stayed in the USA |
| 42-23810 | 29Jul43 | R4D-5 | U.S. Navy |
| 42-32810 | 05Feb43 | C-47A-60-DL | 29th TCS |
| 42-68810 | 16Jun43 | C-53D-DO | 52nd TCW - 45th TCS - 94th TCS |
| 42-92810 | 01Mar44 | C-47A-15-DK | 5 AF Brisbane |
| 42-93810 | 28Jun44 | C-47A-25-DK | 9 AF 31Jul44 |
| 42-100810 | 15Dec43 | C-47A-70-DL | 90th TCS |
| 42-108810 | 04Oct43 | R4D-5 | U.S. Navy |
| 43-15810 | 12May44 | C-47A-90-DL | ATC India China |
| 43-48810 | 25Sep44 | C-47B-5-DK | 9 AF 23Oct44 |
| 43-49810 | 02Jan45 | C-47B-20-DK | RAF Nassau |
| 44-76810 | 25Apr45 | C-47B-30-DK | Russia |
If I remove from this list all the C-47 DL and all of those for which we know the assignement, it end with only 3 serial numbers (the last two in red were built after December 1944, date of the photographs)
#42-68810 #42-93810 #43-48810
Now if you look
back at the left photograph you have, circled in green and red, two prominences
on the fuselage. In green is the isolator for the Command Set radio antenna.
And in red is the top of the AN104 antenna for the SCR-522.
The second one is the more interesting because
this antenna has two possible positions depending on the serial, and therefore
the time of construction of the aircraft. Initially the antenna was behind
the astrodome and was moved in the middle of the fuselage after December
22, 1943 (+/- two days).
#42-93810 was delivered on June 28, 1944 and #43-48810 on September 25, 1944, there remains only one possibility which agree with all the elements.
#42-68810
The other photographs of C-53s that we have also show this AN104 antenna behind the astrodome. They were all built before December 22, 1943.
While being now in the 94th TCS, the next trace was found in the diary on this squadron.
On February 22, 1945, aircraft "810" is listed in the diary of the 94th TCS. She was used for a flight to Tours where a glider accident occured. CG-4A #42-62752 crashed, killing the two pilots F/O Walter B. Lindberg and F/O Elden W. Mueller.
At the end of May 1945 the C-47 and C-53 type aircraft are transfered from the 439th TCG to the 313th TCG. The 439th TCG which gained, in exchange, the same number of C-46 aircraft. The following extract of the 49th TCS show the arrival of “Gruesome” in this squadron from the 439th TCG on May 28, 1945.
During the month of June 1945, “Gruesome”, which was the only C-53D in the 49th TCS, flew 45 day hours and 3 night hours during non-combat operations and air evacuation. On 6 June 1945 she ferried, with six other aircraft from the squadron Russian and French PW’s. (See annexes).
#42-68810 “Gruesome”
was transfered on 21 June 1945 to the Service Squadron for the installation
of self sealing tanks.
On August 2, 1945, the Air Echelon of the 313th
TCG leaved the E.T.O for the Z.I. They took off from B-54, Achiet, France
at 1500 hours 2 August 1945 and followed the North Atlantic route : Valley,
Wales - Meeks Field, Iceland - BW-1, Greenland - Goose Bay, Labrador landing
at Bradley Field, Conn. 0110 hours 17 August 1945.
#42-68810 “Gruesome” was sent to RFC on September 1, 1945 (See aircraft card in annexes).
This ended the life of Douglas C-53D #42-68810 during WWII.
After returning to the United States in September 1945, the aircraft was purchased by Howard Hughes and the TWA company, which operated her under the number '301' until October 1952.
Various American owners will operate her until February 1993. She will return to Europe on March 27, 1996 and will be registered N49AG
The new life of #42-68810:
On January 10, 2019 the "Musée Aéronautique de Bretagne" became the new owner of #42-68810 and the decision was taken to paint her in her WWII markings. She will wear the squadron code T3 and the nickname of "Gruesome", like on the only photographs we have from her during her wartime.
I was invited for her arrival at her new home : Rennes Saint-Jacques airport. As it was planned, she arrived and landed around 13:00 on January 16, 2019.
"GRUESOME" is in good hands.
It was to work on her and help a little the team, that we went at Rennes with my son Marc during our different "Missions". By this time it was Top-Secret missions.
After five and a half years of restoration and the final ground tests, on August 15, 2024 at 09:13 local time, "GRUESOME" returned to her natural element.
May 8, 2025 : For the armistice commemorations and 80 Years after the end of World War II, "GRUESOME", for the first time, dropped again paratroopers from the groups Airborne center and Airborne Normandy school with a static line.
Now I hope that you will be able to see her again in the skies for many years, attending airshows, making scenic flights or dropping paratroopers.
Acknowledgments:
I would not want to end this article without thanking the people without whom all of this would not have existed.
First of all, the Gruesome Team and the "Musée Aéronautique de Bretagne" : Hugues Duval, Cédric Malhaire, Quentin Hervé, Yvon Piraud, Yannick Goth, Nicolas Gourhan. They contacted me, trusted me for the historic part and welcomed me, with my son Marc, during our various 'missions' to work under the control of the two aircraft mechanics, Cedric and Quentin....
Adam Berry and Hans
D Brok : they gave me information for contacts with family members of
former pilots who flew #42-68810 during WWII
Richard and Evan, son and grandson of Col. Dick
R. Petty
Robert, grandson of Lt. Robert O. Bevis
Allen, Bryan and Jon, sons of Lt. Allen B. Simmons
Bob Leicht, for going to the Archives and checking
for me among documents related to the Bastogne mission on december 27,
1944.
All of them provided documents, reports, flight records, operation orders, photographs which will be kept with the aircraft, for her history.
And the last but not the least.... My wife Beatrice and my son Marc.
© Patrick ELIE for "Musée Aéronautique de Bretagne" - May 2025
PS : I am open to all discussions about this aircraft and, of course if you have official documents, you can contact me.
Annexes:
