“CHRISTMAS DAY 1944
By Samuel L. Sox, Jr.

This Addendum is an update to what we know happened during the final moments of Preddy’s last mission as recorded on page 160 of George Preddy, Top Mustang Ace. The purpose here is to correct inaccurate information in the book and in the one-hour video entitled, Preddy, The Mustang Ace. We now know that the details as passed on to us by Bill Cross were indeed the last moments of 4th Fighter Group pilot, Capt. Donald Emerson, who was also shot down and killed by friendly fire on Christmas Day. Emerson’s Mustang was found and identified, but no one has ever found any identifiable parts of George Preddy’s Mustang. The search continues! Here is what really happened to George Preddy on that fateful Christmas day during the Battle of the Bulge.

The 9th Air Force, already operating from the continent for months providing close ground support for Allied armor and infantry, found itself much in demand and greatly overworked. The 9th sent an urgent request to the 8th Fighter Command requesting two additional fighter units to come to its aid. On the 23rd of December, Preddy led his 328th Squadron along with the 487th and 486th to a small remote 9th Air Force field located at Asch, Belgium, designated Y-29. The field was so close to the German lines that aircraft in the landing pattern were occasionally fired upon by enemy antiaircraft units.

The 352nd was not accustomed to the tough living conditions it now faced. Living in tents was a far cry from the Nissen huts the pilots occupied at Bodney. Most of the troops thought they would freeze to death the first night. The next day was spent getting the unit settled down and assembled. The ground crews who were transported in C-47s became lost and arrived a day late. The first mission from Y-29 was a milk run, no action. Christmas Day found flyable ceilings and two missions were scheduled that day. Preddy led his unit on the second one, a support mission into Germany with the bombers from the 8th. Lt. Gordon Cartee was Preddy’s wing man. Cartee recalls, “After stooling around for a while, due to no action, we were vectored to an area close to Koblenz, Germany, where enemy aircraft had been encountered. Preddy receiving the call said, “They’ve started without us, let’s go join them.” Preddy immediately turned in that direction. Just as Mitchell was about to peel off, he looked up and spotted two 109s coming down on him and Lambright. He called to Preddy for assistance, but there was so much chatter on the radio that Preddy never heard him. Mitchell believes to this day that, had Preddy heard his cry for help, he would never have placed himself into the series of events that were to follow.

Cartee continues, “Preddy spotted two 109s and got into a Lufbery with the first one. Neither were gaining much advantage when all of a sudden another 109 cut in front of him. He eased up on his controls just enough, gave it a short burst, blazed it and then resumed his pursuit of the first one. The 109 lost his concentration seeing his buddy flamed and Preddy nailed him. Preddy’s score now totaled 27.5 aerial and five ground victories. Moments later, Preddy and Cartee were vectored to an area southeast of Liege where it was reported that enemy aircraft were strafing Allied ground troops.

As they neared Liege, they were joined by a white nose Mustang from the 479th FS, Lt. James Bouchier, who had become detached from his squadron. From the initial intercept point, approximately 3 to 4 miles SE of Liege, Preddy, now from a height of about 1500 feet, began to accelerate having picked out a long nosed FW-190 in the distance heading Northeast. He radioed “tally ho” to Control and was immediately cleared to make the intercept. There was also some talk between Control and Preddy about intense flak in the area of intercept and it being halted so the attack could be made. Unknown to Preddy, Cartee and Bouchier, was that their line of flight was taking them over the quad 50 cal. AA of “A” Battery of the 430th AA (who was attached to the 258th FABN XIX at that time) positioned on the west side of a large clump of trees 2 miles Southeast of Aachen, Germany. As they neared the AA gun positions, Preddy was hit first by ground fire, followed by Cartee and Bouchier. Cartee saw Cripes A’Mighty begin to lose coolant, the canopy come off and Preddy began a chandelle maneuver to his left. Cartee noticed that a tracer that had entered his cockpit was on the floor moldering. Without getting it out of the way, it could start a fire at his feet. He began trying to kick it around still trailing Preddy. Lt. Bouchier’s Mustang also received fire, began smoking and he too broke left, climbing to about 1000′ where he realized that he would have to bail out to free himself from his severely damaged P-51. He released his canopy, rolled the ‘51 over and dropped out safely landing in the British sector 7 to 8 miles North of where he had been hit. Further up Preddy’s and Cartee’s line of flight, now a couple miles South of Weisweiler, Sgt. Charles Brown, PFC John Starzynbski and Lt Murray Grobman ( 258th FABN XIX Corps) were standing at the NE edge of a very large wooded area approximately 2..5 miles SW from the a large church located in the little town of Langerwehe. They were startled by the sound of a sudden burst of quad 50-caliber mounted on a half track from behind and to their left. The burst lasted 3 to 4 seconds. When they looked to their left, just coming into their field of view was Preddy’s Mustang, now upside down, approximately 200 to 300 feet altitude and 20 to 30 degrees nose down attitude.

Up in the steeple of the church in Langerwehe, as had been the case on several other occasions, was Sgt. Harold M. Kennedy and his buddy Cpl. Elmer L. Dye (both with the 104th Inf. Division). While the Battle of the Bulge raged just a few miles away, it was relatively static in their sector where the Division had dug in on the chance that the Germans might veer in their direction. Division headquarters had been set up in a large steel foundry just north of Langerwehe. Dye and Kennedy had spent quite a few hours killing time by posting themselves in the church tower with binoculars and watching the considerable air activity along the front.

Cartee recalled having passed over a wooded area and seeing in the distance a large church in their flight path. The woods NW of the church were occupied by elements of 555th AAA (AW) BN which were located on the northern edge of the German penetration. Their weapons were 40 mm anti-aircraft guns and quad .50 cal. machine guns. They were assigned to protect US troops from low flying German aircraft. The ground was frozen, covered with snow and the sky was filled with snow and heavy clouds making it very easy for the German armor to move about. The troops had lined up for a hot Christmas dinner consisting of turkey, mashed potatoes, cranberries and pumpkin pie. T/3 Leo J. Thoennes, of “B” Battery, recalls that he had just taken his mess kit of food and walked to the nearby gun section #4. Suddenly, before he could eat his dinner, what was thought to have been a P-47 (a FW-190) and a P-51, came over with their guns firing. The NCO in charge of the battery ordered his guns to return fire.

Kennedy recalled that as the Mustang passed over the church, firing from the 555th batteries became continuous and heavy. Lt. Mitchell, some distance away, recollects seeing multiple tracer rounds that gave every appearance of being “a whole field of golf balls,” so intense was the antiaircraft barrage.

From their vantage point looking NE, Sgt. Charles Brown, PFC John Starzynbski and Lt Murray Grobman saw Preddy fall from the Mustang at about 200 feet, his parachute not deployed and Cripes A’Mighty now inverted disappearing behind a tree line where they heard her hit the ground. Cartee glanced over his shoulder to see the Mustang continue it’s rotation and violently impact the ground. After things quited down a bit, Lt. Grobman took his jeep and drove over to see what he could find. Later on when he returned, he told Brown and Starzynski that he did not go the crash site but he found where Preddy’s body was located, added that the pilot was identified as a Major and his chute wasn’t deployed. Brown recalls within minutes of the crash, 2 Me-109s flew over line abreast on the same path as Preddy and no US AA guns fired.

Sgt Kennedy and Cpl Dye went to the crash site of the Mustang noting that the largest portion remaining of the Mustang was the engine. Kennedy recalled seeing a piece of the fuselage on which swastikas had been painted.

Lt. Cartee returned safely to the field at Y-29 and made an uneventful landing. ”

Regarding Bill Preddy’s final flight, we have assembled the following clarifying information since the Preddy biography was completed;

“Addendum to George Preddy – Top Mustang Ace
Joe Noah & Samuel L. Sox, Jr.

This revision is being issued because the authors of the Preddy book and video have learned new facts we did not have when we submitted the manuscript to Motorbooks International in 1990. All we knew about the demise of Bill Preddy and his CO, Captain Ray Reuter, was contained in the encounter reports of those flying with Bill and Ray the day they were reported missing, April 17, 1945. It was not until 1991 when the Czech Republic was once again liberated from the clutches of the Iron Curtain that a Czech citizen, Manuel Van Eyck, told us what happened on that fateful day in 1945. He wrote an article identifying the crash sites of both Mustangs near Ceske Budejovice, and Jan Smejkal as the one who pulled Bill from his Mustang after it crashed near Zaluzi.
Here is what we know now. On April 17th Bill and his CO, Captain Reuter, gave chase to two Me 262 jets after strafing airfields at Klatovy and Eisendorf. Although the Me 262 is much faster than the Mustang by about 100 mph, on some occasions the Mustangs were successful in catching the short range Me-262s in their landing pattern. We suspect that is what Bill and Ray hoped for that day. However, apparently they did not catch the 262s ; their chase led them to Ceske Budejovice, about 75 miles south of Prague, where they decided to make one last strafing run before going home. Both were shot down by enemy ground fire. Reuter’s aircraft exploded when hit. Bill’s Mustang crash landed at a small village (Zaluzi) where he was rescued by a Czech citizen, Jan Smejkal. Jan took him about five kilometers in a horse-drawn cart to a German emergency treatment center where he was given first aid only. We were told by Jan Smejkal that Bill never regained consciousness. The German doctors refused to take Bill to the hospital in Ceske Budejovice. So Jan took him 10 more kilometers to the hospital where he died, probably on the 18th. He was buried on the 19th in a cemetery near the hospital. Later, his body was moved to the Lorraine American Cemetery near St. Avold, France and buried next to George.
We have recently learned that a German paratrooper by the name of Hans Gerlach was in the hospital in Ceske Budejovice as a patient when Bill was brought in by Jan Smejkal. We first learned that from Hans’ son who found the Preddy Memorial Foundation web site. It was from information in the web site that young Hans deduced that the pilot whom his father had helped in the hospital was in fact Bill Preddy. The PMF, the Preddy family and the 339th Fighter Group have all expressed their sincere thanks for the compassion shown by Hans Gerlach.
Bill is remembered along with his more famous brother, George, who set records in the ETO: top Mustang ace, leading active ace when killed, first ETO pilot to shoot down six enemy fighters in one mission. Bill’s name appears on a bronze alumni plaque at NC State where he enrolled in September 1942, on a bronze alumni plaque at Greensboro (now Grimsley) High School, with his brother in exhibits in the Greensboro Historical Museum and in the terminal building at the Piedmont Triad International Airport. Bill is also remembered in the 8th Air Force Heritage Museum in Savannah in a photo on display in the Pilots case. He is remembered in the Czech Republic where he is considered a hero because he helped liberate them in 1945. Unfortunately, following the Communist coup of 1948, the liberation by the US Army was literally erased from all newspapers, school textbooks, and the minds of some Czech citizens. But not all; the Czechs have now built memorials to both Bill and his CO, Capt. Reuter since 1990. And they have established the Museum of the Air Battle Over Krusnohori where they have memorabilia of Americans from the 100th Bomb Group and the 339th Fighter Group, among others.
Joe Noah and his son, Bob, visited the sites in 2001 where Bill and George Preddy went down, and they visited the Museum of the Air Battle. They also visited the grave site in Ceske Budejovice where Bill was initially buried, and at Lorraine American Military Cemetery where both brothers were finally interred. Arnaud Beinat, a Frenchman from Metz, adopted the grave sites and cares for them on ceremonial occasions for the Preddy Memorial Foundation. We continue to search for parts of George’s plane near Langerwehe, Germany, where George’s fatal crash took place on Christmas Day 1944.”

All the best, Sam Sox, Jr

I written to Sam Sox and asked if there is any new details or clues about CAM 3rd’s whereabouts or Lt. Padden. The only details he could provide were somewhere between Ganacker and Ingoldstadt.

Thank You.

CAM3 was eventually shot down. Brought down killing its last pilot, Lt. Walter Padden while strafing the airbase at Gonecker on the 16th April 45. Lt. Padden was said to of scored 2 ground victories during this action before being shot down by AA guns.

And although Capt. Stewart did fly CAM3…it wasn’t the same aircraft he flew during the “The Legend of Y-29 battle of 1st Jan 45.

Capt. Stewart had passed on CAM3 to another pilot before the 1st Jan action.

CAM3 was almost certainly the highest scoring P-51 of WW2…..which in all probablility made it the highest scoring US fighter of any model in the US Airforce in WW2.

Some record.!