THE AIR FORCES ESCAPE & EVASION SOCIETY Summer 1998 onrmunications VOLUME I2--NUMBER 2 WICHITA FALLS, TEXAS 76307 JUNE 15. 1998 Jim gets part of his plane back (From THE RECORD, Bergen, N.J., Thursday, May 14, l99E) By RAPHAEL LEWIS Staff Writer Passengers on a Paris-to-Ncw' York llight last rveek probably thought Yves Carnot was an eccentric millionaire when he gingerly placed a dented 3-ft. square of alumninum on a first-class seat, then scttled himself in coach. The 39-year-old Frenchman was just doing his best to respect history. His battered cargo was a hatch lrom an Amcrican B-17 bomber. It's nearly iill that remains of "The Black Swan," shot down over the farm of Carnot's grandl'athe r on New Year's Eve, 1943. On Friday, 55 years after the crash, Carnot hand-delivered the shiny hatch to James Quinn, an American he had never seen before. Quinn, of Haworth, flew I I missions on The Black Swan. He parachuted to safety on the plane's iinal flight, and with the help r>f Carnot's great uncle, linked up with resistance fightcrs who got him safely through Nazi-occupied France tcl England. Thc Frenchman and the American met Friday in Washington at the annual mecting of a veterans group called the Air Forces Escape and Evasion Society. by Carnot's efforts. "l never thought I'd go over to Cognac to bomb the port, and Along with the hatch, Carnot gave Quinn see this day," he said. "But I also knew German flak knocks out one of our a serial number plate from the bomber that he was coming. Someday." engines." that his family had cherished for decades. The lbrmer technical sergeant recalls His plane now limping at 12,ffi0 The meeting closed a chapter in the his terrifying ordeal as though it occurred feet, Quinn, a radio operator and lives of both men. last week. occasional gunner, could only watch as a "Since my youth, my dream has been On July 4, 1942, two days after swift Nazi fighter fired an experimental to get that plate back to the men in that finishing his studies at Fordham rocket into The Black Swan's cockpit, aircraft," Carnot said Wednesday, University, Quinn volunteered and later instantly killing the pilot and a gunner. speaking through an interpreter in joined the Army Air Corps' 324th The plane began a nose dive. Quinn's home. "ln my mind, I have Squadron, 9lst Bomb Group. "I see the plane going down and I always thought that these pieces belong His first l0 missions went smoothly. think, 'l have to get out of here,"' Quinn in America. I am doing now what my The l lth began well, too. said. grandfather and my great uncle would "This is supposed to be a milk run," Quinn landed in a field outside the have done." Quinn said. "But when we get to Quinn, 76, said he was deeply moved Bordeaux, the place is smoked in. So we (Continued on Next Page) Page 2 gets TI.S. Jim Quinn AIRFORCES part of his plane (Continued from Front Page) ESCAPE/EVASION small larm town of Bannalac and rvas soon greeted by a gaggle of French SOCIETY children eager to help. Hc handed onc little girl his silk parachute. "l told hcr Communications to make a rvedding drcss out o[ it, and Published u'hen I met hcr in l9t3l, she told me she Quarterly did," said Quinn, who ran into the WEB ADDRESS: www.cbiinfb.corrr woman during a visit to the Bannalac area. Quinn, who had suffered head wounds Volume l2 -- Number 2 June 15, 1998 in the downing of his planc, accepted a glass of cognac tiom the children, putting (]HAIRMAN: half in his stomach and hall'on the xt"<Ralph wounds. Then he fled. One other K. Patton, -5000 Alden Drive, Pittsburgh, l)r\ 1522O-1023: crewman escaped capture, while six others Phtrne: -l I 2-343-8-570; 11 AX 412-343 -2296 PRIiSII)tJM: went to pnson camps. *Richard M. Smith, Rt. 2, Ilox 222,Battle l.akc, N4N -56-5 l-5: 2ltt-495-2lffi: Soon, Quinn met up with Alain FAX: 2ltt-49-5-3000 Creo, Carnot's great uncle, who VI(]II PRI]SII)HM': shepherded him to a nearby storehousc xRussel S. Weyland, t l lT W. Northeast Shore Drive, N,Icllenry, IL 6ffi-50-921 1 ; and stcxxl guard all night with a rifle as Phone ( O) 8 I -5-4-59-207-5, ( I t) 8 1 .I'RI]ASTIN]R: -5-38-5-4378 Quinn slept. ln the following days, Creo *xPaul delivcrcd Quinn to membcrs of thc Ii. Kenney, lrost Road Pass, Stonc Mountain, GA 3fi)8tt..'7i0-4(t9-1857 -5400 resislance, who gave him idcntification MEMBIIRSI IIP & CORRI:SPONDING SECRIITAR\': that described him as a mutc so he would ***Olayton C. David, l9 Oak Ridge Pond, Ilannibal, MO 63401-6-539; 5j3-221-(W1 not be RECORDING SE(]RI iI'AIIY: lbrced to speak French. He made *xWanen his way to England in February 1944. Ii. I-oring, PO llox 2&1, Monument Beach, MA 025-53; -508-7-59-314{, O'THI]R DIRTJC-TORS: Tw<t decades later, with World War II xJames J. (ioebel Jr., 650 (ieorgia Park, Conroe, TX 77302-:1077: lA9-273-2828 ancicnt history for many, Carnot began x*firancis J. t^ashinsky, 15 Wychwood Road, Old Lyme, OT ffi371;U6O-434-2434 pestering his grandlather to regale him x*{'[rrank G. McDonald, l4Ol Brentwotxl Dr., Fl. Collins, CO tt052l; 9l.O-48y'.-2363 with tales of the plane that crashed in the xt(t(John C. Rucigay, 14 Ashley Dr., Ballston I-akc, NY 12019; 518-tt77-8131 family's iield, and of the serial-number xDavid Shoss, (lastlewo<xl -5439 Road, Dallas, TX 1.5229-4316; 214-361{-536 plate that hung bcneath a horscshoe on Office: t-5 Preston 8l Rd., Suite 240, Dallas, TX75225;214-3i3-t(flo the barn. PHRMANTINT RIIPRhSIiNTA'IIVI1 IN trRAN(tE: "Yves was the only one o[ all the t eslie A.G. Atkinson, 29 rue des Trouvres, (r(rfiX) perpignan, Franct:; grandchildren rvho kept pursuing," said Phone: 0l I 33 04 68 5-5 12 63; FAX: 011 33 04 68 55 12 73 I,I]GAI- COIINSIJI-: Chris Vaillant of New York, Carnot's intcrpreter and himsclf the ncphew a R.lr.T. Smith Esq., PO lirx 38, Wahpeton, ND -58074; 7OtAl2-266() of C OMM U N I C AiTONS hDITOR: resistance fighter. **Lany Grauerholz, PO Box 25Ol, Wichita F-alls, 'l'X 1-63}1-2501; g4O-692-6i,{J/() Five years ago, Carnot, a security *Class of 2001 *xClass of lg9 **'r.(-la{s of 2000 invesl.igator, became consumed with the tale, taking a metal detector into the farm AFEES COMMI]NICATIONS IS THE OFFTCIAI JOURNAI OF THE ATR field, lcnking up crewmcn, even finding FORCES ESCAPE & EVASTON SOCIETY. AFEES IS A TAX-EXEMPT the artist who painted the black swan VETERANS ORGAITTZATToN UNDER rRS CODE 501 (C) (19). rr wAS logo on the bomber's fuselage. Along FOUNDED IN 1964 AI{D IS CHARTERED IN THE STATE OF GEORGIA. the way, he built a woorlen memorial on THE SOCIETY'S PI'RPOSE IS TO ENCOT'RAGE MEMBERS HELPED THE BY the spot where the plane crashed, a RESISTANCE ORGANIZATIONS OR PATRIOTIC NATIONAIS TO CONTINT'E memorial he srxtn hopes to rcplace with EXISTING FRIENDSHIPS OR RENEW RELATIONSHIPS WITH THOSE WHO marble. HELPED THEM DI'RING THEIR ESCAPE OR EVASION. "l feel that history has been ELIGIBILITY REQUIRES THAT ONE MUST HAVE BEEN A U.S. AIRMAI{, reincarnated HE MUST HAVE BEEN FORCED DOWN BEHIND ENEHY LINES AND AVOIDED by giving Mr. Quinn these CAPTIVITY, OR ESCAPED FROM CAPTIVITY TO RETTJRN TO AILIED items," Carnot said. "l only fear that, CONTROL. now that I have succeeded in bringing the IN ADDITION TO REGULAR MEMBERSHIP, OTHER CATEGORIES OF past to the present, the past will not be MEMBERSHIP ARE HELPER MEMBERS, AIiID FRIEND MEMBERS. forgotten." Page 3 This crowd at the Tomb of the Unknown at Arlington National Cemetery on ct Saturduy trip during the reunion was largely made up of AFEES members and guests. It was a trip that will long be remembered by all who were present. Where to in 1999? Try Scottsdale By LARRY GRATIERHOLZ Scottsdale, directly across the strcct l'rom Fashion Square Mall, Editor and a short rvalk lrom Old Town Scottsdale and the lamous Altcr Washington, n,hat's ncxt'/ Fifth Avenue Shops and Galleries. The arca is l0 miles l'rom The ansrver': Phoenir, Ariz.;actuall.v, Scottsdale, right in Phoenir Sky Harbor Airport. thc middle ol'the action in that area. At the Washington annual meeting, terms of all current Although final arrangements have not been made, the 1999 ollicers u'erc ertended, since there rverc no other nominations. AFEES reunion u,ill most likely be in Seottsdale in early Directors with tcrms expiring and who were re-elected are Dick Mal'. Summer rates go into ef'lbct at that time, so we should Smith, Russel Weyland, Jim Goebel and David Shoss. ge1 a hotel rate comparable to n,hat we paid in Falls Church. Other subjects discussed included sponsoring an entry in For a resort area like Scclttsdale, that is a bargain. And we the Comet "Homc Run," a marathon roughly following the will be there beft'rre the hot lveather begins tbr the summer. Comet escape line into Spain.