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P-47 (44-20118) Pilot Thompson Memorial Plaque

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Details:

Located on a wall inside the mausoleum – the town monument for the fallen (Monument ai Caduti). 

Plaque

A white inscribed plaque remembering 1LT Thompson and a British Pilot who were killed near San Felice sul Panaro while flying missions. The plaque is found in the town Monument and Mausoleum for 86 dead from World War I and a few from World War 2. The plaque also includes the name of a British flyer who also died near San Felice.

 

Per Missing Aircraft Report (MACR) 14076:  On April 22, 1945 1LT Earl A. Thompson of the 65th Fighter Squadron, 57th Fighter Group, flying a P-47D (44-20118) “My Naked Ass” was flying an armed reconnaissance mission near the north bomb line in Italy.  Taking off from a base in Grosseto, Italy, 1LT Thompson crashed at 13:15 while strafing enemy targets near via Vallicelletta, San Felice sul Panaro.  1LT Thompson was temporarily interned in the town World War I monument for the fallen.  He now rests in the Florence American Cemetery. The town placed a plaque remembering 1LT Thompsons’ and a British pilot on the 50th anniversary of their sacrifice.

 

 

Special thanks to the Associazione Aerei Perduti for their assistance. http://www.aereiperduti.net)

Monument Text:

The plaque is inscribed in Italian and remembers 1LT Thompson and a British flyer.  The Italian Text inscription:

 

TENETE PILOTA

EARL ALFRED THOMPSON

ALTON – ST. LOUIS – MISSOURI-USA

28 NOVEMBRE 1913

SAN FELICE S.P. MO – 22 APRILE 1945

SERGEANTE PILOTA

ROBERT JAMES SLEIGH

KETTERING – INGHILTERRA – 1920

SAN FELICE S.P. MO 22 MARZO 1945

 

SONO CADUTI NEL CIELO

DI SAN FELICE S.P.

PER LA LIBERAZION

DELLA NOSTRA TERRA

NEL CINQUANTESIMO

ANNIVERSARIO

DEL LORO SACRIFICIO

I CITTADINI SANFELICIANI

PONGONO QUESTO MARMO

A PERENNE RICORDO

 

COMMUNE DI SAN FELICE SUL PANARO

4 NOVEMBRE 1995

 

DONO DELLA COOP. MURATORI

S.FELICE S.P.

 

The translation in English:

 

LIEUTENANT PILOT

EARL ALFRED THOMPSON

ALTON – ST. LOUIS – MISSOURI -USA

28 NOVMEBER 1913 

SAN FELICE S.P. (SUL PANARO) MO (MODENA) 22 APRIL 1945

----------------------------------------------------------

SERGEANT PILOT

ROBERT JAMES SLEIGH

KETTERING – ENGLAND- 1920

SAN FELICE S.P. MO 22 MARCH 1945

 

WHO FELL FROM THE SKIES

OVER SAN FELICE S.P.

FOR THE LIBERATION 

OR OUR LAND

ON THE 5OTH

ANNIVERSARY 

OF THEIR SACRIFICE

THE PEOPLE OF SAN FELICE

PLACE THIS MARBLE

IN PERRENNIAL MEMORY

 

THE COMMUNITY OF SAN FELICE SUL PANARO

4 NOVEMBER 1995

 

DONATED BY THE MASON WORKERS COOPERATIVE

S.FELICE S.P.

 

Commemorates:

People:

Earl Alfred Thompson

Units:

12th Air Force

57th Fighter Group

65th Fighter Squadron, 57th Fighter Group

US Army Air Corps

Wars:

WWII

Battles:

Italian Campaign

Other images :