Douglas C-47 Skytrain, 43-30719, The Reeks, Kerry, 1943
On December 16th 1943, five airmen of the US Army Air Forces (USAAF) took off from Port Lyautey, Morroco, bound for St Mawgan in the United Kingdom. They were the first of 12 aircraft from the flight to depart. Over nine and a half hours later, 11 aircraft had reached England. One aircraft, was however missing.
The end of one page of an offical USAAF report, dated 10 January 1944, ends with the following statement:
7. As there were no contacts made after take-off, and the route to be flown was entirely over water, it is assumed #0719 went down in the water somewhere between Port Lyautey and St. Mawgan. A search of the route would have been futile because of the distance to be covered, and hazardous because of danger of encountering enemy patrols during day-light. Search for the aircraft in question was offcially abandoned on 29 December 1943.
The five members of the crew were thus posted missing. They were:
 |
 |
|
|
|
| 2/Lt John L. SCHARF O-681710, aged 25, Pilot, Husband of Dorothy E Scharf, San Ardo, California | 2/Lt Lawrence E. GOODIN O-687126, aged 24, Co-Pilot, Husband of Mirian E Goodin, Springfield, Ohio | 2/Lt Frederick Vincent BROSSARD O-814018, aged 17, Navigator, Husband of Lucy W Brossard, Phoenix, Arizona | S/Sgt Wesley T. HOLSTLAW 39111879, aged 31, Engineer, Son of Ernest Holstlaw, Illinois | Sgt Arthur A SCHWARTZ 33289542, aged 24, Radio Operator, Husband of Ruth A Schwartz, Pittsburgh, Pennslyvania. |
And so things remained until 3rd February 1944, when a local farmer from the Meallis area of Kerry reported to Guardai, the Irish police force, that he had found human remains on the mountains. A search was immediatly mounted and a team of military drawn from the 15th Infantry Battalion went up the mountain and found the sad remains of an aircraft and five men. From papers found on the bodies and among the wreckage, five names were identified and these were reported back to the Army superiors. These in turn then were reported to the US legation in Dublin who immediately wired the information to the USAAF. The remains had been found on the towering heights above Lough Cummeenapeasta on the slopes of Knocknapeasta Mouintain. The mens remains were first recoverde from the mountain by men from the 15th battalion. The men were coffined in a outhouse belonging to a Mr. Cronin from Meallis. They were buried with Catholic and preotestant rites on february 5th, 1944 in the new Cemetery in Killarney.
On the following 9th of June, 1944, when the five men would probably have been involved with Operation Overlord, the Allied invasion of Mainland Europe, their bodies were instead being disinterred from the cemetery in Killarney and taken instead to Lisnabreeney Cemetery outside Belfast. Subsequent to this burial, in the years following the war, their loved ones were given the oppertunity to decide the mens final resting place. In the end, the decisiosn made saw that the three officers from 43-30719 would remain in Europe. Second Lieutenants Scharf, Goodin and Brossard were moved one final time to permanent burial in the Cambridge American War Cemetery in England. A 2011 business trip to Cambridge gave me the oppertunity to visit the cemetery and I was able to get the following photos of their graves.
 |
 |
 |
| 2/Lt J L SCHARF | 2/Lt L E GOODIN | 2/Lt F V BROSSARD |
Sergeants Holstlaw and Schwartz were returned to their native Illinois and Pennsylvania. Sgt Schartz is buried in the B’nai Israel Hebrew Cemetery, Wilmington, North Carolina. Wesley Holstlaw is buried with his parents, Ernest and Mary, in Iuka cemetery, Marion County, Illinois. His grave can be seen on the Findagrave.com website
The following images of Lawrence Goodin were sent to me by M Theodore, Lawrence's neice. Her mother Donna had traveled to Ireland in 1984 for the commemoration ceremoney.
 |
 |
In the image below extracted from GOOGLE MAPS shows the rough terrain of the area, not far from the town of Killarney. The letter J marks the spot at Cronins Yard where a memorial raised by the Warplane Reaserch Group of Ireland (WRGI) stands.
Damian Smyth, an photographer and researcher who published articles on crashes in the 1970's and 1980's. Damian was kind enough to share some of the photos he took in 1984 during visits to the area as well as the recollections he had of his visits.
Damian recorded the following during 1983 and passed it to me in 2011:The Crash Site of C-47 43-30719 Macgillycuddy's Reeks, Co.Kerry 1983
Today little significant wreckage of the C-47 remains at the crash site, some of the wreckage was
sold to itinerants at the time. I also understand that a scrap dealer obtained some of the wreckage.
This wreckage would have been recovered using mules via the Waterworks road, which leads from
the foot of the Devil’s ladder out of the Hag’s Glen.
A large portion of one wing of the C-47 remained in Cumeennapeasta Lake, below the ridge where
the crash occurred. When the lake is low the wing can be clearly seen. This wing still has some of its
original colourings. One of the two rear freight doors has been recovered from the lake. This was
restored back in 1983 and put on display in the Climber's Inn, Glencar but it was later sold in the
UK. In July 1984 the second rear Cargo door was seen in the water from the ridge. It is thought that the wing and the doors were either blown from the ridge into the
Lake, or that they may have come down from the ridge in heavy snow. The pilot’s seat has also
been examined and is in private ownership. Two identification tags foe one of the crew members
are also known to exist.
On the ridge at the crash site large undercarriage sections have been identified, together with seat
frames, radio components, and some badly burned parachute material. One label from a main fuel
tank and one from an auxiliary fuel tank have also been found. At the crash site a United States
Army Air Force wings found in 1982. There was also one very sad find – part of a lady’s green shoe,
bought as a present by one of the crew members in Natal (Brazil) for his wife while en route to
French Morocco. Detailed examination of the crash area also recovered a label stating 'Radio Call
719' which was of course the serial number of the aircraft.
One of the Pratt & Whitney engines has been found about half a mile from the crash site. In this
general area was found a portion of the centre wing section skin, the two front wheel struts, and
the remains of the aircraft fire extinguisher was also found back in 1983.
The crash was commemorated by the Warplane Research Group of Ireland which I was a member
at the time in a ceremony on 25th August 1984 at the car park at the base of the Macgillcuddy's
Reeks next to the Glencar road.
Click on the numbers below to view Damians images from 1983
The 1984 ceremoney was recorded in the Southern Star newspaper in Cork in the following newspaper article.
The Douglas C-47 Skytrain is one of the world best known aircraft. It formed the back bone of the Allied transport fleet during the war, serving as a cargo hauler as well as a paratroop transport. It would be found in all theatres of war and on all fronts. After the war, countless war surplus aircraft formed the new equipment for airlines the world over. The aircraft which crashed in Ireland, was referred to as a C-47A-60-DL by the USAAF. This indicated that it was a C-47, A model, part of the large batch of aircraft built at Douglas's factory at Long Beach, California.
Compiled by Dennis Burke, 2012, Dublin and Sligo. With thanks to the Damian Smyth for photos and recollections.