Winfield Scott Gippert Jr
MilitaryFront row, from left to right : Bernard J. Komasinski, pilot; Winfield Scott Gippert, Co-Pilot; Edgar W. Michaels, Navigator; Charles H. Lain, Bombardier.
Back row, from left to right : Stanley J. Hulewicz Jr, Tail Gunner; Frank LaFazia, Ball Turret Gunner and Assistant Engineer; John H. McKee, Radio Operator/Gunner; Nelson E. Brott, Right Waist Gunner and Assistant Radio Operator; Walter E. Bohenko, Left Waist Gunner and Frank N. Schaeffer, Engineer. (Photo courtesy of Frank N. Schaeffer.)
► Note : Ball Turret Gunner LaFazia was replaced by S/Sgt Coley W. Richardson (not in the photo) for the 8 August 1944 mission when the Komasinski crew was shot down in B-24 "My Peach" Serial 42-100415.
Added photo of the Komasinski crew
On his 6th mission, Winfield Gippert was Co-Pilot of B-24 # 42-100415 when it ran into mechanical trouble on return in the afternoon from the 8 August 1944 mission to bomb the airfield at Romilly-sur-Seine, France. He and seven other crew members managed to evade with the help of French patriots. Gippert, his Pilot Bernard Komasinski and Top Turret Gunner Nelson Brott were taken in charge by Eugène Pommier of Montmirail, chief of the local underground and his wife Marcelle. As the Gestapo was on Pommier’s track, the men were handed over to underground fighters of the FFI (Forces Françaises de l’Intérieur.) The three men and other Allied airmen were hidden in woods in the Epernay area with Maquis fighters. When they heard that US troops had liberated the nearby village of Montfort, they drove there on 27 August 1944 and met the liberators. Sent back to US 3rd Army HQ via Reims, Gippert, Komasinski, Brott and their fellow crew members Navigator Edgar Michaels, Bombardier Charles Lain and Tail Gunner Stanley Hulewicz left Laval, France, by air in a C-47, landing in Grove, England on 31 august 1944. Escape & Evasion Report E&E 1297.
Back in the States, Winfield married Ann Wiese in 1945 and pursued his career in the Air Force. He did a tour in Korea and was later stationed at the Aviano Air Force Base in Italy from 1955 to 1958. Serving in Viet Nam, promoted to Lt Colonel, Winfield Gippert retired from the USAF in 1974. Winfield and his wife Ann joined the Aviano Reunion Association of Huntsville, Alabama in 1987 where they were active members.
Connections
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Units served with
- Unit Hierarchy: Group
- Air Force: Eighth Air Force
- Type Category: Bombardment
- Unit Hierarchy: Squadron
- Air Force: Eighth Air Force
People
- Military/Civilian/Mascot: Military
- Nationality: American
- Unit: 44th Bomb Group 506th Bomb Squadron
- Service Numbers: 13108425
- Highest Rank: Sergeant
- Role/Job: waist gunner/Armorer
- Military/Civilian/Mascot: Military
- Nationality: American
- Unit: 44th Bomb Group 506th Bomb Squadron
- Service Numbers: 32855843
- Highest Rank: Sergeant
- Role/Job: Waist Gunner
- Military/Civilian/Mascot: Military
- Nationality: American
- Unit: 44th Bomb Group 506th Bomb Squadron
- Service Numbers: 35914236
- Highest Rank: Sergeant
- Role/Job: Tail Gunner
- Military/Civilian/Mascot: Military
- Nationality: American
- Unit: 44th Bomb Group 506th Bomb Squadron
- Service Numbers: 15108013 and O-700477
- Highest Rank: Second Lieutenant
- Role/Job: Pilot
- Military/Civilian/Mascot: Military
- Nationality: American
- Unit: 44th Bomb Group 506th Bomb Squadron
- Service Numbers: 15108057 and O-717078
- Highest Rank: Second Lieutenant
- Role/Job: Bombardier
Aircraft
- Aircraft Type: B-24 Liberator
- Nicknames: My Peach
- Unit: 44th Bomb Group 506th Bomb Squadron
Missions
- Date: 8 August 1944
Places
- Site type: Airfield
- Known as: Pathway
Events
Event | Location | Date | Description |
---|---|---|---|
Born |
Rock Island, Illinois, United States | 15 September 1921 | the son of Winfield Scott Gippert (Senior) and Mary (Daly) Gippert |
Enlisted |
Hondo Army Air Field, El Paso, Texas, United States | 15 January 1943 | as a Private in the Air Corps |
Other Evaded (EVD) |
Marne, France | 8 August 1944 - 27 August 1944 | Landed 1 mile East of Vauchamps (Marne), France. Helped by French patriots and underground fighters of the FFI (Forces Françaises de l’Intérieur), he was liberated on 27 August 1944 by advancing US troops. He was back in England on 31 August. Escape & Evasion Report E&E 1297. |
Died |
Tempe, Maricopa County, Arizona, United States | 19 February 2005 | |
Rock Island, Illinois, United States | |||
Buried |
National Memorial Cemetery of Arizona, Phoenix, Arizona, United States |
Revisions
Drawn from the records of the National Museum of the Mighty Eighth Air Force, Savannah, Georgia / MACR 8080 / Paul Andrews, Project Bits and Pieces, 8th Air Force Roll of Honor database