Donald Hugh Wright
MilitaryDonald Wright was a Pilot in the 355th Fighter Group/358th Fighter Squadron. He was shot down in his P-51 Mustang #43-6842 “Mona Lou” on the 16 March 1944 bomber support mission. He was last seen south of Ulm in a dogfight with an ME109 and made an emergency landing in Niederschopfheim, Germany where he was immediately captured. Prisoner of War (POW). Missing Air Crew Report – MACR 3392. After returning to the US, he was killed in an aircraft accident on 26 October 1945. He was on a training flight on board an AT-6D Serial #44-44640 which crash-landed at Craig Field, Selma, Alabama. Also on board and killed was F/O Robert E. Bell, from Paris, Illinois.
Connections
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Units served with
- Unit Hierarchy: Group
- Air Force: Eighth Air Force
- Type Category: Fighter
- Unit Hierarchy: Squadron
- Air Force: Eighth Air Force
- Type Category: Fighter
Aircraft
- Aircraft Type: P-51 Mustang
- Nicknames: Mona Lou
- Unit: 355th Fighter Group 358th Fighter Squadron
Missions
- Date: 16 March 1944
Places
- Site type: Airfield
Events
Event | Location | Date | Description |
---|---|---|---|
Born |
6 February 1921 | Pana, Christian County, Illinois, United States | |
Enlisted |
19 January 1942 | Bowman Field, Louisville, Kentucky | |
Other Prisoner of War (POW) |
16 March 1944 | captured after emergency landing in Niederschopfheim, Germany. Interned mainly at Stalag Luft 3 Sagan/Zagan, Poland. NARA WWII POW record “Returned to Military Control 21 July 1945.” | |
Died |
26 October 1945 | in an aviation accident at Craig Field, Alabama | |
Born |
Evansville, Indiana | ||
Buried |
Donald Wright rests at the Oak Hill Cemetery in Evansville, Indiana |
Revisions
MACR 3392
NARA WWII Enlistment records
NARA WWII POW records
German document KUJ-721 at https://catalog.archives.gov/id/131494816 (NARA)
https://www.newspapers.com/clip/26760972/two-airmen-killed-in-craig-fie…
page 50 at https://www.repository.law.indiana.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1007…
Drawn from the records of the National Museum of the Mighty Eighth Air Force, Savannah, Georgia / MACR 3392 / MACR 3392, Losses of the 8th & 9th Air Forces / Paul Andrews, Project Bits and Pieces, 8th Air Force Roll of Honor database / Ted Damick, VIII Fighter Command pilots list