UPL 33105

IMAGE

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This is Ray Archilus Boyd Jr. He is already on your website without pictures.

Connections

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People

  • Military/Civilian/Mascot: Military
  • Nationality: American
  • Unit: 359th Fighter Group 368th Fighter Squadron
  • Service Numbers: 18077733 / O-763474
  • Highest Rank: First Lieutenant
  • Role/Job: Fighter pilot

Revisions

Date:
ContributorMike Taylor
ChangesCreated entry with collection, caption and person associations
Sources

I received these photos from Lieut. Boyd's daughter, Penny Boyd Hammons. She requested that I send them to you in honor of her father. I used to work for Ray Boyd's crop dusting business back in the 1970's. A story his son Dixon Boyd told us was that his father told him, he was so focused on those two FW190s that he had no idea where that other one came from that shot him down. He had great difficulty getting out of the airplane due to the G loads. When he finally did, he decided not to deploy his chute immediately because of reports of allied pilots being shot while under canopy. He fell on his back for a long time, he said when he finally decided to pull the rip chord, he forgot to roll over on his stomach and the chute came out underneath his arm and whipped him around so hard it knocked him unconscious. When he woke up he was lying on his back on the ground with "the biggest German he'd ever seen holding the biggest gun he'd ever seen" telling him in English "Don't move!" He said they had it pretty rough in the concentration camp. He said when the allies were closing in the commandant received orders to have them all shot but he was smarter than that and just had the gates left open and all the Germans left the area.