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Kunze, Francis Ignatius

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Personal Information

Rank 2 Lt.
Forename(s) Francis Ignatius
Surname Kunze
Gender M
Age 21
Decorations Air Medal, Purple Heart
Date of Death 26-10-1944
Next of Kin Son of Albert Frederick Kunze and Rose Vincent d’Paul Kunze (née Fairley), of Baltimore, Maryland, USA.
KUNZE FI

Aircraft Information

Aircraft Lockheed P38-J (Lightning) Drop Snoot
Serial Number 44-23515
Markings

Memorial Information

Burial/Memorial Country United Kingdom
Burial/Memorial Place Cambridge American Cemetery
Grave Reference Tablets of the Missing
Epitaph

IBCC Memorial Information

Phase SP
Panel Number 272 (not yet erected on site)

Enlistment Information

Service Number O-861683
Service United States Army Air Force
Group 100
Squadron 192
Squadron Motto Dare to discover
Trade Special Duties Operator
Country of Origin United States of America

Other Memorials

Location Juction of High St & Reepham Rd, Foulsham, Norfolk
Country United Kingdom
Memorial Type Inscribed Slate Tablets at base of Village Sign
Memorial Text Remembering all who served at RAF Foulsham 1942-1947 The airfield lay one mile North of this sign, Units based at Foulsham Airfield, 98 Sqdn 1678 HC Flight RAF, 180 Sqdn RAF, 192 Sqdn RAF, 12 Gliderb MU RAF, 514 Sqdn RAF, BSD Unit RAF, 462 Sqdn RAAA+F, El
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Miscellaneous Information

Between September 1944 and February 1945, four P-38J “droop snoots” with an ELINT (Electronic intelligence) conversion were seconded from the USAAF’s 7th Photo Reconnaisance Group to 192 Squadron, where they were assigned to hunt for guidance signals for the V2 rockets on “Big Ben” missions. At this point in the war it was not understood that the V2 bombs were guided by an internal gyroscopic guidance system. It had wrongly been presumed that they were radio guided, which made their operation futile.
His regular unit was the 364th Bomber Squadron, 305th Bomber Group, Heavy, USAAF.
Born 21 January 1923, Columbus, Muscogee County, Georgia, USA. He attended St. Joseph's Academy, Columbus High School and Southwestern College. He enlisted in the Army Air Forces in August 1942 and received his basic training in Clearwater, followed by radio and technician school in Sioux Falls, SD. Received his commission from Yale Technical School. Finally, he received his wongs as radar observer from Elgin Fields.
His name may be found on a memorial at Riverdale Cemetery, Columbus, Muscogee County, Georgia, USA.

The National Archives

Record of Events (Operational Record Book) AIR 27/1156/56
Summary of Events (Operational Record Book) AIR 27/1156/55

Fellow Servicemen

Please note that this list gives all the losses aboard the quoted aircraft and occasionally these may have occurred on an earlier date when the aircraft was not itself lost. Please check the dates of death carefully.

Brink F B (Capt.)

Last Operation Information

Start Date 26-10-1944
End Date 26-10-1944
Takeoff Station Foulsham
Day/Night Raid Day
Operation Operation 'Big Ben' - hunting for V2 rocket guidance signals
Reason for Loss Takeoff 1234 hours. Suffered a double engine failure off the Dutch coast and radioed to say they were intending to glide back to England. At 1343 hours they radioed to say they were going to ditch. A radio fix was obtained, placing them 60 miles off the Norfolk Coast. An extensive search by other 192 Squadron aircraft found only an oil slick and a few fragments of wreckage.

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Casualty Pack

IBCC is delighted to introduce a unique facility to link the Losses Database to the relevant RAF Casualty Pack on the National Archives website. This project is the result of on-going collaboration between IBCC, the MOD Records Office and National Archives, Kew. This document describes what Casualty Packs are, when they were created, the process of making them available to the public and then goes on to describe the process by which you can view the contents of the packs. Casualty Packs (CPs) were created by the RAF whenever there was serious injury or loss of life associated with operational activity within the RAF. This includes operational flying losses, enemy action due to air raids, road accidents either on station or even off-station if they involved RAF vehicles. Deaths due to natural causes in service or accidents that did not involve RAF vehicles did not generally give rise to a CP.

CPs were originally given a unique reference number by the RAF. Each begins with the letter ‘P’ and is followed by six digits, then an oblique (forward slash) and the finally the year in which the incident took place- for example P396154/42.

The CPs are in the process of being made available to the general public as they are passed from the MOD Records Office, Portsmouth to National Archives, Kew. This process requires some rework to the files which is very time consuming, so the process of making them all available to National Archives will take several years. They are being made available in increasing date order.

Once CPs arrive at National Archives they are assigned a unique AIR81 number, so each CP has both a P-number and an AIR81 number. Both are searchable on the National Archives website under ‘Search the catalogue’ and both are included on the IBCC website.

The AIR81 reference on the IBCC website is a link to the file on the National Archives website. When you click on it, the relevant page will open in a new tab on your browser.

There is currently no plan to digitise AIR81 files, partly because they are fragile and partly because the information they contain can at times be sensitive, even harrowing, since they may contain exhumation reports and even photographs of corpses. Family members wishing to read the AIR81 files relating to their ancestors are advised to exercise caution and be guided by National Archives warnings where appropriate.

There are two means for accessing AIR81 files- to attend in person or to order a copy by post.

To attend in person, the attendee should first create a Reader’s Ticket. This can be done online by following this link: https://secure.nationalarchives.gov.uk/login/yourdetails. Then click on the AIR81 reference on the IBCC website and click Order in Advance. Enter your Reader’s Ticket number and state the date on which you intend to visit. National Archives will have the file ready for you when you arrive, saving you time. When you visit Kew, you must quote the Reader’s Ticket number and take along two forms of ID- one bearing your signature and one bearing your address. When you view the files, you are permitted to take photographs of each page, should you wish.

Alternatively, if you wish to order a copy by post, please be aware that there is a charge for this service based on the number of pages in the file. Click on the AIR81 reference on the IBCC website and then click Request a Copy. There is an £8.40 charge for National Archives staff to access the file and give you a quotation for the copying service. The process takes around 24 days to complete and can be expensive.

IBCC wishes to thank the staff at the MOD Records Office and National Archives for their engagement and assistance in making this facility available to our website users.