MilesRichard - 668th KIT

416th Bombardment Group (L)

2Lt. Richard Clare Miles

Pilot, O-766020

Killed In Training - Nov 10, 1944

668th Bombardment Squadron (L)

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Pilot Wings Missing Man

Born: 17-Jul-1918, Nampa, Canyon County, Idaho

Entered Military Service: Date: Aug-1942 From: Canyon County, Idaho

Buried: Epinal American Cemetery, Dinoze, France, Plot A Row 31 Grave 62

On-line Memorials:
National World War II Registry Overseas American Cemeteries
American Battle Monuments Commission Memorial, Certificate
Find-A-Grave
Fields of Honor Database

Memorial Services Honer Lieutenant

(The Statesman Idaho Wire)

NAMPA - Memorial services will be held Sunday at 12:30 p.m., at the United Presbyterian church for Lt. Richard C. Miles who was killed in an airplane crash at Fontainebleau, France Nov. 10. Chaplain Rudolph F. Joop of Gowen field and the Rev. E. D. McKune will officiate at the services.

Lt. Miles had been in France only 11 days after leaving England. He left the United States for overseas duty on Oct. 1, entered the Army in Aug., 1942, and received his commission in Feb., 1944. He was a member of the Army air corps.

Richard C. Miles was born in Nampa, July 17, 1918 and had lived there continuously prior to entering the service. He operated a magazine agency business. Survivors include his mother, Mrs. Olive Miles; his wife, the former Miss Barbara Metzger, a son, Robert, aged four, and a brother Harold C. Miles, all of Nampa, and another brother, Russell L. Miles of Boise.

Extracted from Newspapers.com

See also 2Lt Richard Clare Miles Individual Deceased Personnel File (IDPF)
(FOIA request fulfilled by Government Information Specialist Bryan K. Jolly, Fort Knox, KY)
Disclaimer: IDPF files document efforts to locate, identify, move, notify relatives and provide final resting for Soldier Dead,
often months or years after death, thus some pages may contain potentially disturbing or distressing information.
If you are sensitive, please consider whether to read this or not.
Click Here for information on WWII IDPFs.

Notes:
Pilot and crew were on a practice bombing mission at Arbonne Bombing Range. Witnesses heard the sound of racing engines causing them to look up. They saw the airplane coming through the overcast in a violent unconventional spin (possibly inverted). Soon after, the plane struck the ground inverted and was demolished, killing the entire crew.

Description:
There was one training accident during the month. While on a practice bombing mission on the 10th November, an A-20, piloted by 2d Lt Richard C. Miles of the 668th Bomb Sq (L), crashed about three miles south of Fontaineblue. The plane was seen to break through a low overcast in an unconventional spin--possibly an inverted spin. It struck the ground and was almost completely demolished. No one was seen getting out of the plane although the body of Corporal Samuel A. Pepe was found 500 yards from the crash, evidently thrown clear of the plane during the spin. There was no evidence of engine failure. Lt Miles, his bombardier-navigator, 2d Lt William G. Kelly, and the two gunners, Corporal Pepe and Corporal Terrance F. Morrissey, were all killed. The four men were interred at the American Military Cemetary at Solers, France. These were our only losses during the month of November.
(416th BG History 1944)

See also AAR 45-11-10-523

Photos and Documents

1930 US Census

1940 US Census

HS Graduation Photo

HS Graduation Portrait

Crash Photo

Dogtags recovered from Crash site

Artifacts recovered from Crash site

Artifacts recovered from Crash site

Memorial Stele in the Fontainebleau Forest at the crash site.

Memorial Stele in the Fontainebleau Forest at the crash site.

Memorial Ceremony at Crash site

Friday, December 1, 1944, Idaho Statesman (Boise, Idaho), Page 10

Headstone Inscription and Interment Record

Headstone

Rosters Of WW II Dead

WW II Army and Army Air Force Casualty List

National World War II Memorial Registry

National World War II Memorial Registry

American Battle Monuments Commission Certificate

Source information can be viewed at WWII Military Service Fatalities Sources