FRANCAVILLA'S
P-38
by Giuseppe Versolato
Published in ALI ANTICHE (‘Old Wings’) #77
Official magazine of GAVS –Gruppo Amici Velivoli Storici (Friends
Association of Historical Aircraft)
The original
(Italian) article can be viewed as a PDF file
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Lt.
Cyril Nolen (1st FG – 94th FS) ditched his P-38 in the
He became a POW on his 50th
mission
Read this fine article published by
Giuseppe Versolato about the recent discovery of
Nolen’s P-38
(Translated to English - thanks to its author)
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1-2 (page 10) Top-1: Jim Graham, former USAAF 1st FG pilot, visiting "Dal Molin" airport museum, welcomed by Giuseppe Versolato. Bottom-2: Picture of a young Cyril Nolen, the protagonist of this article. (Photo from Bill Nolen) |
FRANCAVILLA'S
P-38
by Giuseppe Versolato It seems incredible that a lot of people have shown interest,
in the recent months, in this "Lightning" and the story of her pilot. First, the magazine "First Fighter News" (May
2005) with an article "Cy Nolen: A Developing Story" by Jim Graham,
former president of USAAF 1st F.G. Veterans Association, whom I met in
The whole story actually originates from here, from
At the beginning of 2005, Rocco Pacifico, an amateur skin-diver from Francavilla (the Abruzzi region along the Adriatic coast), contacted me, asking if I could somehow help him with an historical research of a Lockheed P-38 that crashed into the sea during WW-II, and whose wreckage lies at the bottom of the sea near Francavilla. I immediately accepted, being a passionate about this kind of research. (See photos – Nose , Cockpit , Electronics)
All the information Rocco gave me, together with the interest I had in the case, have been the starting point of our story . Rocco wrote to me –
"We heard about the
underwater P-38 only in recent years after the end of the war when specialized
recovery teams have tried to bring it to the surface without succeeding. Nobody
knew what kind of plane it was, of which nationality or the exact date of its
crash into the sea, as the eyewitnesses of that
time left the village
because of the war. German troops
with their flak up in the hills were the only people present along Francavilla's coast.
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3-4 (page 11) Top-3:
Muddy waters of the
Bottom-4: the cockpit. (Photo by Rocco Pacifico). |
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5-6-7 (page 12) The recovered Allison engine showing the bent blades (top-5), the main body with push rod covers missing (center-6) and the engine manufacturer’s tag (bottom-7). (Photos by G. Versolato) |
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8-9 (page 13) Top-8: Rocco Pacifico, the diver at work. Bottom-9: Recovered electrical parts. Mark their modern design and the excellent state of preservation due to the high quality of raw American materials. (photo by Rocco Pacifico). |
Being very passionate
of sea and planes since my childhood, I often dived close to the wreckage to
find some kind of evidence, a number or a plate that could give an indication of
what type of plane it was. As I
grew up, my knowledge of aircrafts and aviation in general improved up to the
point that I became certain that the plane was an American built Lockheed P-38.
. Moreover, accurately observing
the angle of the blades, I found that the propellers were feathered, meaning
that the pilot had easily ditched the plane (and I remember it was almost intact
when I first saw it).
In the 80's during
coastline defense works by a pontoon they spotted the wreck and unfortunately
severely damaged it during recovery .It was on that occasion that other fellow
skin-divers (especially Guerino De Medio) and I managed to save the left engine together with
the triple-blade propeller and carried all to the IAF (Italian Air Force)
detachment in Pescara. In 1995 the
Once they obtained from AFHRA (Air Force Historical Research Agency) of Maxwell A.F.B. copies of the microfilm complete with serial number (S/N) of all the American P-38 engines, the identification of the correct engine S/N to couple with the aircrafts' S/N appeared to be a complicated job. Steve also had to search on the MACR (Mission Air Crew Report) list, but at the end he succeeded. The aircraft was the Lightning G10, S/N 42-13460 (name "Barfly") belonging to 1st FG., 94th SQ,15th A.F. based at Salsola (Foggia Satellite 3) and piloted by Cyril L. Nolen, 22 years old from St.Cloud, MN.
At this point Steve advised me to contact Jim Graham former president of the 1st FG (veterans) Association and historian of the same group who had collected the greatest part of the 1st FG MACR’s and its MIA’s. I contacted him and by return of mail obtained all the information I requested. In the meantime, news of Nolen's aircraft finding spread out rapidly.
I was contacted by Nolen's son Bill, then by a niece and indirectly by his wife. Cyril passed away in 1998. I gathered interesting information about the pilot and at the end I discovered that I already had part of it in my archive. In fact, a brief story had been published in the 1st FG history book, “An Escort of P-38’s”.
To my surprise,
I discovered that Cyril was MIA on April 20th,1944 during his 50th
and last mission of war. He was
escorting a large B-17 formation from the 463th Bomb
Group whose targets were
At this point Cyril's interesting story begins. –I will to summarize it as best as I can..
On his way back, strafing a train in a station, he was hit by enemy flak sited nearby. The starboard engine was badly hit while the other was coughing and the cockpit became enveloped in a dense smoke. He had no chances. He steered the ship towards the coastline and prepared for ditching. The impact was light and the aircraft suffered no major damage, as we can see examining the only slightly bent blades.
Nolen rapidly left the cockpit while the aircraft was slowly sinking in shallow water about 40 ft. deep, not far from Francavilla al Mare, where the British troops of the 8th Army were fighting the Germans. Minutes later he was captured by some German soldiers and carried on-board a raft. It was a risky operation because they were under continuous fire from the British artillery. During the night together with another prisoner, a P-40 pilot, and an escort of 5 German guards, he was carried on a truck bound for the North of Italy. The day after his capture, Cyril was in real danger—it happened when the truck fell into an ambush by the Partisans and the vehicle crashed into a steep slope. Two German guards died, the P-40m pilot broke his back, while Cyril fainted at the impact after having injured his arm and his head.
.
The first thing Cyril saw after he recovered consciousness
was a German officer aiming a gun at him. Soon after they set out again on their way north. Nolen was hospitalized
for a short period in
Eventually he was interned in Stalag Luft III (Luftwaffe's
prisoner camp) at Sagan, southwest
of
After the war Cyril attended a specialized aeronautic school
and worked for some American airlines and was in the National Guard. He also flew reconnaissance missions in
Rocco Pacifico (discoverer of the submerged BARFLY) from Francavilla al Mare has a passion for "anything that can fly". He was a former parachutist and diver and today he is a freelance cameraman. His letter concluded—
“I hope to be able to
do further research on the wreckage, and if successful, the Francavilla Museum will take charge of the remains, since
long time the American government has granted all the authorizations, through
the military attache, to continue the recovery
operations, showing gratitude for the praiseworthy initiative. After years of mixed joys and
disappointments, today I'm very happy for this new page of reconstructed
history".
Rocco will send Rose, Cyril's widow, a small piece of "Barfly", the "Two-tailed Devil", that lies under Francavilla's waters.
When this article was finished I received, to my surprise, an
e-mail from Del L.Kienholz, a Federal Express pilot
from
Incredibly his
aircraft was "Barfly", exactly the same under the
*(‘Our Serbian Freedom’)
After WWII Kienholz fought in Korea and in Vietnam. He left the airforce, holding the rank of major in 1963 and eventually became an airline pilot. He was killed in a fatal aircraft accident flying a small plane in 1973.
My friend, Rocco, has a special commitment—pack up and send
Acknowledgement:
The author would like to thank the following persons for their help in the preparation of this article:
Rocco Pacifico, Steve Blake, Bill Nolen, Jim Graham, Del L.Kienholz, Dwayne M.Tabatt, John Stanaway, Ken C. Rust - author of "Fifteenth Air Force Story".