1 Mar 1944

United Kingdom
  • US fighter ace Lieutenant Charles F. Gumm, with seven confirmed victories to his credit, was tragically killed when the engine of his P-51B Mustang fighter failed during take-off from RAF Boxted in Essex, England, United Kingdom. Rather than bailing out (which would inevitably lead to his crippled aircraft crashing into the little village of Nayland) he gallantly stayed in the cockpit long enough to glide it towards open ground. By that time he was too low to parachute, and his body was found by local villagers near the burning wreckage. ww2dbase [Nayland, England | AC, CPC]

Timeline Section Founder: Thomas Houlihan
Contributors: Alan Chanter, C. Peter Chen, Thomas Houlihan, Hugh Martyr, David Stubblebine
Special Thanks: Rory Curtis




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Captain Edward Steichen, head of the United States Navy’s photographic unit, interacting with children on Guam, Mariana Islands, May 1945.

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