Crash P47 Thunderbolt Little Hotsy

Stela honoring American pilot the 1st Lt Richard Vickery KEYWAN of the 353rd Fighter Group, 352nd Fighter Squadron of the 8th Us Air Force, pilot of the P 47 Thunderbolt Little Hotsy shot down by a BF109 while attacking a convoy.
1st Lt Richard Vickery KEYWAN, pilot, deceased lies in Colleville-sur-Mer American Military Cemetery Plot B, Row 15, Grave 8.

Text by L. HERISSON

04:34 hours, on June 12, 1944, takeoff from station 157 at Raydon (Suffolk UK). Colonel Duncan leads three squadrons of 12 aircraft with an escort of eight P-47s from 351 FS and 352 FS on a bombing and strafing mission against enemy communications routes in the Evreux - Dreux area.
At Evreux, the squadrons split up to attack specific targets: the 352 FS, led by Lieutenant-Colonel Bailey, took on a truck convoy near Evreux before moving on to rail targets and the Conches station. He soon finds himself outclassed by 50 German Messerschmitt 109. In this action lst Lt. Richard V. Keywan destroys one and damages two Me 109. before he himself is hit by enemy fire. Coming from the direction of "Les Boscherons - Gaudreville", Richard ejected too low. His parachute didn't have time to open, and he died on the edge of Rue de la Vigne. His plane ended its mad run in a field 500 meters from him, without causing any damage to the village.
Posthumously, Lieutenant Keywan was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross with oak leaf (DFC - OLC) An eyewitness who saw the body told me it had been buried in our cemetery. At the end of the war, like all American servicemen, he returned to rest on his native soil in the American cemetery at Colleville-sur-Mer. For your sacrifice Richard: RIP (Rest In PEACE).

Photo credit and contribution Christine Guillon