Hello all
I am posting from Ireland and there was one small connection to Ireland when one P-51 was lost with it's pilot Ivan A Ervin in a crash on Sept. 14th 1944.
I've included the text of the details I found so far of the events of that day. It may be of use or interest to you. I am trying to find out where he was buried and I have contacted some papers etc in Wasington/Idaho to find out.
If you have any information that might help, feel free to contact me. If you might have a photo of him you could scan that would be amazing. I may prepare an article for an Irish aviation magazine but that is only an idea so far.
many regards
Dennis Burke
Dublin
Republic of Ireland
Visit the War Room Website :
www.skynet.ie/~dan/war The P-51 44-14295 which crashed in County Louth. According to the USAAF crash file on this incident, the aircraft, piloted by 2/Lt. Ivan A. Ervin, 0-760180, took off from “AAF Station F-337†as part of a routine training flight at 1322 hrs. Station 377 was of course Wattisham, Suffolk the home of the 479th Fighter Group. Another pilot in that flight was Lt. Chester W. Granville O-760289 of La Grange, Texas, flying 44-14437, J2-C. The flight, from the 435th Fighter Squadron, was to fly from the base to Edinburgh, then Belfast and then back to Wattisham. The report notes that as the flight neared Ireland they flew into dense overcast cloud and contact was lost with both Ervin and Granville. It appears that nothing more was heard from Lt. Granville and his name is to be found on the tablets of the missing in the Cambridge American Cemetery.
Turning to Irish Military records, an aircraft was noted by Irish Look Out Posts in the Louth area around 1430 hrs. The aircraft finally, and tragically came to grief on the land of P. Byrne, at Dawsonstown, Ravendale, inland from the town of Carlingford. The aircraft was found to be burning fiercely with ammunition exploding amid a large crater created by the impact. Subsequent investigation of the scene turned up an I.D. Tag and a ring which connected Lt. Ervin to the aircraft. The Irish Military reported that the I.D. Tag had the inscription 'Love Mu I9I0313' on it. A check on the US NARA AAD website shows that Ervin's serial number at enlistment was 19103013.
His remains were handed over the border on the 16th of September and the US Military Attache praised the honour guard provided by Irish troops from the local garrison. Finally, the crater was filled in by the military.
The USAAF report in the end, put the loss of 2/Lt. Ervin down to bad weather, weather which had caused the remainder of the flight to remain on instruments for over an hour.
2/Lt. Ervin's remains are not buried in an American Battle Monuments Commission cemetery but he is remembered on the World War Two Memorial website. He is remembered there as being from Clark County, Washington. According to a 1944 obituary for him from the Ritzville Journal Times , he was married to Mrs. Evelyn Ervin, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. J. E. Murphy, Sr., of Washtucna, Washington State. At the time of his death, his wife was living in Vancouver His parents were Mr. and Mrs. Richard C. Ervin of Coeur d'Alene, Idaho and he had two brothers, Laurence and Stanley Ervin. They also both served in the forces during the war but appear to have survived.
Prior to entering the service, Ivan was an instructor at Vancouver, Washington. He attended Eastern Washington college of education where he was an outstanding athlete, playing on the college basketball team. He was a member of the W club, Intercollegiate Knights and Scarlet Arrow, men's honorary society.
He entered the service in February, 1942, received his wings and commission at Williams Field, Arizona, on December 7, 1943. He had been overseas since the early part of May and had been flying the P-38 Lightning and the P-51. Since being overseas, he has received the air medal and two oak leaf clusters.