P-51D 44-15022

24 missions

Not Known

0-0-0

0-0

2/Lt. Dudley M. Amoss reported: "I was flying #4 position in Yellow flight on Lt. Coward's wing at about 23,000 feet, on an escort mission, on 26 November 1944, when I noticed Lt. Coward's plane start slipping out of formation.  I stayed with him and called him on the radio to see if he was OK but received no answer.  He swung out in a gentle diving turn to the right.  I kept calling both him and the squadron leader.  He spiralled down to about 15,000 feet then pulled up, did a snap-roll, and dived vertically into the deck.  I followed him down to the deck and his plane crashed and exploded. I searched the area, but was unable to find a parachute and apparently he did not bail out."

German J2202 report stated that the crash was caused by shooting, (sic), (presumably downed by a fighter).  Pilot buried in the prisoner cemetery of Lingen (Germany).  1/Lt. Coward's ship's manoeuvres indicated the possibility of him suffering from anoxia.  He crashed in Germany and is buried in Plot D, Row 13, Grave 23 at the Ardennes American Military Cemetery and Memorial, Neupre, Belgium.  He entered service from Ohio.
Reproduced with kind permission of Mr. Robert M. Littlefield from the author's book Double Nickel - Double Trouble