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Personal info

Full name
COOTS, Gerald C
Date of birth
17 December 1923
Age
20
Place of birth
Erie County, New York
Hometown
Hamburg, Erie County, New York

Military service

Service number
O-748580
Rank
First Lieutenant
Function
Co-Pilot
Unit
367th Bombardment Squadron,
306th Bombardment Group, Heavy
Awards
Purple Heart,
Air Medal

Death

Status
Killed in Action
Date of death
11 January 1944
Place of death
Vlessendijk, near the farm of Mr. Kremer
Nieuw Heeten, The Netherlands

Grave

Cemetery
American War Cemetery Margraten
Plot Row Grave
H 9 3

Immediate family

Members
Charles R. Coots (father)
Lola B. Coots (mother)
Harold R. Coots (brother)
Roger T. Coots (brother)

Plane data

Serial number
42-31236
Data
Type: B-17G
Nickname: Arch Bishop
Mission: Halberstadt, Germany
Mission: Bombing of the Junkers aviation industry
MACR: 1933

More information

1st Lt Gerald C. Coots attended Hamburg High School in New York.

He volunteered for the Air Corps of the Army of the United States in Buffalo, New York on 29 March 1942.

The plane #42-31538 collided with plane #42-31236 after being attacked by a FW 190 of II/JG26.

All crew members of both airplanes, twenty men in total, were killed.

Source of information: Peter Schouteten, Raf Dyckmans, www.ancestry.com - 1940 Census

Photo source: Peter Schouteten, http://www.teunispats.nl/fr-wwii.htm, Teunis Schuurman, www.ancestry.com - U.S. School Yearbook 1941, Arie -Jan van Hees, Pilot Class Book 43-E, Pecos, Texas