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Residents of the village of Jesenice and the surroundings (located south of Prague) could see a very rare object in the afternoon on April 17, 1945: a single-engine aircraft painted in silver with white stars on the fuselage and on the wings lying in the fields...
2/Lt James C. Monahan was one of three pilots of the 357the Fighter Group of the Eighth Air Force who became MIA in a strafing attack against the Ruzyne airdrome on that day. After his Mustang (Ser. No. 44-14900, code letters C5-B, nickname "Nellie Jean") was damaged by AA fire he made an emergency landing.
The only official document covering this event is the entry in the Service Book of the police station in Jesenice saying that "approx. at 3 p.m. a U. S. fighter belly landed near the village of Zdimerice. Lt. James Honoham was captured and taken away by German policemen. The crash site is being watched."
(Photo: courtesy of Mr. Jan Vladar)
There is a photo, which was has been published several times, showing three victory symbols under the canopy edge. This seems rather strange as 2/Lt Monahan was not credited with any air-to-air kill at all. Actually, this shouldn't be considered a mystery. According to Peter Randall's site Littlefriends.co.uk it was 2/Lt Monahan's felow of the 364th Squadron Capt. Paul R. Hatala who usually flew this particular Mustang. Capt. Hatala scored 5 and 1/2 victories.
Sources:
Státní oblastní archiv v Praze, fond Sbírka staničních knih četnictva a Sboru národní bezpečnosti, Středočeský kraj; inv. č. 1158, zápis č. 155
RAJLICH, Jiří. Mustangy nad protektorátem : Operace britského a amerického letectva nad českými zeměmi a německá obrana. Praha : MBI, 1997, s. 118
FOUD, Karel, KRÁTKÝ, Vladislav, VLADAŘ Jan. Poslední akce : Operace amerického a britského letectva nad územím Čech v dubnu a květnu 1945. Plzeň : Nava, 1997, s. 59.
