NEW: 
Translation into English powered by Google
2/Lt Ralph I. Jones of the 308th Squadron, 31st Fighter Group, was another victim of one of the air battles that were fought over this territory in the summer of 1944. His Mustang P-51B (Ser. No. 43-6851, nicknamed "Birmingham Boomerang") was shot down at 11.30 a.m. on August 28, 1944 in a dogfight with three Focke-Wulfs, which had taken off to intercept heavy bombers of the 15th Air Force on the raid against targets in Austria and Hungary.
The aircraft exploded before hitting the ground near the town of Znojmo, Czechoslovakia. The pilot didn't have any chance to bail out...
BTW, 2/Lt Jones was a tent-mate of 2/Lt Kiggins, who was KIA six weeks later near the airfield in Brno...
In 1946 a memorial to 2/Lt Jones was erected near the crash site but until the early 90's no name was mentioned. Later on a small metal sign was added but it has contained a wrong name: James Ralph.
Wrecks of 2/Lt Jones' Mustang
Memorial to 2/Lt Jones in 1983...
... and the current state
In October aviation enthusiasts tried to recover other wrecks but except three fragments nothing was found:
Sources:
RAJLICH Jiří. Mustangy nad protektorátem : Operace britského a amerického letectva nad českými zeměmi a německá obrana. Praha: MBI, 1997, s. 55.
ROUPEC Jiří. Sestřelen, neoslavován, ale nezapomenut. Rovnost, 23. srpna 1990.
Photos: courtesy of Moravian Museum and Jan Brecka
Jan Brecka, Moravian Museum
