Crash P-47 Thunderbolt William Dian

William Dian, who fell over Gasny on August 18, 1944
Even before the liberators arrived in Gasny, several Allied airmen gave their  lives.
On August 18, 1944, Lieutenant William Dian was flying over the region at the controls of his aircraft, a P-47 Thunderbolt in the company of seven other fighter bombers. Spotting an enemy tank on the road between Gasny and Fourges, William Dian managed to destroy it with machine-gun fire, but as his aircraft regained altitude, it was caught in German DCA fire and crashed in flames in the marshes adjoining the Epte. near the agricultural cooperative society. The commune of Gasny will not forget this pilot who sacrificed himself to spare homes and thus save many lives. 

1st LT William Dian, pilot, deceased Rests in Colleville-sur-Mer American Cemetery Plot F, row 21, grave 27


Photo credit and contribution: Christine Guillon.

William Dian, who fell over Gasny on August 18, 1944 Even before the liberators arrived in Gasny, several Allied airmen gave their lives. On August 18, 1944, Lieutenant William Dian was flying over the region at the controls of his aircraft, a P-47 Thunderbolt in the company of seven other fighter bombers. Spotting an enemy tank on the road between Gasny and Fourges, William Dian managed to destroy it with machine-gun fire, but as his aircraft regained altitude, it was caught in German DCA fire and crashed in flames in the marshes adjoining the Epte. near the agricultural cooperative society. The commune of Gasny will not forget this pilot who sacrificed himself to spare homes and thus save many lives. 1st LT William Dian, pilot, deceased Rests in Colleville-sur-Mer American Cemetery Plot F, row 21, grave 27Photo credit and contribution: Christine Guillon.