The Man Behind the Name
2nd Lt. Richard C. Scott was co-pilot aboard B-24J 42-100416 'Baggy Maggy' on the 18 September 1944 supply mission near Arnhem. Reported missing in action after the aircraft was shot down; status remained MIA on the original MACR.
Known to the crew as 'Scotty.' When pilot Larry Hewin was severely wounded by ground fire, Scott took the controls and, with bombardier George Sadler helping work the rudder pedals, held the aircraft up long enough to clear a series of hedgerows before crash-landing it in a field near Castelré. Donald Dukeman's memoir credits Scott by name with saving nine of the ten men aboard through 'the grace of God' and his 'courage and skill.' Scott himself described the aircraft as flying 'as though a big hand were pushing her down,' with every engine temperature gauge pegged in the red -- yet none of the four engines failed.
As a POW, Scott was among those forced onto the final winter evacuation march from Stalag Luft III in early 1945 (alongside a companion named Vic Bubbitt), rather than moved by rail as some of his crewmates were. He is named in one 2004 account as one of three survivors present at the monument's 1994 50th-anniversary dedication in Castelré, though sources disagree on the exact attendee list.
Missions flown.
The missions below are those we have been able to document for this airman, drawn from flight logs, mission records, and archival sources. It is not necessarily a complete account of every mission flown; gaps may reflect missing documentation, transferred assignments, or records lost to time.