At a nice valley overlook along a trail.

The monument is a cut granite stone with a brass inscribed plaque attached to the front; the monument is about 4 feet high.

The monument remembers the B-24J Bomber “Lady Patricia” that crashed at this location on November 6, 1944.

On November 6, 1944, B-24 “Lady Patricia” (42-51642) of the 745^th Bomber Squadron, 456^th Bomber Group “Steed’s Flying Colts”, 15^th Air Force, flying from Stornara Air Base in Italy was on a mission to bomb enemy facilities in Munich, Germany.  After the mission, the aircraft experienced engine trouble and the Pilot (2LT Doyle Smith) unsuccessfully looked for a safe landing site; after two engines failed and were aflame, he gave the order to abandon sip.  The crew bailed out and the plane crashed on a mountainside near Malix, Switzerland. The crew survived and was interned in Switzerland until the end of the war.  A memorial remembers “Lady Patricia” under the Dreibündenstein peak near Malix, Switzerland. (Reference Missing Aircraft Report  {MACR} 9798).

The Crew of “Lady Patricia included:

Pilot: Doyle R. Smith, 2nd Lt

Copilot: Bartolomeo Castelli, 1st Lt

Navigator: Harlan D. Hatfield, F/O

Bombardier: Charles C. Minor, 2nd Lt

Nose Gunner: Robert E. Manning, Sgt

Engineer: Fred T. Hoque, Sgt

Ball Turret: Charles E. Ellsworth, Sgt

Right Waist: Donald E. Piel, Sgt

Left Waist: John O. Stevens, Sgt

Tail Gunner: Stanley B. Niedzialek, Sgt

Photographer: Edmond Vaubourg, Sgt

Special thanks to the B-17 Museum in Utzenstrorf, Switzerland for the photos of this memorial and for information concerning this monument.  

For more on the B-17 Museum Utzenstorf, see the museum website at https://www.b17museum.ch

The text on the plaque is written in German, French and English.  The English reads:

Crash Site

LADY PATRICIA

CONSOLIDATED B-24J LIBERATOR, 456^TH BOMBER GROUP 

745^TH BOMBER SQUADRON 15^TH AIR FORCE 

6-11-1944

CRASH OF A USAAF BOMBER

DEDICATED 3-9-2004

NOTE:  CRASH: NOVEMBER 6, 1944