Airman's son pays emotional visit to dad's exhibit

10 hours ago

Emma Baugh,at Duxfordand

Aimee Dexter

News image — Richard Moseley said it was emotional visiting where his father served

Emma Baugh/BBC Richard Moseley is standing on a field which has a World War Two plane on it. He has short white hair and is wearing a blue shirt. — Richard Moseley said it was emotional visiting where his father served

The son of an American airman downed over France in World War Two has paid an emotional visit to an exhibition honouring his father.

Richard Moseley, from Utah, visited Imperial War Museum (IWM) Duxford on Thursday to see part of a collection, which included forged French papers and clothes the fighter pilot wore in disguise.

His father, 2nd Lt Lonnie Moseley, bailed out of his stricken plane and hid in northern France in the summer of 1944, seeking sanctuary with a farmer and his family.

"It is emotional as this display has been something we have cherished for years," Richard said.

"They have been in a chest which we have only opened a few times since WW2."

IWM Duxford A black and white photo of Lt Lonnie Moseley wearing a fighter pilot's uniform. He has on a close-fitting hat, tied under his ears and goggles perched on the top of his head. Behind him is the propeller and nose of a fighter plane. — 2nd Lt Lonnie Moseley had to keep his wits about him after his fighter plane crashed behind enemy lines

The 23-year-old pilot had been flying only his second mission with the US Army Air Forces' 78th Fighter Group. Duxford was a WW2 fighter station which housed the group.

Lonnie was flying over occupied France when his plane's engine is believed to have stopped several times before cutting out entirely.

The aircraft crashed near Hauville, about 40 miles (64km) east of the D-Day beachhead.

Richard has wanted to visit Duxford since his father's death in 2014 and was inspired to donate his father's archive to the museum.

"Here the story will remain true, and it is wonderful that Duxford is doing this."

IWM Duxford A close-up of a fake German-issued World War Two identity card issued for Lonnie Moseley, giving his name as Louis Rene Meslin. It shows his photo top left and is a yellow/sepia coloured rectangular piece of card. Typewritten on it are lists of required information such as first name and surname, his profession, height, eye colour etc. These details are filled in by hand. Official stamps are along its bottom quarter. — The airman was provided with forged papers by the French Resistance, identifying him as a migrant worker

Exhibits include the clothes the airman wore while on the run, the missing-in-action telegram sent to his wife and various photographs, including one showing him and the farmer posing by the wreckage of his downed plane.

"As a poor farming boy he became a fighter pilot, came to a foreign land, and decided that this was the life he wanted, to fight for freedom and Duxford gave him his first opportunity to do so," said Richard.

Emma Baugh/BBC Adrian Kerrison is standing in a large plane hangar which has an aircraft to the left. He has dark brown hair and a short beard and is wearing a pale blue denim shirt. — Adrian Kerrison said the museum acquired the collection in 2017

IWM senior curator Adrian Kerrison said it was "really amazing" for Richard to visit after 10 years of trying to get the display together.

The museum acquired the collection in 2017.

"We have lots of aircraft displayed here, but it is hard to look at these aircraft and think about the human stories behind them... and Lonnie's story does that brilliantly," Kerrison said.

"Duxford is so well preserved that it looks very much the same as it would have in 1944 when his dad was here, so he can walk in the same footsteps that his dad did, see the places he lived, ate and took off from."

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