Studiegroep Luchtoorlog 1939-1945

						1/Lt. David R. Talbott was the captain of B-24H Liberator 42-52332 'My Ass'Am Dragon'. The aircraft already suffered from mechanical trouble on the outbound trip to Brunswick on March 15, 1944. Leaving the target area, the bomber couldn’t keep up with the formation and was severely attacked by German fighters after passing the German-Dutch border. Talbott gave the order to bail out and left his plane as last one, descending near Ommen while the Liberator crashed at Den Hulst, just north of Nieuwleusen. Talbott lost consciousness during the descent and only came to after he had landed. Trying to get up, he found out that he sustained quite some injuries with shrapnel in his shoulder, burns to his head and face, a cut in his leg and an injured back. In spite of this, he started to walk away from where he had landed and soon encountered a man. The man told him that he certainly would be observed and advised him to continue on his way, not to turn around and not to stop. Soon thereafter, Talbott spotted the man he had been told he would soon see passing him, cycling down the road. Preferring not to accost him too quickly, Talbott hid on the bank of a canal and waited for about an hour. He then resumed his walk and met another man who told him to hide in a field. He was covered with branches and told to stay put until nightfall.

In the evening he was picked up by 'the underground of Nieuwleusen'. Arend Jan Schuurman, living at Oosteinde A 194 in Nieuwleusen, claimed shortly after the war that he had found Talbott and hid him for a day while Albert Braaksma of Ommerschans R 36 reported as well that he was involved with hiding the airman in the first hours after his decent. Talbott was eventually brought to the home of the Meulman family at Oosteinde A14 in Nieuwleusen where he would remain for three days. This house was not far from where his Liberator had crashed and Talbott apparently witnessed the recovery of the bodies of the navigator and bombardier from the wreckage. 

From Nieuwleusen, Talbott was brought to Meppel where he was handed over to the resistance group of Peter van den Hurk. At one of his hiding addresses in Meppel, he joined T/Sgt. W.E. Elsberry (E1105), the engineer of B-17 42-31919 ‘Evanton Babe’. After 14 days in Meppel, both airmen were brought to Deventer where they went in hiding with the Dagelet family at the Bagijnestraat 16 in this town. During their stay Deventer, Talbott and Elsberry were visited by Capt. Richard M. Scott (E0396). The airmen stayed here for two weeks and then a man named ‘Aarts’ brought the two airmen to Heerlen. Probably Peter van den Hurk and his wife Marchje were involved with transporting Elsberry and Talbott as well. Furthermore, it is not unlikely that the airmen were transported in relays. First from Deventer to Venlo, from there to Echt and then onwards to Heerlen. On arrival there, Elsberry went to stay with Jan Mochel at the Eymaelstraat 18 while Talbot was brought to the house of Antonius M.F. Offermans at Laan van Hovell to Westerflier 3, also in Heerlen.

Talbott then came in the hands, probably via J. Crasborne, of the resistance group of Major Symons ('Groep Blok'). He was escorted 'from Nuth to the Belgian border' with the help of Mathieu Edelhausen. Paulus W.A. Landman helped him across the border and handed them over to Nicolas Sacre. When the crossing was done is unclear. According to one source he crossed the border already on April 9, being followed by Elsberry the next day. He then found a possible hiding place for a few days in the house of Jean Bernkens, Rue du Muolin 134 at Eben-Emael, before moving on. According to other sources he crossed several weeks later, on May 4, by a tunnel through the St. Pietersberg, northeast of Kanne, with probably four to six other airmen: Elsberry, 2/Lt Carl I. Glassman (E0427), 2/Lt. Myrle J. Stinnett (E0428) 2/Lt. R.L. Garrett (E0410) and possibly also S/Sgt. B.H. King (E0411) and Sgt. D.S. Beckwith (E0417). On Belgian soil Sacre handed them over to the resistance group of Paul Alen who escorted them to Joseph Thonnart at Rue Montfort at Ans. From there he moved around to several addresses. For example, between May 21 and 24 he hid in the house of Joseph Marie Albert Bruneau-Boussa at the Rue A. Defuisseaux 130 at Grace Berleur. From there he came in the hands of G. Jamar, Rue H. Communal at Montegnée, another suburb of Liege. 

On July 4, Talbott, Elsberry and 27 other airmen were brought by truck to an orphanage in Beffe in the Ardennes area. This orphanage was one of the camps that was set up as part of Mission Marathon. Some names of evaders at this camp were 2/Lt. 'Hank' Gladys (E0346), 2/Lt. Alan Willis (E0349), 1/Lt. Kenneth Griesel (E0350), 2/Lt. George Vogle, 2/Lt. Harold Ashman and Sgt. Milo Blakely. On July 30, Talbott and Elsberry definitely split up with the latter being taken to another Marathon camp near Porcheresse-Daverdisse. It's very well possible that Talbott eventually left the camp at Beffe on a later date to either try to meet the American forces on his own or to join the Maquis. Early in September 1944, he had reached the northern part of France. In his escape report, Talbott mentions the name of Victor Layton: 'head of the FFI Maquis north of Nouzonville' in France, near the Belgian border. Lieutenant Victor Jerome Layton, was born in Lustig to Czech parents, who later emigrated to the United States. He was a naturalized American. After enlisting in the US Army, he joined the OSS and was parachuted by the SOE over France in June 1944 as part of Operation 'Citronelle' to help the French Resistance after D-Day. Talbott was at his side when the area around Nouzonville was liberated on September 5, 1944.

David Talbott passed away on December 11, 1997, and is buried in Saint James Parish Episcopal Church Cemetery in Lothian, Anne Arundel County, Maryland.