Description

ISBN 9789090383934 | Hardcover | 92 pages | Colour/B&W | Colour profiles | Maps

P-51D 44-13411 of 4th Fighter Group went down on November 20, 1944 in Lake IJsselmeer, the Netherlands.

The book “Lenny – A Debden Eagle” tells the fascinating and thrilling story of Leonard R. “Lenny” Werner, who was assigned to the USAAF’s glorious 4th Fighter Group in England in June 1944.

The famous unit operated North American P-51 Mustangs to fight the Luftwaffe of Nazi Germany. Born in the Bronx, Lenny learned to fly at Flushing New York City Airport and became a gifted fighter pilot, flying the P-40 Warhawk, P-47 Thunderbolt, and A-36 Apache during his training.

At RAF Debden he was assigned to the 334th Fighter Squadron. He scored two victories over the Luftwaffe and flew his last combat mission on November 20, 1944. Leonard R. Werner crashed into the lake IJsselmeer in the Netherlands.

1st Lt. Leonard Werner, has been missing in action ever since. Who was Leonard, and what happened on November 20, 1944? Cees Steijger met with Leonard’s nieces and spoke with them about their uncle. Cees received valuable background information, documents and correspondence from the early 1940s, which is used in the book that describes in detail a number of missions flown by Leonard against targets in Germany. On November 20, 1944, it went terribly wrong. Flying in cloudy air, Leonard collided with another P-51 over Harderwijk in the Netherlands and crashed into Lake IJsselmeer. In 1970, the P-51 was recovered, but Leonard Werner was never found.

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