Glider Collision over LZ-W
Holland 17 September 1944
These two photos have been published a number of times before. They show one of the 437th Troop Carrier Group gliders at Landing Zone W near Son, Holland. This glider was piloted by F/O Thornton C. Schofield. The glider collided in mid-air with the glider piloted by F/O Lloyd Shufelberger.
F/O Shufelberger was hit by anti-aircraft fire and unable to control his glider, causing the collision.
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All men in F/O Schofield's glider survived the crash. The photos show men of the 101st airborne Division working to get the trapped men out of the glider. F/O Schofield is the one in front on the 2nd picture.
F/O Shufelberger died of his injuries and is today buried at Margraten Cemetery.​
As clearly visible, a lot has change. The whole area north of Son has become a living area with lots of houses. And a highway is running through the old drop and landing zone. These changes also result that the connections, that might be possible to make, between the old photos and present day situation, it totally gone. The farmland is gone, fences, farms….it is all gone. And new houses, streets with cars and planted trees have taken over.
But on the maps, a few recognizable lines are still visible, and comparable. The sharp edge of the wooded area, clearly visible in the old map, is recognizable on the new map. And the main west to east roads as well as south to north paths in the woods are recognizable. These are important in connecting the places.
With help of an aerial photo, a possible location was found. The aerial photo covered a larger area, and several gliders could be located. The left image shows the Schofield glider marked.
In the time, some more photos surfaced, including some that showed the wreck of F/O Shufelberger’s glider. With this, it is clear that the wreckage seen in the photo by F/O Heden is indeed that of Shufelberger’s glider.
Shortly after the accident, T/5 George R. Jones, US Signal Corps photographer, passed the scene of the crashed gliders. Remarkably, the Signal Corps team (besides Jones, the Signal Corps team also contained cine cameraman Sothern) only seem to have recorded the scenes of F/O Schofield’s crash. The photo taken by Jones is probably the best known glider photo taken during Market Garden. The Then and Now photo was taken by the webmaster in 2021.
A few days after T/5 George Jones, F/O Robert Heden passed the scene. The shape of the Schofield wreck, with the bended wings, is recognizable in this photo. It gives more detail about the location. Near the edge of a wooden area, and along a track. In front is some more glider wreckage.
The source of the glider debris was not known. It could have been from a torn off glider wing, damaged during landing? This photo was first published in the excellent book 'Orange is the Color of the Day' by Michael DeTrez and Peter Hendrikx.
F/O Lloyd Shufelbereg rest at the US Cemetery at Margraten, The Netherlands.
More about this glider crash and the glider missions by 437th Troop Carrier Group to Holland is available in Market Flights Vol. 10.
The collision written about on this page is in almost every good book on Market Garden. As well as in A Breathtaking Spectacle Volume 2.
