P-38J 42-67701 RAF Atcham, 2 Lt Alan. Stewart. Green 16Th September Lyth Hill Shrewsbury

RAF Atcham, Station 342 , Shropshire a USAAF fighter Training base used mainly Spitfires and P-47s but also had a few P-38s one was lost in a quiet field not many miles from the base and I visited the site last year.

 

42-67701 Code DQ-Q a P38J flying with the 552nd FTS, 495th FTG lifted off on the afternoon of the 16 September 1944 for a local training flight. At the controls young pilot 2 Lt. A.S.Green, his mission was to take place in the company of another P38 piloted by Sqn fellow 2 Lt. J.W.Mahoney.

The flight went without any problems and the pilots set for home, nearing Bayston Hill just south of Shrewsbury Lt Green’s starboard engine cut out, Contacting his wingman by radio to inform him of his problem an instructor also on the same frequency advised 2 Lt. Green to climb before attempting to attempt a restart, but as the young pilot pulled the fighters nose up his other engine shut down and at only 2,000ft 2 Lt. Green had no choice but to force land ahead.

 

The now silent fighter headed for a field at Lyth Hill but sadly the field has a sharp rise up to a hedge, the p38 hit the rise and stopped instantly, the force broke the pilot’s seat loose and 2 Lt Green hit the instrument Panel and sadly lost his life.

 

A inquiry came to the conclusion the 2 Lt Green had mistakenly left his fuel cross feed drawing off the planes empty tank, not switching to the tank with fuel in it. Given the high workload the young man was under in formation flying in this challenging but excellent fighter, it is all too easy for a momentary error to become a major problem.

 

2 Lt Alan. Stewart. Green is buried at the US cemetery Madingley , Cambridge 

 2 Lt Alan. Stewart. Green is buried at the US cemetery Madingley , Cambridge 

Typhoon R8633 29th July 1942 Sugdon , Shropshire F/O Willian .McDunnough RCAF RAF High Ercall

 

A muddy walk with Tricia to follow the last moments of the fight of Hawker Typhoon Ib R8633.

257 Sqn High Ercall, Shropshire were just starting their conversion from the Hawker Hurricane onto the new and impressive Typhoon but it was a conversion to a plane with an unknown fatal fault later resolved to make it one of the best ground attack aircraft of WW2.

R8633 took off on the warm afternoon of 29thJuly 1942 the pilot F/O Willian .McDunnough RCAF was to take the plane on a local aerobatics flight, just before 16.45pm a local school boy watched an aircraft dive suddenly. The tail broke off at the rear of the fuselage and the Typhoon snapped onto its back falling at high speed into the ground near the small hamlet of Sugdon, the remains of the tail fell nearly a mile away by Isombridge , later investigations came to the conclusion that the planes port elevator detached causing the loss of the tail .

Sadly F/o McDunnough a popular and good pilot lost his life in the crash and was buried within sight of the crash at High Ercall’s St Michael and All Angels church.

Today a pleasant 2 mile walk passes the field where the main part of the plane fell which is now under a Beet crop, and then on to where the tail impacted. Though nothing shows of this loss on the ground, in the church you can find McDunnoughs grave next to 2 other RAF Graves in a quiet corner

Ablemarle V1609 ,Hartford,Cheshire, 15 april 1944 42 OTU RAF Ashborne

A drive out to Cheshire to find 2 sites.

In the warm days of April 1944 the pace of training was accelerating across England for D Day. Ablemarle aircraft of 42 OTU RAF Ashbourne, Derbyshire were to play a key part in operation 'TONGA ' the air dropping of the 6th airborne over Normandy.

Ablemarle Mk2 V1609 took off with its crew of 5 on a training flight to RAF Tilstock Shropshire. Climbing into the sunny day the crew set course, but some time later in the small village of Hartford locals heard the approach of a plane. This plane grew closer and passed over Chester Road it then began a turn to pass over again this time lower. V1609 turned and dropped lower, but on this pass the crews luck ran out clipping the chimney of a cottage in a row called 'The Villas', the damaged plane fell and crashed across the road into a wall and broke up over farm land on Grange Farm behind the wall.

The rear turret was thrown onto the road with its injured occupant trapped inside, locals ran to help but sadly only the Gunner was saved from the crew of 5.

On the street today nothing shows but a small plaque placed on the wall next to the crash site, this happened after local objections to a housing development on the site and fears that these young men would never be remembered after the area was put under tarmac.

Across the road the villas still stand and if you look carefully you can see the rebuilt chimney on the end of the row. One of the crew lost, Sgt Aubrey Graham Crowe, lived a few doors down from this house and it is likely the crew fell into a all too common trap of performing high jinks over a family home as they were 50 miles off the intended track.

Sgt Crowe rests in a family plot in St Johns church overlooking the crash site.

Crew lost in V1609 =

F/Sgt R.P.H.Brown

W/o F.A.Andrew

F/Sgt A.G.Crowe

F/Sgt J.Crichton

Survived =

Sgt A.Ewen

 

Spitfires P7304 and P7444 collision, 22nd August 1943 60 OTU RAF Rednal, Hincks Plantation Telford

22^ND August  1943 two 60 OTU Mk2A  Spitfires sat waiting for their young pilots at RAF Rednal, Shropshire. The pilots both Belgian exiles Sgt J.J.Albert  and P/o H.M.Goldsmit  who were training to fight on for the UK, boarded the Spitfires and taxied out on a combat training mission over Shropshire. The pilots commenced a turning fight near Newport and during this the aircraft P7304 [Albert] and P7444[Goldsmit] collided, P7304 went out of control diving into soft ground at Hinks Plantation not far from Donnington , Telford with the sad loss of the pilot Sgt Albert, P7444 limped away.  There is some debate where  P/o Goldsmit made for to land his damaged plane, but as RAF High Ercall is very close seems it would have been a  good place to get down ASAP .

 

In 1977 WARG [Wartime aircraft recovery group ] carried out a dig at the site and found many remains including the battered engine, these are now on show in the fantastic museum on Sleap Airfield near Shrewsbury. Also on the access road at the old RAF Rednal  a memorial to Sgt J.J.Albert  is visible in a small fenced area .

 

I cannot say whether the Spitfire model in a garden near Hinks Plantation is to do with this loss, the codes are not of P7304 and I couldn’t find the owner to ask but I like to think it’s a fitting reminder.

 

Whitley P4939 Sandleigh recreation ground, Wotton, RAF Abingdon, April 29th 1941 10 OTU

Behind the houses of Sandleigh near RAF Abingdon is a quiet play area, here on the night of April 29^th 1941 Whitley P4939, 10 OTU crashed with the sad loss of its 4 crew.

 

At 1.15am Whitley P4939 lifted off from RAF Abingdon, the young crew were to fly training circuits and landings over Abingdon. As the plane climbed away over Wotton, the plane’s nose was seen to drop and lose height. the pilot tried to correct but pulled up too sharply and the heavy bomber stalled, falling on to Sandleigh Recreation Ground, Sandleigh, Wotton.

 

 Standing on the playground today no trace can be seen of this sad loss.

 

Crew of P4939

F/O  L.S.Bradburn [pilot]

Sgt  V.G.Pledge  [pilot]

Sgt  R.N.Birkhead [wireless op ]

Sgt  D.F.Percival  [wireless 

B-17G 44-8198 379th Bomb group RAF Kimbolton , 10th May 1945 River Mead,Braintree Essex

A work trip gave me a chance to find this touching memorial .

On May 10th 1945 Just 2 days after VE day over the town of Braintree, Essex a flight of B-17G’s of the 379th Bomb group based at RAF Kimbolton, Cambridge were heading on an observation trip over Germany to show crews and base personnel bomb damage inflicted on cities.

Flying in close formation 44-8198 and 44-8813 were at 1200ft, 44-8198 got caught in the unseen danger of turbulence from another aircraft ahead, causing the plane to veer and collide with

44-8813. 8813’s props tore into its fellow B-17 shearing off 8198’s tail but luckily the pilot of 8813 managed to keep control and limp back to base where it landed safely but damaged. Mortally wounded 8198 fell in two parts, the tail section hit ground near Woolpack Lane, Braintree and the main section impacted a market garden close to the monastery near Bradford Street, Bocking, sadly all 11 souls on board were lost.

garden close to the monastery near Bradford Street, Bocking, sadly all 11 souls on board were lost.

 In a quiet area of woods in River Mead, Bocking, a memorial marking the sad events of May 1945 was unveiled on 10th May 2015 by locals and relatives. A part of the bomber remains on display at Ridgewell Airfield Museum.

Crew of 44-8198

1st Lt. Tom G Piers

2nd Lt. William F Powell

2nd Lt. Paul A Massina

Passengers

Cpl. George H Miller

1st Lt. Irving Nussbaum

M/Sgt. Wagner F Crane

T/Sgt. Jerrome A Grears

S/Sgt. Merrill J Blanck

S/Sgt. Leslie G Lusk

S/Sgt. Robert J Brookman

Tech. Cpl. Walker W Wallace

Lancaster RF124 L-ES, 630 Sqn Lichfield Road, Wednesfield, Wolverhampton 17th may 1945 630 Sqn RAF East Kirby

On the afternoon of the 17th May 1945 in the quiet street of Lichfield Road, Wednesfield, Wolverhampton, locals heard and saw a Lancaster bomber in trouble. It dropped out of the cloud base the crew struggling with the failing bomber avoided nearby houses attempting a forced landing on a cricket ground. Sadly the bomber impacted into Lichfield Road with the loss of all 7 crew on board, the bomber totally disintegrated leaving a crater in the road and wreckage spread over a wide area. The RAF cleared the remains into the crater and sadly the crew were also interned with their plane, a service was held at the crash site before the road reopened.

The Lancaster a B Mk1 coded RF124 L-ES, 630 Sqn flying from RAF East Kirby was on a non-operational cross country when something went wrong with one or more of the engines, causing the plane to lose height and to attempt a forced landing. This was the last flight before 630 Sqn began to be run down after the cessation of hostilities, it was also the first bomber command loss after the end of WW2 in Europe.

At the site today there is nothing to show of the accident, but on the 17th of May 2020 a moving memorial was unveiled near the site by the Wednesfield History Society and the City of Wolverhampton Council.

 Crew of RF124

F/o Bernard Hall

F/o Ronald James O'Donnell

Sgt Reginald Henry Smith

F/o Victor Francis Dobell Meade

Sgt Gordon Leonard Rabbetts

Sgt Vincent Reginald Woodburn Southworth

Sgt John Alfred Sills