ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 115777
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| Date: | Wednesday 19 January 1944 |
| Time: | |
| Type: |  Republic P-47C Thunderbolt |
| Owner/operator: | 27th ATGp USAAF |
| Registration: | 41-6259 |
| MSN: | |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 1 |
| Aircraft damage: | Destroyed |
| Location: | Sudbury Coppice, Sudbury, Derbyshire -
 United Kingdom
|
| Phase: | En route |
| Nature: | Ferry/positioning |
| Departure airport: | RAF Halesworth, UK |
| RAF Maghaberry |
On 19 January 1944 two P-47 took off from Halesworth in southern England for a ferry flight to Maghaberry in Northern Ireland for an overhaul. The weather en-route was poor, with 10/10ths cloud down to about 500 feet in places and rain. The two pilots attempted to remain below the cloud but eventually one of them, 2nd Lt Dennis E. Robinson of 311th Ferrying Squadron, 27th Air Transport Group USAAF, decided to climb through the cloud, even if he had very little instrument flying experience.
It was thought that shortly after climbing into the clouds he lost control of his P-47C-2-RE 41-6259 which dived out of the weather and into Sudbury Coppice, a wooded area, north of Sudbury, Derbyshire where it blew up on impact. Robinson was killed and now is buried at Cambridge American Cemetery.
The second pilot was also forced up into the clouds after he lost contact with Robinson, but was able to continue on and landed at Maghaberry.
In 2010 only very little remained on the surface of the crash site, though a crater is visible. Visitors have apparently piled scraps of aircraft wreckage on the tree stump directly beside the crash crater. It was excavated a number of years before in an attempt to find the engine. This though, had been recovered at the time as it is clearly visible the photographs that accompany the accident report.
The USAAF accident list show the crash site at Church Broughton, some miles east of the actual crash site.
The P-47C-2-RE 41-6259 had served with 78th and 56th FG, his first pilot, Harold E. Stump of 84th FS, 78th FG, nicknaming it "Bad Medecine". It was then assigned to Lt Glen Dale Schiltz, Jr., 63rd FS, 56th FG, until 18 January 1944. Schiltz scored two of his 8 victories aboard it, and another ace of 56th FG, Capt Walker Melville Mahurin, scored his first two victories with it.
Sources:
http://www.peakdistrictaircrashes.co.uk/pages/midlands.htm
http://peakwreckhunters.blogspot.fr/2010_07_01_archive.html
http://www.aviationarchaeology.com/src/AARmonthly/Jan1944O.htm
http://p-47.database.pagesperso-orange.fr/Database/41-xxxx.htm
http://www.cieldegloire.com/014_mahurin_w_m.php
http://www.cieldegloire.com/014_schiltz_g_d.php
"Osprey Aircraft of the aces 31 Special: VIII Fighter Command at War: ’Long Reach’", by Michael O’Leary. ISBN 1-85532-907-7 (profile)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sudbury,_Derbyshire
http://www.streetmap.co.uk/place/Sudbury_Coppice_in_Derbyshire_526611_446611.htm
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 19-Jan-2016 10:22 | Laurent Rizzotti | Updated [Operator, Total fatalities, Total occupants, Location, Phase, Nature, Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, Narrative] |
| 28-Mar-2020 20:40 | Xindel XL | Updated [Operator, Departure airport, Destination airport, Operator] |
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