ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 116101
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| Date: | Friday 14 January 1944 |
| Time: | |
| Type: |  Republic P-47D Thunderbolt |
| Owner/operator: | 495th FTGp USAAF |
| Registration: | 42-7925 |
| MSN: | |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 1 |
| Aircraft damage: | Destroyed |
| Location: | on the banks of the River Weaver, Nantwich, Cheshire, England -
 United Kingdom
|
| Phase: | En route |
| Nature: | Training |
| Departure airport: | |
At about 14:00 hrs on 14 January 1944 two flights of P-47s of 495th FTG USAAF left Atcham near Shrewsbury with an instructor as flight leader. They climbed to between 22 and 24,000 ft where the formation carried out a cross over turn. After completing the turn the flight leader was aware that one aircraft from ’purple’ section was no longer in the formation. A trainee pilot in the other section had noticed the No.3 in ’purple’ oscillating left/right and up/down during the turn, but generally holding formation. Once he completed the turn he glanced across and could only see two of the three aircraft in the other section.
The flight leader attempted to contact the missing pilot, Lt Arthur L. Brown by radio as did the ground controller but neither was able to make contact.
After this another flight in the area saw an aircraft carrying what was described as ’crazy aerobatics’ at altitude before going into a spin / dive from which it did not recover.
Brown’s P-47D Thunderbolt 42-7925 of 552nd FTS crashed on the edge of the town of Nantwich in Cheshire. It crashed on the banks of the River Weaver close to houses on Shrewbridge Road and sank in into quicksand. Neither Brown’s body nor the main structure of the plane was ever recovered.
The investigating officers concluded that the strange manoeuvring and lack of radio contact was most likely caused by Lt Brown becoming unconscious due to a failure within the oxygen system.
In response to the accident report representatives of the Commanding General 8th AF suggested that the crash was not entirely due to mechanical failure as there were means of getting oxygen should the standard auto mix fail. However this would have required the pilot to recognise the onset of anoxia before losing useful consciousness, which is recorded as being up to several minutes at the altitude the loss of control occurred at, and selecting one of two alternative settings for the oxygen equipment.
Brown is honoured every year. Wreaths of poppies are laid at the memorial to the 23-year-old U.S. Army Air Force Lieutenant on the banks of the river. Locals believed he steered its fighter away from homes that day and rather than bail out, Brown stayed at the controls to avoid plunging into the town centre and saving countless lives.
Among the small amount of wreckage found at the scene was a valve rocker arm from the plane’s engine. Harold Forster, then living in Station View, kept the item and it remained in Mr Forster’s family until 2012 when it was sold at auction.
Sources:
http://www.peakdistrictaircrashes.co.uk/crash_sites/midlands/republic-p-47d-42-7925-nantwich/
http://web.archive.org/web/20140812054807/http://www.warhistoryonline.com:80/war-articles/relic-of-wwii-p-47-thunderbold-which-crashed-in-nantwich-to-be-auctioned.html
http://www.aviationarchaeology.com/src/AARmonthly/Jan1944O.htm
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nantwich
https://www.streetlist.co.uk/address/Shrewbridge-Road-Nantwich-CW5-7AA
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 14-Jan-2017 22:20 | Laurent Rizzotti | Updated [Operator, Total fatalities, Total occupants, Location, Source, Narrative] |
| 15-Jan-2017 08:17 | Laurent Rizzotti | Updated [Nature] |
| 13-Feb-2020 18:43 | Iwosh | Updated [Operator, Location, Phase, Narrative, Operator] |
| 28-Mar-2020 20:39 | Xindel XL | Updated [Operator, Operator] |
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