ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 108264
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| Date: | Friday 14 April 1944 |
| Time: | |
| Type: |  Lockheed P-38J Lightning |
| Owner/operator: | 554th FTSqn /496th FGp USAAF |
| Registration: | 42-67782 |
| MSN: | 2293 |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 1 |
| Aircraft damage: | Destroyed |
| Location: | Liverton Mines, Loftus, North Yorkshire -
 United Kingdom
|
| Phase: | En route |
| Nature: | Military |
| Departure airport: | RAF Goxhill /AAF Sta.345 |
| RAF Goxhill, Lincolnshire |
At around 12.30 hours on 14th April 1944 three Lockheed Lightnings took off from their base at RAF Goxhill, on the south bank of the River Humber in North Lincolnshire. They were all to take part on a high altitude formation flight. In the lead aircraft was 1st Lt James P Cole, number two was 2nd Lt Howard E Wilcox and number three was 2nd Lt Walter F Perra. Wilcox's aircraft was the mishap aircraft 42-67782 "B9-H" of the 554th FTS,496th FG, USAAF.
All three aircraft climbed to 7,000 feet over the base after forming up at about 2,500 feet and they then headed north climbing in formation to 25,500 feet where there was a slight haze although this did not affect visibility. At this altitude, the pilot of the lead aircraft would later report, he put them at approximately 10 miles north of Scarborough and 15 miles in from the sea, (over the middle of the North Yorkshire Moors).
To get to this height took about 25 minutes. Once at this height they leveled out and flew in formation for a few minutes. Lt Wilcox had requested that the descent be slower than normal as he had a slight cold. After making a sharp turn all aircraft began to descend at about 3,000 feet per minutes in a north-easterly direction and making turns as they went to 18,000 feet.
At this altitude the lead pilot called for the other two aircraft to formate on him again. Number two, Wilcox was no-where to be seen and there was no response from him on the radio. Both lead and number three aircraft circled to try and find Lt Wilcox but they saw or heard nothing. The lead pilot radioed base to request they contact him but there was again no reply.
Both other P-38 Lightnings returned to base and landed at 13:30 hours and nothing more was heard from the missing pilot or aircraft.
Lt Wilcox's aircraft, it was found, had suffered a failure in the tail section but this had not actually caused control to be lost in the first instant. The part of the aircraft joining the two tail booms had broken away in flight. Control of the aircraft was lost well above the estimated 6,000 feet where this occurred.
The Lightning crashed at 13:25 hours at high speed and struck the ground inverted in a ploughed field at a shallow angle near Loftus. The tail unit was found some distance away in fields around Loftus. The aircraft's ammunition boxes were also found some distance away and investigation showed that ammunition had exploded in the aircraft before impact and that some of the .5 calibre cannon rounds had struck the pilot whilst in the air.
The pilot would have stood little chance of surviving a strike by any of the calibre ammunition in the aircraft and even less of a chance of surviving the impact with the ground and was possibly not alive when the aircraft hit the ground, the wreckage then caught fire which completely destroyed what remained of the aircraft on the ground
Pilot: Pilot - 2nd Lt Howard E Wilcox USAAF, of Los Angeles, California. Initially buried Brookwood Cemetery, London. Since returned to a cemetery in California, USA.
Sources:
1. http://www.usaafdata.com/?q=node/144945
2. http://www.aviationarchaeology.com/src/AARmonthly/Apr1944O.htm
3. http://www.yorkshire-aircraft.co.uk/aircraft/planes/north/67782.html
4. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liverton_Mines
5. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RAF_Goxhill
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 09-Jan-2015 00:36 | Dr. John Smith | Updated [Cn, Operator, Total fatalities, Total occupants, Other fatalities, Location, Phase, Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, Narrative] |
| 09-Jan-2015 00:38 | Dr. John Smith | Updated [Source] |
| 23-Mar-2020 08:44 | DG333 | Updated [Operator, Departure airport, Operator] |
| 27-Mar-2020 21:46 | Xindel XL | Updated [Operator, Operator] |
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