ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 144734
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| Date: | Friday 31 December 1943 |
| Time: | 16:30 |
| Type: |  Lockheed F-5A Lightning |
| Owner/operator: | 7th PRGp /22nd PRSqn USAAF |
| Registration: | 42-13322 |
| MSN: | 42-13322 |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 1 |
| Aircraft damage: | Destroyed |
| Location: | Harcombe Farm, Marshfield, Gloucestershire -
 United Kingdom
|
| Phase: | Unknown |
| Nature: | Military |
| Departure airport: | RAF Mount Farm/AAF Sta.234 Oxfordshire |
| RAF Mount Farm, Oxfordshire |
At 14:00hrs 2nd Lt. Jack Tuggle Jamison took off from AAF Station 234 Mount Farm to photograph local 'targets' in the Okehampton area. This basically refers to a photo recce training flight. Lt Jamison was scheduled to land at 15:30hrs back at AAF 234 Mount Farm.
At 16:30hrs there was still no sign of Lt Jamison and as nothing had been heard from him an overdue action was taken. On 1st January 1944 word was received that an F-5A had crashed on Harcombe Farm in Gloucestershire and approx 4 miles south west of Charmy Down aerodrome. Later word received was that this was the aircraft of 2nd Lt. Jamison and that he was dead. The cause of the accident was investigated at the time but a cause for the crash could not be found. At the time of the crash Lt. Jamison had completed 91 solo flying hours on the P38 and 67 on the mark F-5A model. He had received his pilots wings on 20th May 1943.
The cause of this crash like so many would remain unknown until the Severnside Aviation Society carried out an excavation of the crash site on 9/10th June 1984. The engine throttle controls were found during the excavation and these were in the shut-off position which is where they would have been in the event of a double engine failure. It is likely from this information that Lt. Jamisons F-5A developed double engine failure in which case he would have had to shut off the throttles, turn into the wind and attempt to find somewhere suitable to put his aircraft down.
From the information gained through the S.A.S excavation it appears that during a turn the P38 may have over-banked and almost turned over onto its back, lost altitude very rapidly causing it to crash into a stream bed at Harcombe Farm. The excavation recovered both engines, some propeller blades, fuselage and wing sections all in remarkably good condition. After further research it would appear that the accident was witnessed by two local people who saw the P38 coming out of the low cloud at high speed and the engines were making a backfiring sound, the aircraft was seen to dive into the ground at said location. The Allison engines that powered the P38 were known to be very temperamental in English weather conditions and were prone to a host of technical issues including engine explosions.
Sources:
Information other than basic details from the official crash report was obtained from Andy "Badger" Long and myself-Tim Heath, MIA Group 2012.
Images:
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 31-Mar-2012 09:53 | Anon. | Added |
| 31-Mar-2012 09:53 | harro | Updated [Aircraft type, Destination airport, Source] |
| 31-Mar-2012 09:54 | harro | Updated [Aircraft type, Destination airport, Source] |
| 06-May-2012 11:10 | Anon. | Updated [Destination airport, Source] |
| 09-May-2012 11:12 | Anon. | Updated [Destination airport, Source, Narrative] |
| 12-Sep-2013 23:45 | angels one five | Updated [Aircraft type, Operator, Location, Departure airport, Destination airport, Narrative] |
| 08-May-2016 16:55 | Anon. | Updated [Narrative] |
| 17-Sep-2019 20:34 | Nepa | Updated [Operator, Operator] |
| 27-Mar-2020 21:16 | Xindel XL | Updated [Operator, Departure airport, Destination airport, Operator] |
| 16-Jan-2021 07:59 | Anon. | Updated [Operator] |
| 25-Jan-2021 21:15 | Anon. | Updated [Operator, Departure airport, Destination airport, Operator] |
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