Date:	Tuesday 26 January 1943
Time:
Type:	Lockheed P-38G Lightning
Owner/operator:	82nd FSqn /78th FGp USAAF
Registration:	42-12928
MSN:
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 1
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	Baxton Fell, Lancashire, England -   United Kingdom
Phase:	En route
Nature:	Ferry/positioning
Departure airport:
Destination airport:

Narrative:
Mid January 1943 saw the decision being made to urgently ship the US 8th Air Forces P-38 Lightning aircraft to North Africa and to re-equip the 78th Fighter Group with P-47 Thunderbolts for their forthcoming escort duties. This required the P-38s to be flown to BAD 3 (Base Air Depot) Langford Lodge in Northern Ireland for the required modification for use in dusty climates, before they were flown on to North Africa.

Early on the morning of the 26th January a large group of some 45 such aircraft were en-route to Ireland from the groups base at Goxhill in Lincolnshire, when they encountered heavy cloud over the North of England. Struggling to maintain formation in deteriorating visibility, two of the aircraft collided over the high ground of the Trough of Bowland and fell to earth almost immediately. They were the P-38G-10-LO 42-12905 flown by 1st Lt. Henry L. Perry of 83rd FS and the P-38G-10-LO 42-12928 flown by 2nd Lt. Stephan L. White of 82nd FS. Neither pilot made any apparent attempt to escape their stricken aircraft, perhaps due to injury, or having been killed in the initial collision and the two aircraft crashed with a mile and a half of each other on the bleak Lancashire moorland below.

The same day a further 78th Fighter group pilot was lost en route to North Africa, ferrying one of the modified P-38s from Ireland. The loss of these three pilots was a serious blow to moral within the group as they were the first casualties since arriving in England.

Both aircraft crashed close by, one at Dunsop Fell and the other at Baxton Fell. As the official investigation records were still unavailable in the US archives, it was not possible to establish with any certainty which crash site is actually the remains of which aircraft until 2008. Then, fragments and panels bearing aircraft serial number and/or constructor’s number were found on both sites - finally proving beyond doubt the identity of each crash site.

The P-38 42-12905 crashed at Dunsop Fell. The crash site, although easier to find than that on Baxton Fell, contains far less wreckage and is spread over a larger area of the moor, suggesting that 42-12905 may have broken up in the air. Also the ground is much more marshy - it is in fact an important water catchment area - and it is possible some wreckage lies buried, though there have been a number of investigations of this site by enthusiasts in the past. Also it is interesting to note that whilst the ammunition boxes recovered from 42-12928 were empty, it is still possible to find live 20mm ammunition on the Dunsop Fell site and care should be exercised to avoid picking up unfamiliar items.

The crash site of the P-38 42-12928 on Baxton Fell is the more substantial of the two with a couple of fairly large sections of wing remains present, surrounding an area where part of the aircraft clearly burnt out. Several years ago an enthusiast had gathered together a number of sections of "Alclad" skinning and pieced them together like a jigsaw puzzle, revealing the shape of part of the underside of the center section of the P-38, suggesting that the aircraft had impacted inverted. Also on one visit in the 1980s signs of recent digging were noted together with two stainless steel ammunition containers from the aircraft’s nose, one for .50 calibre and the other for the 20mm cannon. It appeared the digger had been disturbed and forced to abandon his prize, needless to say the two items were found a good home! Despite such activities much of the wreckage still lies at the site, providing a memorial to a pilot killed on what should have been a routine flight on the eve of going into action.

3.http://www.peakdistrictaircrashes.co.uk/crash_sites/pennines/lockheed-p-38g-42-13928-baxton-fell/
4.http://www.peakdistrictaircrashes.co.uk/crash_sites/pennines/lockheed-p-38g-42-12905-dunsop-fell/
5.http://raf-112-squadron.org/78thfghonor_roll_mto.html
6.http://www.joebaugher.com/usaf_serials/1942_1.html
7.http://www.streetmap.co.uk/place/Baxton_Fell_in_Lancashire_478611_567611.htm

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
26-Jan-2017 13:09	Laurent Rizzotti	Added
19-Mar-2020 18:42	DG333	Updated [Operator, Source, Operator]