P-38 43-28738 Article

P-38 43-28738 Moss Bank, St Helens 24th May 1944

Type	Unit	Base	Duty	Crew
P-38J	ASC, USSTAF, BAD1, Maintenance Division	BAD1, Burtonwood	Test Flight	1

At 11.30hrs on 24th May 1944, 2nd Lt John E Austin 0-742929 of the Burtonwood Maintenance Division made a normal take off from Burtonwood in P-38 43-28738 for a local test flight.

After flying for about 20 minutes Lt Austin feathered the right engine to check the feathering operation and flew on using the left engine only for about 5 minutes.

At the end of that time Lt Austin unfeathered the engine and tried to restart the right engine without any success so he refeathered it and headed for back towards Burtonwood using the left engine. When approximately 5 minutes from Burtonwood the left engine started to miss very badly after checking the switches, turning on the left booster pump after working with the mixture control and throttle, the engine caught once or twice then completely stopped.

Lt Austin then locked his shoulder harness, cut the switches and nosed the aircraft down, made a slight turn to the right after passing over the heavy anti aircraft gun battery and bellied the aircraft in downwind at a field adjacent to Cherry Tree Lane after going through a hedge (where the damage can be still seen today) and demolishing two post and rail fences the aircraft spun round ninety degrees and came to a halt in the corner of the field only yards from Cherry Tree Cottages and the Manor House.

After the aircraft came to a halt Lt Austin went to the nearest telephone and informed the local Police then contacted the Flying Control Officer at Burtonwood, he then went back to the aircraft to await the arrival of the recovery crew. Lt Austin sustained no injuries and in the investigation, it was found that the cause of the action was due to engine failure. The aircraft was a total write off.

Mr John Forster recalled the reaction of his Uncle the farmer who owned the field. His Uncle Mr Dick Forster was going up Cherry Tree Lane towards Moss Bank Road on business, as he came to a wooden post and rail fence he noticed it had been smashed down on his right as he locked left he saw his crop of oats was flattened for at least 300 yards to the boundary hedge and this was also flattened near to the heavy anti aircraft gun battery.

He was in a hurry to go out so continued up the Lane past Cherry Tree Farm towards the Manor House, where he noticed a commotion in his top field, the Home Guard, local Police and a number of civilians stood around a American aircraft, the US Airforce had not arrived at this point.

Mr Prior from the Manor House was bringing the 2nd Lt Austin a cup of tea, Mr Forster was not in a good mood with having his crops and fences being flattened and damaged, he then asked who had landed a plane in his field and how long it would be before it would be removed and the fences repaired, 2nd Lt Austin admitted it was his aircraft.As with many people at the time, the locals were jealous of the "Yanks" at Burtonwood, Mr Forster didn't even consider the pilot's well being, just saying to 2nd Lt Austin "Get it out of there quickly, if it had been an English pilot he wouldn't have crashed it!" 2nd Lt Austin replied "An Englishman couldn't even fly it !". Mr Forster was now mad and replied, "No Yank could do more than an Englishman, move it as quickly as possible". He then continued on his journey with no more concern.

Cherry Tree Lane was cordoned off and civilians were not permitted to view the scene, this led to rumours of it being a German aircraft that had been shot down.

Mr John Forster after arriving home from school on his pony managed to obtain some pieces of the aircraft to show his friends at school the next day - Sadly these souveniers have not survived the passage of time.

In 1994 when Mr John Forster was enquiring about the incident and contacted Mr Prior from the Manor House, who had been in the forces but home on leave at the time - he wouldn't tell him anything about it, as he was "Sworn to secrecy", even 50 years after the incident!

Acknowledgements: Mark Gaskell, Mr John Forster, Mike Stowe - Accident Reports