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Doing some further research into USAAF B17 and B24 squadrons, I stumbled across what seems to be a relatively little known event outside of Lancashire in WW2 which resulted in 61 deaths, including 5% of the village of Freckleton’s population of which 30+ children.
I’m a bit of an aviation history buff, and have been for many years yet it never ceases to amaze that there is always more to find and reflect upon.
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82 Years Ago today on 16:35 - Aug 23 with 608 views
I am also an aviation nut and have never heard of this tragic incident.
It was a test flight of a B24H with three crew members, which crashed in a thunderstorm. The true cause was never established.
The B24, for anyone interested, was produced by Consolidated. It is lesser known than the B17 ‘Flying Fortress’, despite half as many again being produced and service all round the world. It’s performance was also superior thanks largely to it high performance ‘Davis wing’
It was not as strong so could take less punishment and harder to fly. That meant looser formations which flying over Germany was not a good thing.
In the Freckleton accident, structural failure, lightening strike? Nobody knows and of course in that bloody war, stark though those losses sound, the daily casualty count/carnage was appalling.
Thank you for posting this.
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82 Years Ago today on 17:32 - Aug 23 with 478 views
I am also an aviation nut and have never heard of this tragic incident.
It was a test flight of a B24H with three crew members, which crashed in a thunderstorm. The true cause was never established.
The B24, for anyone interested, was produced by Consolidated. It is lesser known than the B17 ‘Flying Fortress’, despite half as many again being produced and service all round the world. It’s performance was also superior thanks largely to it high performance ‘Davis wing’
It was not as strong so could take less punishment and harder to fly. That meant looser formations which flying over Germany was not a good thing.
In the Freckleton accident, structural failure, lightening strike? Nobody knows and of course in that bloody war, stark though those losses sound, the daily casualty count/carnage was appalling.
Thank you for posting this.
For local interest the reason I stumbled across it is because the B24 in question was the Classy Chassis II which was being flight tested after being repaired to be sent to the 486th at Sudbury.
I do a lot of stuff with the societies associated with the 487th out of Lavenham and to a lesser extent the 486th out of Sudbury, plus a little with the other members of the 4th Combat Bombardment Wing out of Rattlesden and Rougham.
For local interest the reason I stumbled across it is because the B24 in question was the Classy Chassis II which was being flight tested after being repaired to be sent to the 486th at Sudbury.
I do a lot of stuff with the societies associated with the 487th out of Lavenham and to a lesser extent the 486th out of Sudbury, plus a little with the other members of the 4th Combat Bombardment Wing out of Rattlesden and Rougham.
I am also an aviation nut and have never heard of this tragic incident.
It was a test flight of a B24H with three crew members, which crashed in a thunderstorm. The true cause was never established.
The B24, for anyone interested, was produced by Consolidated. It is lesser known than the B17 ‘Flying Fortress’, despite half as many again being produced and service all round the world. It’s performance was also superior thanks largely to it high performance ‘Davis wing’
It was not as strong so could take less punishment and harder to fly. That meant looser formations which flying over Germany was not a good thing.
In the Freckleton accident, structural failure, lightening strike? Nobody knows and of course in that bloody war, stark though those losses sound, the daily casualty count/carnage was appalling.
Thank you for posting this.
One of my favourite YooToob historians, Lord HardThrasher, has some harsh words to say about the B!7
Lavenham airfield also became the temporary home of an Avro Lancaster in the 1960s.... an ex- French Maritime one that someone purchased without actually having anywhere to keep it.
I believe that this is the Lancaster now at East Kirby " Just Jane" that is used for taxying runs and will be restored to full airworthy condition at some stage
0
82 Years Ago today on 19:39 - Aug 23 with 309 views
I am also an aviation nut and have never heard of this tragic incident.
It was a test flight of a B24H with three crew members, which crashed in a thunderstorm. The true cause was never established.
The B24, for anyone interested, was produced by Consolidated. It is lesser known than the B17 ‘Flying Fortress’, despite half as many again being produced and service all round the world. It’s performance was also superior thanks largely to it high performance ‘Davis wing’
It was not as strong so could take less punishment and harder to fly. That meant looser formations which flying over Germany was not a good thing.
In the Freckleton accident, structural failure, lightening strike? Nobody knows and of course in that bloody war, stark though those losses sound, the daily casualty count/carnage was appalling.
Thank you for posting this.
The B24 was probably better known to us as the Liberator, plenty enough (roughly 2000) flew for the RAF and was particularly well known for the anti sub role with Coastal Command. Some American trivia. US actors Jimmy Stewart and Walter Matthau flew in them and JFK's elder brother Joseph was killed in one. Joseph Kennedy was a truly brave guy. The Liberator had been converted into a remote controlled bomb for action against bunkers and similar hard to blow up targets. The plan being that the explosives would be primed just before the bomber left the UK coastline when the 2 man crew would bale out. Unfortunately the whole lot detonated shortly after the explosives were primed. The plane was over Blythburgh at the time. The project was dropped.
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82 Years Ago today on 19:53 - Aug 23 with 288 views
82 Years Ago today on 19:39 - Aug 23 by mellowblue
The B24 was probably better known to us as the Liberator, plenty enough (roughly 2000) flew for the RAF and was particularly well known for the anti sub role with Coastal Command. Some American trivia. US actors Jimmy Stewart and Walter Matthau flew in them and JFK's elder brother Joseph was killed in one. Joseph Kennedy was a truly brave guy. The Liberator had been converted into a remote controlled bomb for action against bunkers and similar hard to blow up targets. The plan being that the explosives would be primed just before the bomber left the UK coastline when the 2 man crew would bale out. Unfortunately the whole lot detonated shortly after the explosives were primed. The plane was over Blythburgh at the time. The project was dropped.
Thank you all for posting. Really interesting for this aviation nut. Have any of you been to Thorpe Abbotts? It’s a great museum full of 100th bomber group memorabilia.
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82 Years Ago today on 20:51 - Aug 23 with 214 views
82 Years Ago today on 19:39 - Aug 23 by mellowblue
The B24 was probably better known to us as the Liberator, plenty enough (roughly 2000) flew for the RAF and was particularly well known for the anti sub role with Coastal Command. Some American trivia. US actors Jimmy Stewart and Walter Matthau flew in them and JFK's elder brother Joseph was killed in one. Joseph Kennedy was a truly brave guy. The Liberator had been converted into a remote controlled bomb for action against bunkers and similar hard to blow up targets. The plan being that the explosives would be primed just before the bomber left the UK coastline when the 2 man crew would bale out. Unfortunately the whole lot detonated shortly after the explosives were primed. The plane was over Blythburgh at the time. The project was dropped.
Stewart flew a number of types but in combat he flew 20 sorties on B24s.
Yes, we knew it as the Liberator and its capabilities were well suited to Britain’s needs, Coastal wise. It was largely responsible for closing the uBoat Atlantic gap. It had a nice big fuselage to provide some sort of crew space and kit, unlike the B17 whose fuselage is quite small to move around.
It tended not to be used in conjunction with B17s because if the performance differential. It was however used heavily over Europe most famously on the Ploesti raid where a lot of footage was taken.
It was a good aeroplane and popular with its crews. The single tale maritime version was called Priveteer.
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