Forums Forums Wirral History : Chasing the Past Wirral History P47 Thunderbolt crash 1943

Mention of the 1944 crash of a P-47 Thunderbolt at Saughall Massie in last weeks Wirral Globe Clicky , reminded me of another one of my late fathers stories that I grew up with. Different incident, but the same type of aircraft.

In 1943, he was on the foreshore at Magazine Village, Bromborough, and heard a loud 'Bang' and looked up to see a P-47 Thunderbolt fighter plunging vertically out of the sky in the Speke direction, followed by a parachute. The plane went straight into the river, and before the pilot followed it, my Grandfather and his colleague, Frank Rogers got into a small punt, and rowed as hard as they could in the direction of the crash. My father said he had never a seen a dinghy move so fast. When they arrived at the scene, the pilot was on the front of a motor launch, smoking a cigarette, and he waved at his exhausted would-be rescuers. My father was told that the pilot had landed on a sandbank, and never even got his feet wet!

How true that bit was, I don't know, but the incident is almost certainly the one recorded here: Clicky

He always said that the bang he heard was the plane breaking the sound barrier in the dive, but maybe it was just the engine explosion mentioned in the report? Hard to say at this distance in time.

Anyway - at least this post preserves one of his experiences for posterity.

Thats amazing, thanks for sharing

Thank you for sharing
Its now preserved