Hudson Crew Crash-B-17G 42-38085
On the 27th March 1944 the USAAF 447th Bombardment Group took off in their Boeing B-17G 'Flying Fortress' from Rattlesden Airfield, Station 126. This was the 40th mission for the group and the objective was to bomb airfields being used by the Lutfwaffe at Merignac and Chartes in France. 1st Lt Wesley G Hudson and his crew had an issue before take-off with their assigned ship, so swapped to the reserve aircraft s/n 42-38085. This turned out to be an unfortunate twist of fate for them. At 10.12 hours they lifted off from runway 24 into a thick fog, flying control lost sight of the plane immediately but all appeared to be normal.
At 10.17 the aircraft crashed at this spot where you stand today.
All 10 crew were killed. Excerpt of Accident Report Description - "From eyewitness accounts it is learned that flames and thick smoke were seen trailing from the right wing. After circling once and rocking side to side, it made a turn towards the airfield, gained a little altitude, then went very low, climbed steeply and then dived into the ground. The engine note was said to be variable. This could indicate a runaway propeller or could have been the normal change in rpm after take-off followed by emergency power in a sudden attempt to climb. The bomb load exploded a few minutes after Impact and left a cone shaped crater 12ft deep by 30ft wide". The impact point crash wasn't officially established. However, around the time of the incident, was a couple of miles from, and nearly on the extended centre line of the active runway which indicates Lt Hudson could have been executing, with great precision, a very difficult manoeuvre whilst flying blind and under instrument conditions. It is thought he was trying to return his burning plane to a runway obscured by fog, but the intensity of the fire denied him time to make the airfield. The cause of the rumours were circulating about German infiltrators at Rattlesden and that Hudson's aircraft could have been the subject of sabotage. While the official report makes no mention of this allegation, it is reasonable to assume that if this were true, the matter in all probability would have been kept from those who maintained and flew the aircraft to save their morale and spirits.
Text from memorial sign by James E Penwell