“Two days later, as I lay on my bunk listening to the King Cole Trio, my reverie was rudely interrupted by a loud, eerie, whining drone. Suddenly, a loud thud punctuated the drone, followed by stark silence. I knew one of our planes had gone down. I prayed that the pilot had bailed out. I ran outside and climbed into my Jeep, along with a couple of fellow pilots. We could see the tell-tale plume of black smoke rising swiftly into the beautiful, sun-drenched sky. The beautiful sky gave us hope that our friend might be alright. As I plunged through the woods and rough terrain, it was impossible to see if a parachute was floating down. We finally reached a clearing in a clearing made by the Jug. Fallen trees, tree limbs, and loose dirt surrounded a crater in the earth twenty-odd feet deep and fifty-odd feet across. The plane had dived into the ground nose first and vertically!”
William M. Wheeler
Tuskegee Airman
332nd Fighter Group
302nd Fighter Squadron
“I was interested in evaluating three developments now in the P-47M. It had the new 360-degree-vision bubble canopy; it could climb to 40,000 feet without stopping to "rest" above 30,000 feet; and it had dive-recovery flaps to cure its former uncontrollable compressibility diving with no recovery possibility.”
Corky Meyer
Test pilot
“Gradually, the Group learned how to manage the Thunderbolt. Still, there was a new problem beginning to appear. Powerful fighters such as the P-47 and P-38 were encountering something relatively new to aviation; compressibility. This new generation of high-speed aircraft were capable of incredible speeds in a dive. Compressibility is a term used to describe what happens when localized airflow across a wing approaches transonic velocity. The resulting shock wave could lock the elevators as if in a vise. Pilots were running up against compressibility and they were dying. P-47’s and P-38’s were being flown straight into the ground, or even breaking up in flight. The learning curve was far steeper than it had ever been before. Pilots now had to learn how to deal with this new, terrifying phenomena. Testing showed that the Thunderbolt could be flown out of a terminal velocity dive as it descended into warmer air at lower altitudes. This is because as the plane continues down, the relative speed of sound goes up. Eventually, the aircraft’s Mach number will drop (although its actual airspeed does not) and the shock wave will dissipate, allowing the pilot to regain control again. Pilots were instructed to pull off the throttle, and avoid using too much up elevator trim. Too much trim, or too much back pressure on the stick could over-stress the airframe when the fighter began to respond to control inputs. Pilots who had flown the P-47 into compressibility came away with bruises to verify their adventure. The Thunderbolt’s ailerons would flutter as it exceeded its critical Mach limits, causing the stick to move violently from side to side; pummeling the inside of the pilot’s thighs black and blue.”
Warren M. Bodie, by the pen of Corey C. Jordan.
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P-47C Thunderbolt 41-6628 of the 495th Fighter Training Group USAAF crashed at Thorncliffe on the 3rd October 1944.
Crew / Passengers
Rank - if applicable
Service Number Position e.g. Pilot
Status
Quentin J Sella
2nd Lieutenant
O-710189 Pilot
Killed
Above is a photograph of Quentin J. Sella shortly after receiving his commission in February 1944, this appeared with his obituary in the Grand Rapids Press (one of the newspapers from the city he was from in Michigan) on the 30th October 1944. He had joined the USAAF as an officer cadet in 1942 being commissioned in early 1944. From April to September he served with the 33rd Fighter Squadron in Iceland, in June he was involved in a minor ground accident when the P-47 he was in ground looped when one brake failed. He arrived in England only a month before he was killed.
Mark stood by where the P-47 dived into the ground, being a natural spring the ground is very soft.
The aircraft had been flying as part of a 4 ship formation on a formation flying exercise, this aircraft was in the number 4 position. On entering cloud the formation became split up with the number 1 and 3 aircraft staying together and number 2 and 4 becoming separated. They were directed onto diverging courses by the flight leader to avoid the possibility of midair collisions. In the crash report it is assumed that 2nd Lt Sella became disorientated as his instruments may have been giving false reading. Because of this he lost control and the aircraft entered either a dive or spin, the aircraft fell into the ground in a vertical dive hitting very soft ground and deeply burying itself.
This photo showed the aircrafts canopy which had been jettisoned and fell some 400 yards from the crash site, 2nd Lt Sella obviously tried to bale out of his aircraft but due to the high-speed dive would have been unable to exit the cockpit due to the slipstream.
This photo shows the seen at the crash site, all that can be seen is the massive hole filled with mud and water.
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Originally posted by Widewing
I will reiterate: Brown is an idiot.
Brown is not, but you clearly are.
