P47 .RELIC. Thunderbolt Propeller Blade

Description

P47 Thunderbolt Propeller Blade.

This relic  P47 propeller blade was  excavated from P47D-11-Re, crashed April 1944 at Lindsey in Suffolk.

This aircraft was being flown by Lt George Bracken , he had only just joined this group when on the 22nd April he had to bail out of his aircraft due to the machine getting in a spin, he bailed out at 5000 ft and so was seriously injured as he struck the tail section of the plane .A board of inquiry was held and found to be pilot error. Unfortunately Lt Bracken of Chicago succumbed to his injuries on the 27th April and was laid to rest at Maddingly American Cemetery , near Cambridge. The excavation took place a few years ago unearthed most of the remains inc the fuselage ,engine ,tail section, and three of the four blades of which this is one of them.

The P47 Thunderbolt that crashed in the ditch between Rose Field and 5 Acre Field at Lindsey, in Suffolk in April 1944 was from the 56th Fighter Group based at Boxted near Colchester. This was the only American unit to fly solely Thunderbolts during their time in action. Using these machines they scored the second highest total number of kills in the Eighth Air Force and the highest number of air-to-air kills. In addition they had more ‘aces’ than any other group, including the two highest scoring men. The pilot of this aircraft though, had only joined the Group in April and had probably never flown a mission.
As a replacement pilot Lt George M Bracken would have had to fly several times with an experienced pilot to be ‘checked out’ before being tested in combat. Mr Rex Morley clearly remembered witnessing the accident that day as he drilled linseed a couple of fields away from the crash. As he put it ‘there were three or four of them messing about, when one of them started coming straight down. He was coming down absolutely straight at full throttle. Eventually the chap bailed out leaving the plane to crash right into the ditch. The pilot came down about 70yds away on the edge of a pond. He was quite badly hurt. Afterwards the Americans just came and picked up what was left laying on the surface, they never dug anything out’.
From the official Report of Aircraft Accident
“On 22 April 1944, Lt Bracken was flying on a local operational training mission. During a rat-race the flight executed an Immelman. In a brief statement made to the Group Surgeon just after the accident, Lt Bracken said that he blacked out during the manoeuvre and upon recovery found himself in a spin. He said further that he made two unsuccessful attempts to get the aircraft out of the spin. He then baled out at an altitude of approximately 5000ft and was seriously injured when he struck the tail assembly of the aircraft.

P47 Thunderbolt Propeller Blade

This is a heavy item so postage will have to be paid .

Lt George Bracken