ALAN WHALLEY'S WORLD

AT last, the great American plane-crash mystery has been officially cleared up for us!

That wartime tragedy, in which all aboard were killed, is still a frequent topic of conversation in and around the Sutton area - more than 50 years later.

But that half-century gap has, naturally enough, also produced unwitting half-truths, even among veteran townsfolk who actually saw the B-24 bomber plunge to earth and rushed to the crash scene.

But now we have the official version from the founder of the Burtonwood Association, an organisation committed to upholding the memory and achievements of all who served at the Burtonwood air base.

Aldon Ferguson writes in from Reading after spotting my earlier piece containing readers' memories of the Battery Cob, Sutton's most elevated piece of land into which the bomber crashed.

Aldon confirms that the plane was indeed a B-24 but sets the record straight concerning the year and the circumstances.

"It was not the summer of 1942 ," he points out, "because the Americans had only just joined the war then, and there were no such aircraft at Burtonwood.The date was much more likely to have been in 1944."

And the bomber had not been limping home from a raid, as some Sutton folk had thought. "In fact," adds Aldon, "the aircraft had only just taken off from Burtonwood, with two additional crews on board.

"They were returning to the States, on leave, after undertaking 25 successful missions across Europe."

The pilot had the fuel mixture settings for the aircraft wrong, with tragic consqequences.

"While the bomber could just get into the air, it could not climb and as he was turning in an attempt to get back to base the plane crashed."

By a cruel trick of fate the bomber struck the area's one high point - the Battery Cob, which had been a rifle practice range for British troops.

"This was the worst ever accident to occur at Burtonwood in all its years of activity - from 1940 right through until the airfield closed in around 1973."

Aldon underlines the fact that the spirit of Burtonwood is still very much alive, despite the complete withdrawal of the Yanks in recent times. For he informs me that a video, entitled "The American Affair", is newly out on release.

This depicts the history of Burtonwood, the biggest, busiest, noisiest, best and fastest of US base which housed up to 18,000 GIs at a time and brought a colourful slice of America to the North West.

For decades, they had a big influence on shaping the social life of the Warrington and St Helens areas in particular and the North West in general. Testimony of this lies with the countless local GI brides

The base started life as an RAF station and aircraft repair depot. At its peak it employed 4,000 local civilians on servicing aircraft.

It was handed over to the Americans in 1942, being transformed into the biggest air base in Europe. It was responsible for the supply, overhaul and maintenance of all US aircraft in the Mighty Eighth Air Force, plus the 8th, 9th, 12th and 15th Air Forces operating throughout Europe.

The base, which initially provided fighters for the Battle of Britain, also maintained all the aircraft supporting the Berlin Airlift and the USAF nuclear deterrent in Europe.

Within 20 wartime months, Burtonwood processed more than 4,000 B-17 Fortress bombers and 4,000 P-47 Thunderbolt fighters.

The new 34-minute video covers the story of the base and contains some contemporary newsreel footage from the second world war and from the 1950s. It also features the professional crew who spent the final year at Burtonwood following its rundown and closure.

Produced by Sunset Productions (professional makers of programmes for Granada, Carlton and Channel 5) it was commissioned by Burtonwood Heritage Ltd. and is available from a number of local outlets.

These include: W H Smiths, Warrington; Bookland in Cairo Street, Warrington; the Burtonwood motorway services shop; Asda Westbrook; and Wardleworths of St Helens.

FOR those who may be interested, the Burtonwood Association's membership secretary is Ian Murphy of 78 Chapel Lane, Burtonwood, Warrington WA5 4PQ.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.