The Mystery of the WW2 Plane Crash at Chartridge

During the war, an American aircraft crashed in Chartridge near Chesham, but the details remained a mystery. We can now tell the story of what happened…

Memories of Air Crash

The late Chartridge resident, John Olding, recounted his recollection of a plane crash. John lived at 2 Chapel Cottages, Chartridge, which was directly opposite the Homestead Farm where William (Bill) Clark lived. One day during the war, John said he heard a tremendous ‘Whoosh and thump’. He went outside and met Bill who said, ‘something has crashed at the back of the farm’. They called the local police constable and went to the field, where they were overwhelmed by the smell of aviation fuel. ‘Put that cigarette out’ the constable ordered.

In the morning, they called up Mr. Catling, a local garage owner, who then called Captain Murray at the USAAF base at Bovingdon Airfield. He sent a ‘Queen Mary’, which was the local name for a 60-foot-long recovery vehicle. The aircraft engines and cockpit had sunk deep into the soft clay ground, with the broken wings and fuselage lying on the field. These were loaded onto the vehicle and removed. They dug down where the cockpit was, finding a lot of plexiglass. The area was cordoned off, the holes were filled in, nothing more was said, and that was that. Bill Clark’s son, Maurice, who still lives at the farm, recalls his father saying a body was recovered which was pulled out using the parachute cords. The locals were never told his name nor where he was buried so they could not make a memorial for him.

Chartridge School

In June 2023, the headmaster of Chartridge Combined School tasked the Year 6 pupils with finding out about the crash, and they came up with nothing new. Chris Howell, a former pupil, was determined to get to the bottom of the story. Maurice helped to pinpoint the actual crash site on a map.

William George Turner

With a bit of determined investigation and research, and a few dead ends and red herrings along the way, Chris Howell slowly put the story together. We now know the name of the pilot, who was an American called William George Turner. He was born in 1919 at Hanford, in Kings County, California, USA to William George and Edna Grace Turner. It seems that shortly after he was born, the family moved to Eugene, Oregon, where his sister Carol was born in 1921, later settling at Jackson, Oregon.

In the Military

William Turner joined the military on September 16, 1940 in Oregon. Following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbour in December 1941, the USA formally joined the war on the Allied side. After this William Turner joined the 55th Fighter Group based at McChord Field Air Force Base, near Seattle in Washington State. McChord trained numerous bombardment squadrons during the war. On August 17, 1943, whilst at McChord, William Turner, aged 24, married Annabelle Julia Washburn, aged 19, near the base. He was married just a few days before his unit moved to England. His squadron was then stationed at RAF Nuthampstead, functioning as USAAF Station 131, near Royston, on the Herts/ Essex border.

What Happened

Piecing together the story, we can work out that on December 1, 1943, 2nd Lt William Turner was on a non-operational flight with 338th Fighter-Bomber Squadron. He flew a Lockheed Lightning P-38 aircraft out of RAF Nuthampstead. The P-38 had two engines and a central cockpit with a single seat for one pilot. This aircraft was used in aerial reconnaissance, but also was used as a long-range escort fighter and performed well at high altitudes, and it was in large-scale production during the war.

William Turner refuelled the P-38 at RAF Dunsford near Godalming in Surrey. Taking off again he seems to have flown due north with Guildford, Woking, Windsor, Amersham and Chesham below him. Over Chartridge, just north of Chesham, his aircraft got into trouble and went into a spin. The aircraft dived into the ground, where its nose sank deep into soft clay of a farmer’s field, and the fuselage broke off. He had put on his parachute and tried to bail out, but did not manage in time. Sadly, he was killed in the incident, aged just 24. He did not die in enemy action, but it seems like it was probably caused by an accident, such as engine failure.

Burial

Unusually William G. Turner was buried twice. He first was interred at the American military section of Brookwood Cemetery, near Woking in Surrey in Plot M-3-3.

From January to May 1948 these American bodies were exhumed. If the next of kin requested it, they were shipped to the United States for reburial, otherwise they were re-interred at the American Cemetery at Cambridge. On March 22, 1949 William G. Turner, was reburied in Section K Site 155 at the Golden Gate National Cemetery in San Bruno, twelve miles south of San Francisco in California. Here he has a small white military stone in the large military section.

In January 1969, Chartridge Combined School opened on former farmland, and the crash site is now under the school playing field. Children have played on the site for over 50 years without knowing the story. Intriguingly parts of the aircraft, including the engines, may still be under the ground.

Plaque

To mark the story Chris Howell and the headmaster of Chartridge School have organised a memorial for Chartridge School. A short memorial event will take place on Friday, November 29, 2024 when a plaque will be unveiled at the school, near the site of the crash, and close to the anniversary of the crash.

If anyone knows any more about the story please contact Chris Howell on chris@henryhowell.com

IMAGES

Turner 2nd Lt William G. Turner.

Grave Lt Turner’s gravestone in California.

Lockheed USAAF P-38 Lightning, similar to the one which crashed.

Howell Chris Howell checking his records at the crash site at Chartridge (Photo: Neil Rees)