On 19th August 1942 the pilot of this aircraft was under taking a high altitude training flight with others of the same squadron and others from two further squadrons, this aircraft's call-sign was "Tomcat Blue 25". Whilst flying at 22,000 feet another aircraft was seen flying above them. Two aircraft were instructed to climb to find it, the pilot of this aircraft; 2nd Lt Oakley, and Lt Pennington in another P38 climbed to 34,000ft, the other aircraft was identified and they were ordered to return to the formation. Both aircraft descended too fast and too steeply and both were then seen descending vertical at high speed thought to have been around 575 mph. The pilot of the other aircraft; Lt Pennington, pulled out of the dive at 4,000 feet but not before his rear hatch had cracked and a valve in the IFF radio set had exploded. The pilot of the other aircraft, 2nd Lt Oakley, probably had passed out by the time his aircraft began to break up in the air at 5,000 feet. It was thought that he had come round and attempted to bale out at around 200 feet but was killed as his parachute failed to deploy in time. The aircraft crashed at around 10.30hrs near Brawith to the north of Thirsk. As the aircraft broke up in the air and wreckage was spread over some distance, the starboard wing and tail unit were located about a mile from the main crash site.
Pilot - 2nd Lt Charles Walter Oakley USAAF (O-421297), aged ? Of Ohio. Initially buried at Brookwood Cemetery, since returned to the USA.
Small fragments of the aircraft were located on the surface at the crash site by air historians Ken Reast, Albert Pritchard and Eric Barton in the early 2000s in the area shown in these photographs. While I have Eric's research from their visit he did not record the date.
Small items retained by Eric Barton following his locating the crash site.
The small plate shown above and below was retained by Eric Barton but he did not ever clean it. I was given it in 2022 to find a new home for so cleaned it. "Aircraft Accessories Corp. Burbank, Calif."
