On 29th May 1944 the crew of this aircraft were undertaking a local flying exercise out of Scorton airfield with the 422nd Night Fighter Squadron, USAAF (who were a P.61 Black Widow squadron). The pilot was to practice flying on instruments and they had taken off at 10.50hrs. Whilst flying very low in the Wensleydale area the aircraft struck a tree in Swinithwaite village and crashed soon afterwards at 11.25hrs, cartwheeling into the ground and breaking up across a small field. The aircraft was destroyed and the crew of two were killed. Earlier in the morning this aircraft had been flown by another crew of two for just over an hour with no problems reported. The Unit had been at Scorton about three weeks prior to this incident and was appears to have been their first fatal accident, they were almost certainly training for their eventual move at the end of June into the European Theatre of Operations.
Pilot - 2nd Lt Gale Richard Allman USAAF (0-748884), aged 22, of Zanesville, Ohio, USA. Buried Memorial Park Cemetery, Zanesville, Ohio, USA.
Radio Operator - F/O Walter James Samus USAAF (T-180006), aged 25. Of Jersey City, New Jersey, USA. Buried Holy Cross Cemetery, North Arlington, New Jersey, USA.
Gale Allman (pictured above) was born on 10th November 1921 in Zanesville, Ohio, USA and was the son of Carlos and Mildred Allman, in the 1930 US Census they were living on Playford Avenue, Zanesville City, Muskingum County, Ohio. His father was working as a mine clerk at a coal mine. Gale had an older sister called Jean, he was married to Ruth and left a young daughter. He was a P.61 Black Widow pilot undertaking local flying in the squadron's run-about aircraft at the time of his death.
The crash site is on private farmland near Swinithwaite village, air historians Ken Reast, Eric Barton and Albert Pritchard located the site with
permission from the landowners some years ago. The tree the aircraft struck still shows damage to this day.
Walter Samus was born on 1st June 1918 in New Jersey and was the son of John and Kathryn Samus who were both Polish immigrants moving to the USA in 1913. He had a younger brother Joseph and a sister Regina. In the 1930 US Census his father was working as a longshoreman and the family were living on Liberty Avenue, Jersey City, Hudson County, New Jersey.
