A-20 Havoc (DB-7B Boston III) AL381 at Tholthorpe airfield.
This aircraft was part of 447th Sub Depot, 541 Group, USAAF and on 24th February 1945 the crew of it were flying a training flight. On board with the highly ranked pilot was a passenger, they were en route to "AAF.110" Polebrook and flying over the Vale of York when the aircraft began to run out of fuel. The pilot throttled back the engines to try and save the remaining fuel. The nearest airfield was Tholthorpe so, after circling the airfield they prepared to land their for re-fuelling. When the throttles were moved forward the engines failed to respond. Being fairly low in height the undercarriage legs were only partly lowered by the time the pilot made a hurried landing. Passing low over the control tower and flying in a curve the aircraft landed down wind at 16.59hrs on the grass with the port undercarriage leg still up. The aircraft came to rest with a damaged port propeller, engine and engine nacelle. An air lock in the fuel system probably caused the engine problem. The aircraft was repaired on site at Tholthorpe and later flown out. A photograph of the damaged aircraft exists in the USAAF accident report and a photograph of what is probably the same but repaired aircraft also exists on the "Fold-3" website with it's replaced engine and propeller being run-up.
The aircraft carried an RAF serial number in AL381 so would have been known as a Boston and was part of a batch originally ordered by the French Air Force in May 1940. The order was later transferred to the British RAF but was then retained by the USAAF. This aircraft had been used as a target towing aircraft for part of its time in the UK as well as a basic transport and general flying "hack" aircraft.
Pilot - Col. Eugene Allen Romig DFC USAAF (0-21856).
Passenger - Cpt. Philip T Straus USAAF (0-1703250).
Eugene Romig was born in Ohio, USA in 1918. He graduating from the West Point Military Academy in 1939 and when he arrived in the UK in October 1942 he was in the rank of Major and the Commanding Officer of 359th Bombardment Squadron, 303rd Bomb Group. On his sixth mission on 20th December 1942 he was serving as the Co-Pilot of B-17 41-24581 'The 8 Ball' on a mission to bomb a target at Romilly-sur-Seine, France. The aircraft sustained suffered damage and the pilot ordered the crew to bale out over England while he and Romig crash-landed at Bovingdon. His DFC may have been awarded for this. By January 1944 he was names as being the youngest Heavy Bomber Group Commanding Officer in the European Theatre. He was serving with the 351st Bombardment Squadron on D-Day. He died in 1992 in Calfornia, USA.