Osprey Publishing,
NEW YORK: The AP recently reported the discovery of an American P-38 fighter plane on a beach in Wales. The plane was buried in the sand for over 60 years. Osprey, a leading military aviation publisher, has the following experts available for comment:
Tony Holmes:
“This is a truly historic find, as it is the only fighter of its type in existence in Europe and the oldest surviving combat aircraft of the USAAF's famous Eight Air Force. The official loss report read as follows; '… after 55 minutes [the aircraft] lost power in the left engine…when about two miles from the runway at 800 ft the right engine cut. [Then the] pilot turned towards the beach, undershooting and landing in about two feet of water.'”
Tony Holmes is the Executive Editor of Osprey's aviation publishing program, of which there are about 175 titles. He lives with his wife and two sons near London, England.
John Stanaway:
“What I can surmise, is that Elliott was probably a member of the 14th Fighter Group, a unit that suffered badly from inexperience and woefully deficient numbers of available P-38s during the initial Operation Torch landings in November 1942. I believe Elliott was one of those P-38 pilots who fell during the hard fighting in North Africa at the time. There were so few P-38s available that only five squadrons could be deployed against the Luftwaffe and Regia Aeronautica until late in December 1942.”
John Stanaway is author of P-38 Lightning Aces of the European Theater of Operations / Mediterranean Theater of Operations (Osprey). He is an official historian of the P-38 Association based at March Air Reserve Base in southern California. He resides in Zanesville, Ohio.
Carl Molesworth:
“What strikes me about this discovery is that it reminds us of the cruel ironies of war. Here, a P-38 turns up after 65 years under the sand. But its pilot, who apparently survived the forced landing unhurt, went missing in action some months later, and his fate remains unknown to this day.”
Carl Molesworth has specialized in producing unit histories for the USAAF fighter groups of the China-Burma-India Theater of World War II since the 1980s, interviewing surviving veterans from these little-publicized units. He lives in Mount Vernon, Washington.
