The doomed plane was piloted by Lt Col Herman Gerick. The aircraft flew over the Atlantic but weather conditions deteriorated and by the time the squadron reached the English coast at dawn, they were running short of fuel.

Mr Moran, an engineer at Wiltshire College Chippenham, has carefully researched the crash.Įvents began on Februwhen 17 B-36 aircraft left their Carswell Base in Texas to fly to RAF Fairford. 'Why on earth did the crew bail out, leaving the plane and the people on the ground to their fate, when they still had enough fuel to fly for 30 miles?' 'We still don't know the full story,' he said. To mark the anniversary of the crash, Mr Moran, of Salisbury Close, wants the United States Airforce to come clean and reveal why the crash happened.

The plane could have crashed in Chippenham with a heavy death toll but fortunately it came down in an isolated location at Nethermore Woods, near Pitters Farm, at Sandy Lane. Nethermore Woods, near Pitters Farm, Sandy Lane, Lacock, Wiltshire -Īccording to a published newspaper report ('Wiltshire Gazette & Herald' 6 February 2003):įIFTY years ago on February 7 one of the world's largest aircraft crashed near Lacock, and the crash remains unexplained to this day.Ĭhippenham historian Paul Moran who has compiled newspaper reports of the accident and talked to witnesses, says the B-36 bomber, carrying top secret military equipment, flew 30 miles over the north Wiltshire countryside without pilot or crew, before plummeting to the ground.

492nd BSqn /7th BWg USAF (492nd BSqn /7th Bomb Wingg United States Air Force)

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