BIT OF WARTIME HISTORY LEFT BURIED ON BEACH
IT IS an incredible piece of history, protected almost permanently by nature. It is something of a miracle the remains of Lockheed P-38 Lightning fighter aircraft, which crash landed in North Wales, remain in the condition they do.
In September 1942, an American fighter plane crash landed onto a North Wales beach. The plane, presumed to be USAAF serial number 41-7677, is currently buried around two metres below the sands.
Nature has uncovered the plane just three times since it crash landed, once in the 1970s, once in 2007 and again in 2014.
The exact location of the Lockheed P-38 Lightning fighter aircraft remains confidential, to protect the plane.
It is described as one of the most significant Second World War-related archaeological discoveries in recent history and has become known as the Maid of Harlech.
In July 2019 it was given protected status by Cadw because only 28 airframes of this type of aircraft are known to survive. It is the only surviving USAAF 8th Air Force P-38 combat veteran.
The story behind the plane is that on September 27, 1942, Second Lt Robert F Elliott, 24, of Rich Square, North Carolina, left Llanbedr at 2pm on a gunnery practice mission. He climbed to 6,000ft but less than an hour into his journey, the left engine lost power.
Believing the problem to be the propeller, he tried to correct it with manual controls but then decided he would try and land. As he tried to reach the airfield, the right engine also stopped and as he glided down onto the beach, he landed in 2ft of water.
A memo from the Office of the Engineer Officer dated October 2, 1942, noted that the damage by crash landing and salt water was extensive and that it would be necessary to salvage the entire airplane.
Investigators concluded that it was carelessness on the part of the pilot which caused the issues, and that he should have switched to the main tank about 15 minutes before take-off and immediately prior to landing switched back to the reserve tanks.
Despite surviving that incident with barely a scratch, Second Lt Elliott went missing in action just months later while serving with US forces in the Tunisia campaign.
At the time of the incident, few local people were aware of it because beaches in the United Kingdom were closed to the public during the Second World War and the press was not allowed to print stories about Allied wrecks.
After the war, crowds began to return to the beach, and despite it being in a popular location, there’s no evidence of post-war encounters with the wreck being reported.
A shift in a channel through the sands revealed the plane to a family of beach walkers on July 31, 2007, but the aircraft had been partially re-covered by the shifting sands a few months later.
Seven years later, it was uncovered once more between February and November, when local aviation historian Matt Rimmer spent 120 days making regular trips to check on the plane.
While the guns have been removed, it still has its fuel load on board. It can only be presumed to be the Lockheed P-38F 41-7677 because the date plate cannot be examined – but it’s the only such plane to have been lost in Wales.
Matt’s role was to stop people interfering with the plane and to ensure its safety. The aircraft is covered by the Protection of Military Remains Act and disturbing the site in any way carries heavy penalties, but looting of such historic items is a worldwide problem.
There was fundraising to get the plane recovered, and in 2015, there was talk of a special survey to consider whether Cadw could designate the site as a “scheduled ancient monument”.
In 2019, that happened. At the time Matt said there were two options. One was to leave the plane in situ and conserve it there, the other was to remove it and carry out conservation before displaying it. But both have drawbacks, one major one being the cost and, if removed, finding a suitable site where it can be preserved and displayed.
The plane has both national and international significance.
“It’s the only one which during the war saw action in Europe,” Matt explains. “Technically it shouldn’t have survived in the condition it is in given the environment, but it has. That’s largely due to the fact it’s been buried fairly well since it ditched.”
Those who are involved in the project spare their time to protect a piece of history.
“We got an awful lot of goodwill from individuals and companies. We’ve had surveys for things like explosives, for contaminants – they were done for free and would normally have cost a lot,” Matt said. Aerial drone images were also completed for free.
In 2016, Second Lt Elliott’s nephew visited Wales for the first time to get near to the crash site and he is one of those who hopes there is a sustainable future for the historic aircraft.
The remains of this aircraft are scheduled as an ancient monument. It is also designated under the Protection of Military Remains Act 1986 which makes it an offence to interfere with the wreckage of any crashed, sunken or stranded military aircraft without a licence from the Ministry of Defence.