ESSEX HISTORIC AIRCRAFT COLLECTION
1st October 1944
P-47D THUNDERBOLT
42-25690
2nd.Lt. Dwight.Garrison.Belt
Ohio U S A.
Aircraft Coded, WZ - U
78th Fighter Group, 84th Fighter Squadron.
Service Number: 0-816033.
Born; December 21st 1921
Enlisted ; 3rd December 1942
Buried ; Green Mound Cemetery Delaware, Ohio.
Sunday afternoon on the 1st October 1944 at 14.50hrs over the sleepy village of
Greenstead Green, Halstead in north Essex children were just starting
to gather for Sunday school.
The sound of approaching aircraft high above a lone P-47 Thunderbolt from Duxford Cambridgeshire England and a B-17 Flying Fortress of the
96th BG from Snetterton Norfolk England both on a training mission to allow the gunners of the B-17 to practice in a combat situation as the Thunderbolt took a mock attacked on the the B-17 it struck the Fortress just forward of the tail-plane severing it off with Dwight possibly disabled the 7 ton fight spiralled earthbound just as the villagers were coming out of the church and running for cover the fighter appeared to veer off and crash only 200 yards away in an adjacent field.
33 Years Later
DIGGING FOR THUNDER
In early 1977 I used to have Tuesdays off from work, this was my wreck chasing day.
Deciding that this day would be the day that I would go looking for a P-47 that I had found details of in the Police Incident Files at Chelmsford, Essex, England Public Records Office over the winter of 1976/77 which simply quoted
"American fighter crashed 200yds south of Greenstead Green, church, Halstead"
arriving in the village the first thing to do was locate the church,and then the field stated and from this find the land owner and seek permission for me to enter his land to search with a metal detector to see if any remains existed of this stricken fighter and at this particular time we hand no information of which aircraft type it was other than American so the importance of finding a piece would hopefully answer this question
.
The land was owned by Sir Peter Butler, I called at the farm and he was quite happy to let me on the field and asked if I would let him know what I find. Back at the field I parked my car in about 30 yards from the field entrance in Church Road, a very large field stood before me after three hours of metal detector and field walking nothing came to light so time to pack up and go home try again in the very near future but
as I pulled out of the field there was a gentleman on his bicycle approaching from the direction of Halstead I stopped him and asked if he knew about the aeroplane that crashed in WWII he said "oh yes I was at Sunday school and we thought it was going to crash right on us",He then took me into the field where he walked about 25 - 30 yards in and said "here, its right here" metal detector on, and wow dead centre of the place I had packed my car, thank you Mr Trailor., crash site found.
Sunday 9th October 1977
8am we arrive on site The digger we hired form the land owner is ready and waiting for us and now the excitement of what may be left of the this American fighter but from the tail wheel to the propeller along with the remains of eight .5 calibre Browning Machine Guns, undercarriage legs, engine, cockpit instruments and the the sad reminder of the pilots Dwight Belt, his parachute, dingy and survial kit a 6"+4" box containing chewing gum,milk tablets, and barley sugar lumps all still preserved in their wrappers, shame he did not get to use the chute! we would have loved to of met him. The most amazing find was Dwights cigarette lighter a present from his wife when he left the USA for England, and this was duly returned to her by us soon after. the remains of 42-25690 are still extant and in storage.
info@aviationmuseum.co.uk
Photo of Dwight Garrison Belt
And below
Two photos above of the crash site taken 80 years apart.
October 1944 and September 29th 2024
Below; a copy of a poem sent to us by the pilots wife.
To Dwight
From, Helen and Daughter Elain.
Let them in peter, they are very tired;
Give them the couches where the angels sleep,
Let them wake whole again to new dawns fired
With sun not war. and may their peace be deep.
Remember where their broken Bodies lie -
And give them thing they like.
Let them make noise,
God knows how young they were to have to die!
Give swing bands not gold harps to these our boys.
Let them love peter - they have had no time -
Girls sweet as meadow wind, with flowering hair.
They should have tress and bird song, hills to climb
The taste of summer in a ripened pear.
Tell them how they are missed.
Say not to fear.It's going to be all right with us down here.
- Elma Dean
To Dwight
From, Helen and Daughter Elain.