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Bruce Wilson 'Red' Rowlett

Photo credit USAAF

Wartime  P-51  'Mustang'  crash in Horsford

 

This page has been created to record a wartime aircraft crash in Horsford, Norfolk, England. There are five sections to the page, as listed below. If you would like to correct, add or use any of the information provided please contact me.

 

All work is mine, unless otherwise credited.

 

Sections:

 

  • Summary

  • 'Red Mustang Down'  (a lightly dramatised account of the event)

  • Excerpts from the USAAF Accident Report: 45-8-28-516

  • Excerpts from the biography of the late Colonel Rowlett

  • Colonel Rowlett's obituary

 

Whilst this page naturally focuses on one single event it should also serve as a grateful memorial to Allied ground and aircrew personnel, from all nationalities, who were involved in taking the fight to the enemy.

 

So many of them never made it safely back home again.

Summary

 

On 28th August 1944 North American P-51D-5-NA, 44-13694, E2-B, of the 375th FS/361st FG USAAF experienced a broken oil line, resulting in a subsequent oil leak and engine fire, whilst flying an altitude training mission over Norfolk, England.  The aircraft was probably unnamed, as was the case with the previous two E2-Bs (a P-51C and P-51B).

 

 

The aircraft was based at RAF Bottisham, Cambridgeshire and flown, on that day, by 1st Lieutenant Bruce Wilson 'Red' Rowlett.  He crashed somewhere on Botany Bay Farm, Shortthorn Road, Stratton Strawless.  The aircraft accident report lists the location as  'Bottanybay Farm between Harsford and Stratton Strawless'.  It's therefore likely that the crash occurred on Horsford parish land within the farm area.

 

 

Lieutenant Rowlett's normal mount at the time is unclear, but may have been P-51D-5-NA, 44-13568, E2-A, 'Sky Bouncer', an aircraft that he had flown a month earlier, on 26th July 1944, in the legendary 'Bottisham Four' photo shoot. This is where four of the 375th FS P-51s formated on a B-17 camera plane for USAAF publicity shots. He also later flew E2-A 44-14132.

Lieutenant Rowlett in E2-A during the 'Bottisham Four' photo op.

He was in E2-B 44-13694 when he crashed over Horsford.

Photo credit USAAF.

Red Mustang Down

 

 

Monday 28th August 1944 was the day Marseille and Toulon were finally liberated. In Norfolk it was an overcast one.  Many young Broadland men and women were still flung far and wide around the world, in the service of their nation.  Farmland in the Horsford area would have been bustling with activity; rationing was tightening belts, and there was still a large part of the harvest to be brought in.

 

With the RAF and USAAF (United States Army Air Force) based in strength in the district, and particularly locally at RAF Horsham St. Faith and RAF Coltishall, villagers would have been very familiar with the sound of roaring piston engines in their sky.  But on this particular day, the sight and sound of an aircraft in trouble over Horsford is likely to have grabbed people's attention.

 

Lieutenant Bruce Wilson Rowlett, 'Red' to his colleagues, was himself no stranger to the skies of Norfolk. But his flight that day had just turned far from routine.  Only 21 years old, Red was already an experienced combat pilot. He had arrived in England with the original 375th Fighter Squadron cadre, cutting his teeth on the P-47 Thunderbolt at RAF Bottisham in Cambridgeshire.  Today Red was leading a four-ship altitude training mission in one of his squadron's P-51D Mustang fighters.

 

Part of the 361st Fighter Group, the 'Yellowjackets', the 375th Fighter Squadron had excelled in the war.  One of Red's fellow pilots, Lieutenant Urban Leonard 'Ben' Drew, later became the first Allied pilot to shoot down two German Me262 jet fighters in a single mission from his piston engined Mustang.  The squadron itself was chosen for an exclusive air to air publicity photo shoot, with four of the squadron's Mustangs formating on a B-17 camera plane.  They were the poster boys for the USAAF during the latter stages of the war, with the atmospheric photos from the shoot still world famous today and known as the 'Bottisham Four'.

 

The truth is that neither Red nor his colleagues had sought fame or glory. They were simple, hard working young men . . fighting for freedom.  On this day, in the late summer of '44, Red was fighting for his life.  As any Star Trek fan will tell you, a coolant failure is never a good thing; with smoke and flames coming from the engine in front of his cockpit, Red would definitely have agreed.  He was losing visibility, and height, fast.

 

His wing-man, 2nd Lieutenant Charles W Narvis, had made the call that there seemed to be coolant streaming from Red's Mustang.  But Red found that his coolant temperature was normal  -  his oil pressure, on the other hand, was zero lbs.  Oil or coolant, it changed nothing . . Red was in a scrape.

 

The P-51 Mustang can be more than favourably compared to the Supermarine Spitfire (although I'll have just lost the interest of some RAF veterans with that statement).  The Mustang had very long legs; it could travel much farther than other fighters.  Herman Goering, head of the Luftwaffe, is reputed to have said that he knew the war was over the moment he saw Mustangs over Berlin.  One RAF pilot himself amusingly noted that if he was in a dogfight over Berlin he'd want to be in a Spitfire . . but if he was hoping to make it back to Blighty afterwards, he'd want to be in a Mustang.

 

Red's Mustang may have had long legs but they weren't going to help him now.  The aeroplane had a single engine, and it was suffering a catastrophic failure.  With no ejection system yet fitted to Allied fighter aircraft, 'bailing out' was a tricky affair.  But with his Mustang rapidly losing height, bailing out was the experienced pilot's only option.  Red blew the canopy, unstrapped himself, fought the blinding rush of wind . . and took a leap of faith.

 

People on the ground looked on in shock and horror as the Mustang plummeted . . and then relief as Red's white silk parachute blossomed in the air behind it.  Gravity having finally gotten the better of the Mustang, it impacted with the ground.  The noise was less than people might have expected, but the resulting smoke was visible for miles.  Red's well-packed parachute didn't fail him, and he made it safely to the ground.

 

Bailing out is a dangerous and traumatic experience at the best of times.  At some point during his journey to terra firma, Red had taken a nasty knock to the head.  Fortunately farm workers rushed to his aid and, as luck would have it, a British ambulance happened to be passing close by and had seen the action.  He received swift medical attention and was rushed to RAF Coltishall hospital, a facility full of female medics and trainees. 

 

At Coltishall, it soon became apparent that Red's head trauma had caused temporary memory loss.  It was several days before he was able to recall who he was and where exactly he was based.  He was then able to make a call to his own flight surgeon.  Needless to say that on hearing his tale of memory loss, and having to  'suffer'  several days of care at the hands of young female nurses, his CO and squadron buddies eyed his story with amusing suspicion.

 

We may never know exactly why Red's crash location came to be listed as 'Bottanybay Frm, Harsford'.  Botany Bay Farm on Shortthorn Road may well have had land in Horsford back then.  I like to think that Red asked a local where he was and was answered in a strong Norfolk accent . . “'aaarrrsford”.  Either way, it would certainly have made more sense to his foreign ears than Stratton Strawless!

 

None of the beautiful P-51 Mustangs in the 'Bottisham Four' publicity photos survived the war.  But some pilots did.  Red himself went on to complete 109 combat missions from England.  He flew in the 1949 Berlin airlift, assisting the Germans he had once fought against.  A Texan Methodist, he served the USA and NATO well into the 1970s, retiring with the rank of Colonel.  He passed away in 1998, leaving a wife, two daughters and a son.

The 'Bottisham Four'.

Lieutenant Rowlett third from camera in E2-A  44-13568.

Photo credit USAAF.

Comparison shot of a Spitfire (left) and Mustang.

Photo credit <unknown>  Bing.

Writer's note

 

I've used a little artistic license in dramatising this event, but names, dates, military data and locations are as accurate as my research has been able to prove so far.  Red did suffer a head wound and temporary memory loss, he was picked up by a passing ambulance, and he did enjoy the company of almost exclusively female medical staff for a few days.

 

I'd say the young man earned it, wouldn't you!

 

Regarding the bail out, I've been advised by several people that the normal process in a Mustang is to jettison the canopy, invert the aeroplane, release the straps and let gravity pull you clear.  The alternative of climbing out of the cockpit and diving, or leaping, away brought with it an increased risk of hitting part of the aircraft.  It's clear from the USAAF accident report that Red attempted to invert his Mustang, before leveling again and leaping out.  I'm guessing he was too short on time, and fighting an unresponsive aircraft, to complete the favoured bailing out process.

 

Regarding the types of aircraft mentioned in the story, I've received more information and advice on them than I can possibly take time to record here.  It has however been pointed out to me that the Spitfire was designed as a  'point-interception'  fighter whereas the Mustang was an escort fighter.  They both used the Rolls Royce Merlin engine [Packard built for the P-51] but the P-51 had a laminar flow wing.  They did not know at the time but the positioning of the ventral air scoop on the P-51 also helped aerodynamics and increased the range.

 

Several sources have also pointed out to me that once the engine fails on a Mustang it has the gliding properties of a house brick.

 

My thanks go out to everyone who has assisted in my research, from the memories of regulars at the Horsford Brickmakers pub, to the kind and generous assistance of the late Colonel Bruce W Rowlett's family.  As a writer, getting to know Red a little has been an emotional pleasure.

 

I would be delighted to hear from anyone who has conflicting or additional information about this crash, or indeed any other wartime crash in the Horsford area.  Also contact me if you are interested in further details of the pilot, squadron, group or event etc.

 

Email: leewright@contractor.net

 

Lee Wright

Horsford, Norfolk, England

Sunday 20th April 2014

Excerpts from USAAF Accident Report: 45-8-28-516

 

“Place: Bottanybay Farm <Botany Bay Farm> between Harsford <Horsford> and Stratton Strawless

Date: 28 August 1944 Time: 1415

Organisation: 8th F.C., 8th AF 361st FG 375th FS Station: F-374

Name: Rowlett, Bruce W Serial no: 0-803469 Rank: 1st Lt.

Result to personnel: Minor (2) Use of parachute: Yes (0)

 

Aircraft: W5 COMPLETE DESTRUCTION.

Engine: W5 COMPLETE DESTRUCTION.

Propeller: W5 COMPLETE DESTRUCTION.

 

Weather: Wind – WNW 25 MPH, 9/10 1800 Feet, Visibility – 10 miles.

Was the pilot flying on instruments at the time of accident: No.

Cleared from: F-374 To: F-374 Kind of clearance: Contact. Training flight. Nature of accident: Aircraft flying on altitude flight - oil line broke and plane started to burn.

Cause of accident: Broken oil line.

 

Unsatisfactory report: description of unsatisfactory condition:

While flying in a formation of four airplanes on a training flight at an altitude of 20,000 ft. with airplane type P-51D-5NA, AAF. Ser. No. 44-13694 leading the formation, the wing-man noticed that liquid was coming from the base of the engine cowling on a/c 44-13694. Wing-man called to flight leader by radio and informed of leaking liquid. Pilot immediately checked his instruments. Manifold pressure was 55” HG, RPM 2600, indicated air speed 360 MPH, oil pressure registered 0 lbs. Pressure, and oil temperature 100 degrees centigrade. The engine then started to knock and pound, followed by smoke coming from the engine section. Pilot bailed out. Length of flight prior to engine failure, 1:15 hours. Indicated airspeed had not exceeded 360 MPH and no violent maneuvers had been performed on this flight.

 

Historical data:

a. Estimated total combat time: 12:00 hrs.

b. Estimated total minutes run at overboosted speed: None.

c. Supercharged engine <unreadable> switch used as supercharger regulator.

d. Grade 100/150 fuel used for 32:00 hrs.

 

Recommendations: a. None.

Action taken to correct unsatisfactory condition: a. None, engine and airplane destroyed.

Previous report of similar condition: a. None.

Position of unsatisfactory part: a. Wreckage of engine and airplane transferred to Hitcham, AAF Station 470.

 

Narrative:

On 28 August 1944 at 1415, 1st Lt. Bruce W. Rowlett was on an altitude training flight in P-51D-5NA, AAF #44-13694. Lt. Rowlett was at 22,000 feet from which he bounced a Lancaster a few thousand feet below. When he pulled up to resume level flight, his number three man, 2nd Lt. Charles W. Narvis, called that there seemed to be coolant streaming from Lt. Rowlett's airplane. Lt. Rowlett checked his engine instruments and found his oil pressure to be 0 lbs pressure. His coolant temperature was normal then, but shortly later the engine began to smoke and run rough. Lt. Rowlett jettisoned the canopy and bailed out. He landed safely by parachute. The airplane was completely demolished. Responsibility: It is the opinion of the Aircraft Accident Board that the cause of this accident was 100% material failure. Lt. Rowlett was not engaging in any violent or prohibited maneuvers. The Form 54 enclosed with this Form 14 doesn't show anymore than the pilots statement as to what happened. Apparently the substance which Lt. Narvis saw was oil from a leaking or broken oil line as the coolant was still normal at the time. The engine did heat up shortly later. There was not enough of the airplane left for investigation. The exact cause is therefore unknown except that the oil system developed a leak causing a loss of oil pressure then an overheating engine with the resultant failure.

 

Pilot's statement:

I, Bruce W. Rowlett, 1st Lt., 0-803469, AC(AUS), 375th Fighter Squadron, 361st Fighter Group, Station F-374, had taken off on a routine training flight with four aircraft and after being airborne for about an hour, I was at 22,000 feet and decided to bounce a Lancaster, below. I did so and when I pulled up, my number three man called and said that something which looked like coolant was streaming out the sides and beneath my airplane. The coolant temperature was normal and I thought I might be syphoning gas; so I switched tanks and then noticed that my oil pressure was nil. I immediately jettisoned my canopy and prepared to bail out. Before I finished my preparations the engine had begun to smoke and was shaking violently. I bailed out at 16,000 feet.

 

Bruce W. Rowlett, 1st Lt., Air Corps.

 

Statement of 2nd Lt. Charles W Narvis:

Lt. Rowlett was leading a flight of four on a routine training mission. I was leading his second element. We bounced a Lancaster after we had been up about an hour, and as we pulled up and away; I noticed heavy streamers of what appeared to be coolant streaming from Lt. Rowlett's plane (E2-B). I called him immediately and told him so, and pulled up close beneath him to see if I could discover the source of the trouble. There was a great deal of liquid, apparently oil, coming from under the cowling all around the engine. I told him this and he said that his oil pressure had dropped to zero and that he was bailing out. He jettisoned his canopy, started to roll over, straightened it again and kicked out of the cockpit. We were between 15 and 16,000 feet, at the time. He fell almost to the cloud deck (10,000 ft.) before his chute opened. The plane went straight into the overcast below, smoking heavily. The other two ships joined me and we circled until we saw him safely on the ground, and in the hands of several farmers from nearby fields, to the west of Coltishall Aerodrome. Lt. Rowlett was to the south of this base, approximately 2 mi. As my transmitter was out, and I could report nothing to Lakepress, whom I could hear calling me, I returned to base with the other two ships.

 

Charles W. Narvis 2nd Lt., Air Corps.

Excerpts from the 1993 biography of Colonel Bruce W Rowlett (USAAF/USAF Retd.)

-  as written by his daughter Sally

 

 

"Bruce had to lie about his age to enlist. When he told the Sergeant at the 36th National Guard Division he was seventeen, the man said, "Go back out and come in again."  Bruce did so and when asked his age a second time replied "eighteen" and was promptly enlisted as a buck private for $21 a month.  Needless to say, his mother wasn't thrilled, but by then it was too late. 

 

So Bruce set out while still in adolescence on a career that would carry him over thirty-three years, through war and peace and around the world.  Because of the conditions of his childhood, Bruce was in many ways more mature than his peers.  Although Bruce wasn't a particularly religious young man, there were two incidents early in his career that started him wondering if someone was watching over him.

 

The first incident was when his battalion was tagged to go to the Pacific just before Pearl Harbor. He was playing touch football and broke a bone in his ankle and wasn't sent with the battalion. That unit never received word of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor and landed on Java after the Japanese had taken control.  Only three members of the battalion survived the war.

 

The second incident happened in 1942 after he applied for Aviation Cadet Training, because it seemed a romantic way to get into the war.  His battery commander tried to talk him out of "busting his butt in one of those crazy airplanes", but Bruce insisted and his application was forwarded and accepted.  Very shortly after he left for Aviation Cadet Training, his former division was alerted and sent to North Africa.  That division spearheaded the landing at Salerno Beach and took eighty-five percent casualties.  This made him twice in a short time period that "God or something intervened" and caused him not to be where he would likely have been killed.

 

Once he completed a variety of flight training schools he was finally sent to war.  Everyone was behind the military 100% and anyone in uniform was a hero, even if they hadn't been to war.  Young men particularly were caught up in the excitement and wanted to go off to battle, never pausing to consider that they might not come back.  At nineteen years of age he was assigned to the 375th Fighter Squadron at Bottisham, England.  Of course being a fighter pilot was the ultimate in romance.  No one wanted to be a bomber pilot because it wasn't romantic. 

 

The squadron's mission was primarily to escort and protect bombers flying to targets in Europe, and secondarily to destroy anything that might help the German military.  This included strafing livestock, truck convoys, trains, bridges, and whatever targets of opportunity were available.

 

(Lee, my brother Rick says that dad mentioned to him that at some point he had tape footage of a strafing run he did on a train that showed the bullets hitting the caboose and running all the way up to the engine. That's long gone, but would have been remarkable to see!)

 

(I've seen footage of RAF Typhoons doing similar. Yes, I'd love to have seen it! - Lee Wright.)

 

No one can go through such a dramatic nonnormative life event as a war without being affected, but people respond in different ways.  Despite the fact that he was being shot at and his life was constantly on the line, Bruce felt he was fortunate to end up in fighter aircraft.  This was because in fighters, if something bad happened to a friend, they simply disappeared, whereas in bombers it was routine for planes to return from missions carrying dead and maimed crew members.  Bruce felt he couldn't have tolerated that sort of graphic view of the war for long.  So, by comparison, he felt he suffered little in the way of ill effects from his duty.  Although his unit took substantial losses, they weren't as bad as the losses in bombers. 

 

It took 50 sorties to complete a combat tour.   Bruce flew the whole tour without taking any R&R.  Then a week before he was due to come home, the new P-51 Mustangs were brought to his base.  He'd been flying P-47 Thunderbolts and the new aircraft was very exciting, so Bruce signed up for a second combat tour.  In retrospect, he acknowledges that the reason the military recruited people like him was that "we were young and stupid and didn't stop to consider the potential fatality of the exercise".  The plane looked like fun and he wanted "a piece of the action" so he stayed and continued to fly sorties until almost the end of his second tour.

 

(Lee, this next part is the only story I have of Bruce crashing a plane.)

 

There was one event during his last tour that had a humorous twist.  While flying a training mission over England in a P-51, he lost the coolant system and had to bail out.  He hit his head when bailing out and came to while approaching the ground with fortunately an open parachute.  A British ambulance happened to be passing by and saw him land, so they picked him up.  He had a big lump on the side of his head and couldn't remember who he was or where he was from, and he didn't carry ID when flying.  So the driver took him to his hospital, which happened to be a Women's Land Army Hospital.

 

A doctor diagnosed temporary amnesia from the head injury, and a couple of days later Bruce remembered who he was and called the flight surgeon at his squadron.  When they discovered he'd been at an all women's hospital, no one believed for a minute he truly had amnesia  -  but he swears it's the truth!

 

Finally, after completing escort duty on another mission, they began strafing a German airfield. On the second pass he recalls, "Something went through my canopy and I was absolutely convinced I could see my name on the side of it as it went through. I didn't know what it was, but I started shaking and shook most of the way back to England". He then realized that the effects of extended combat duty were catching up with him, and he went to the flight surgeon to suggest he should go home. The flight surgeon had "some rather rude things to say" to him, including that he'd been trying to get Bruce to leave for several months. Bruce remembers the flight surgeon taking the loss of any of the men very personally, and sharing Bruce's relief at not having to see the dead bodies of the young men he cared about.

 

So at the end of 1944, at age twenty-one, Bruce returned home from the war.  His sister Kay recalls that "He went over looking like a boy, but came back looking thirty-five".  In thinking back on the war, he said, "The fates were kind"  because he didn't see all the blood and gore so many others witnessed.  But he learned that there was nothing gallant about war. "It was a maturing experience. It's hard to hang a label on what it does to you. You know it's there when thirty, forty, or fifty years later it wells up in you and you remember those things again." 

 

Bruce felt the people in the U.S. and Europe had nothing to fight about  -  only a few leaders did.  He expressed outrage at the description of any war as "an immoral war".  By definition that implies that there is such a thing as a moral war, and he didn't believe that.  The romantic notions of war from his adolescence had been supplanted by a more mature moral conviction.  This was not true for all those returning from the war.  Even today, one of his close friends from the war can only recall the 'glory' of the experience."

"P-51 Mustang pilot, Lt. Bruce W. Rowlett . . gives the thumbs up sign to his assistant crew chief, Sgt. William R. Jensen of Provo, Utah, as he prepares to taxi his ship for take-off on a strafing mission in support of the Allied invasion forces in France. 

 

375 Fighter Squadron, 361st Fighter Group."

 

 

Photo credit USAAF/NARA.

(6th July 1944)

Obituary of the late Colonel Bruce W Rowlett (USAAF/USAF Retd.)

as it appeared in the Hutchinson News, Kansas

 

 

“Bruce W Rowlett Bruce W Rowlett, 74, of 3711A Aldersgate Drive, died Jan.28, 1998, at Via Christi Regional Medical Centre, St. Joseph Campus, Wichita.

 

He was born March 11, 1923, at Cisco, Texas, the son of Valdi and Lillian Evans Rowlett.  He served his country for 33 years in the U.S. Air Force.  He retired as a Colonel in 1974 and moved to Hutchinson, where he pursued a career in real estate with Warren Schmitt Century 21 Realty.  He had been a Hutchinson resident for 24 years.

 

He was a member of Trinity United Methodist Church, Hutchinson, the Retired Officer's Association, Order of the Daedalians and the American Legion.  He was a U.S. Air Force veteran who served during World War II.  During that conflict Bruce flew 109 combat mission in P-47 and P-51 fighters with the 361st Fighter Squadron based in England.  <Obituary error. This was in fact the 375th Fighter Squadron/361st Fighter Group.>

 

Many notable assignments followed.  He served in Germany and Iceland for four years after World War II and flew in the Berlin Airlift in 1949.  From 1964 to 1967, he was Chief of Air Defense Operations in conjunction with the North American Air Defense Command.  He was the U.S. Air Force representative to the Canadian National Defense College in 1967-1968.  He served a tour in the Pentagon from 1968 to 1971 as the Director of Studies and Analysis, Headquarters, USAF.

 

His final assignment was as director of Aerospace Systems and Scientific Studies at Ent Air Force Base.”

My sincere thanks go out to the following organisations (with links).

 

Bottisham Air Field Museum    Jason Webb and Steve Gotts

 

'Little Friends'     Peter Randall

 

 

 

 

ANY REQUESTS FOR ADDITIONAL INFO / AMENDMENTS:    CONTACT THE EDITOR

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