North Haven, Connecticut – July 6, 1943
P-47B Thunderbolt
U.S. Air Force Photo
On the morning of July 6, 1943, Lieutenant George Sutcliffe took off from Westover Air Base in Chicopee, Massachusetts, in a P-47 B Thunderbolt, (Ser. No. 41-6013) for what was to be a routine training flight. Just after 11:30 a.m. while passing over the town of North Haven, Connecticut, he was forced to bail out. He landed safely while his aircraft crashed and burned in a vacant area off Hartford Turnpike. Nobody on the ground was injured.
Click here for more information about Lt. Sutcliff.
https://www.legacy.com/obituaries/name/george-sutcliffe-obituary?pid=147991329
Sources:
Information supplied by Lawrence Webster, Aircraft Archeologist and Historian, of the former Quonset Air Museum
North Haven Volunteer Fire Company report dated July 6, 1943.
Hartford Courant, “Crash Sites All But Forgotten”, by David K. Leff, November 21, 2010
