A squadron of Mustang IIIs in formation

In the later stages of WW2 a Polish Squadron No.309 was stationed at Andrews Field in Great Saling Essex, about 2½ miles to the west and slightly north of Rayne.  At 10:15a.m. on 2nd August 1945 several North American Mustang III aircraft took off to take part in a Squadron formation exercise which was to be followed by dive bombing practice.

Thirty year old pilot W/O Aleksander Pietrzak was one of the first pair to take off in aircraft FX876 which had just returned to service after routine maintenance.  Shortly after takeoff he reported rudder problems, by radio, to the Squadron Commander.  However, the problem seemed to go away again and he joined the formation to continue the exercise.  Various squadron formation manoeuvres were then carried out for a period of forty minutes, during which FX876 appeared to fly normally.  Dive bombing practice then began from a height of about 12,000 feet.

The Squadron formed line astern with W/O Pietrzak as number 7.  Each aircraft in turn pulled up into a stalled turn to the left and entered its dive, the instructions to each pilot being that recovery should be affected at 5,000 ft.  FX876 entered its dive in exactly the same way as had those aircraft ahead of it but instead of pulling out at 5,000 ft its dive was seen by the pilot of number 8 aircraft which was close behind, to become suddenly steeper until it reached an angle over the vertical.  Number 8 realised that something was amiss and endeavoured to follow FX876 in order to keep it under observation.

Warrant Officer Aleksander Pietrzak - (© with thanks to Kelvin Youngs)

The pilot of number 8 stated that when FX876 started to dive over the vertical he also noticed that it was side-slipping to the left and he declared that he had great difficulty in following it.  He stated that he then saw it carry out an aileron turn one and a half times round and the pulled out of its dive inverted at an altitude well under 100 feet.  The pilot of number 8 lost sight of it at this point because his own airspeed was over 500 m.p.h. and his height was only around 3,000 ft.  He therefore had his attention fully occupied in recovering normal flight." He then caught sight of FX876 again.  It was still inverted and climbing.  Although he himself was still travelling at very high speed FX876 overtook him and nosed over into a dive which continued to the ground.  At about 11.15 a.m. the aircraft embedded itself deeply into the ground in a field on Goulds Farm just to the northern edge of Rayne village.

It subsequently transpired that W/O Pietrzak had fallen out of his aircraft whilst it was inverted and travelling at tremendous speed across Andrews Field Aerodrome at a height of only about 20 ft.  His body was found near by, he had undoubtedly been thrown from the cockpit under high negative "g".  The fact that no pieces of the cockpit hood were found way from the main wreckage suggested that the hood was open when the pilot was ejected W/O Pietrzak was killed instantly.  The funeral of Aleksander Pietrzak was held at 3.00 p.m on the 7th August at Epping Cemetery.

The airframe was built by North American Aviation Inc. and its total flying time was 307 hours.  All modifications affecting airworthiness except No.691 had been embodied.  The engine was built by the Packard Motor Car Company, No. V 324217 and its total running time was 664 hours.  Both airframe and engine had been properly maintained and serviced and both had been certified fit for flight at 08:45 hours on August 2nd.

Aleksander Pietrzak was the recipient of the Virtuti Militari, the highest award for gallantry in the face of the enemy granted by the Polish nation.  He left a young wife of 17 and a son Stefan just 3 months old.  In May 2007 Stefan presented his father's medals and his logbooks to the Polish Air Museum in Krakow, so that a part of him at least could be back in the Poland he loved, and so that his memory could be honoured there for generations to come.  Stefan now lives in the USA.

On 15th September 2007 a team of five aviation archaeologists using a JCB excavated the site and retrieved many recognisable components from the totally wrecked aircraft which had lain buried for over sixty years.

Roger Jiggins (land owner) with a rescued propellor blade

More details and pictures of the excavation are on the Wings Museum website to whom acknowledgement is made for the photographs and most of the narrative.
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