Aircraft: P38 Lightening 42-282274
Squadron: 402d Fighter Squadron
Date of crash: 15/05/1944
Related Airmen:
Lt Thomas D Stewart USAF
William Evers. Wife Dorothea Irene Ramsey. Born 05/08/1920. Known as Dotty. Dotty had 4 siblings. William met his wife at Wheelock College in Boston on a blind date. They were married on 3rd June 1943. At the airbase in England a new fighter group was being organised. William and a new pilot went up in the afternoon of May 156th 1944 to give some instruction on formastion flying. The 2 x planes collided killing both pilots. Dotty remarried in 1949 and eventually passed away in 2014 aged 93.
William was the eldest son of William F. Evers and Pearl Schwenneker Evers and was born on March 9th 1920 at Plattsmouth, Nebraska. William had a brother who died on July 10th 2014. William had a sister Mary who has also passed away.
P38, 402nd Squadron: 15 May 1944
P38, from the 402nd squadron of the 370th Fighter Group, crashed through clouds into another plane and plunged straight down into a bluebell wood.
15-05-44 42-67890 P-38J. 402FS/370FG.Accident(KMAC) at Crux Easton (Killed, Mid Air Collision)
The 370th Fighter Group in World War II, In Action over Europe with the P-38 and P-51, By Jay Jones, Page 39
Two pilots in the 402nd were killed on May 15. Lt. William E. Evers was giving a new pilot, Second Lt. Thomas D. Stewart, an orientation flight. They were probably playing around in a mock dogfight and had a mid-air collision. Evers bailed out of his P-38 but struck the plane’s horizontal stabilizer and was killed. Stewart was pinned in his P-38 and rode it into the ground. Lt. Evers was one of the original members of the group and was a “West Pointer.” He was married and left his new bride back in Massachusetts. Lt. Stewart, a Las Vegas native, had been with the squadron for only six days.
Lt. Evers and Stewart took off from the runway at R.A.F. Andover. Their aircrafts travelled ~ 11.9 miles north west and crashed ~ 1.4 Miles apart from each other.
Thomas Dee Stewart’s Crash Site was located at:
Latitude: 51°18’42.11″N. Longitude: 1°22’19.03″W
http://www.americanairmuseum.com/unit/320
The wreck of a P-38 Lightning of the 370th Fighter Group at Andover. Handwritten caption on reverse: ‘Looking East, Anover Field, England.’
https://aviation-safety.net/wikibase/wiki.php?id=108318
http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C2504420kevon
Stewart was a young American pilot from Nevada. He served with the US Ninth Air Force out of Andover. Stewart was charged with escorting bombers who took part in raids over France.
His body was retrieved at the time and flown back to be buried in Alamo, Lincoln County, Nevada, USA. He was just 25
https://www.ancestry.com/family-tree/view/Military.aspx?tid=38745635&pid=19277790875&vid=03ef7a6f-606b-4bc3-b03e-9c32173e9feb
This photograph is assumed to have been taken at the graduation of Thomas Dee STEWART’s Flying Cadet Class 43-H in 1943.
Serial No 756124.
2nd Lt 402 AFF Ftr Sq WWII NV
Lt Thomas D Stewart 402FS 370FG
US Army Air Force
Flying Cadet Class 43-H (Luke Field,Phoenix,AZ,Advanced Pilot-Single Engine -Unconfirmed)
This a photograph of Thomas Dee Stewart’s girlfriend, Carmen NIELSON. It was found in his wallet when the crash site was excavated. (her high school senior photo)
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