Tragic story of pilot Nicholas Jorgensen unearthed
MORE than 60 years after he died in a plane crash in South Northamptonshire, a Chronicle & Echo investigation has uncovered the life story of American World War Two pilot Lieutenant Nicholas Jorgensen.
The pilot was just 24 years old when his B-17 Flying Fortress crashed in Woodend, near Blakesley, following a mid-air crash between three planes on Wednesday, October 11, 1944.
In the years following the accident, little was revealed about the final minutes of Lt Jorgensen and his crew's lives, but during an archaeological dig led by members of the Sywell Aviation Museum last weekend, the remnants of the plane were uncovered, along with a small bracelet inscribed with the name 'N Jorgensen'.
As the discovery of the bracelet confirmed the site was the exact spot where Lt Jorgensen's plane crashed, it sparked a search to trace any surviving relatives of the pilot, who first came to Britain in July 1944, when World War Two was at its height.
The search led the Chronicle & Echo to New Jersey in America, where Lt Jorgensen's 50-year-old nephew, Philip Jorgensen, now lives.
After being told the wreckage of his uncle's plane had been unearthed, he told the Chron he was amazed that he would now be able to add clarity to the 66-year mystery of his uncle's death.
He said: "We never got anything back after the crash, nothing at all.
"My father didn't get any of Nicholas's belongings back, so it really has been a mystery to us what happened all those years ago.
"My father was only 12 at the time of the accident, so he didn't really know very much about what had happened.
"He only knew the plane had collided with another in the air and come down, that was all he really knew."
Lt Jorgensen was on a training mission when the accident happened. His plane was part of a formation of Flying Fortresses which had taken off from their base at Snetterton Heath in Norfolk to carry out a mock bombing run on Rugby.
But as the planes hit a patch of bad weather above Northamptonshire, three of them collided in the air, leaving 11 men dead and debris from the planes spread across miles of open countryside.
Mr Jorgensen said: "We knew about the accident, but unfortunately there was a fire at the army hall of records in America in 1973, which destroyed all the information about my uncle.
"So we could never find out exactly where he was and what went on during the time he was in England."
The only item Mr Jorgensen has to remember his uncle is the Stars and Stripes flag which was draped over his coffin when his body was sent back to America to be buried.
But the archaeologists who uncovered the silver bracelet with the pilot's name inscribed on it now plan to send it back to America so Mr Jorgensen can share it with his 19-year-old son, Nicholas, who was named after the great-uncle he never knew.
Mr Jorgensen said: "There are only a few family stories about uncle Nicholas, but my father was very pleased when Inamed my son after him.
"And my son was amazed when he saw the picture of the bracelet, he was just holding it up and looking at it saying it was brilliant, he couldn't believe it.
"So when we get the bracelet back, I'd like to put it with the flag which was draped over uncle Nicholas's coffin."
Although his uncle died before he was born, Philip Jorgensen said he was very proud of what the pilot had done during the war and was pleased the aircraft enthusiasts who had unearthed his plane were now planning to put up a memorial to the servicemen who lost their lives in the Woodend field.
He said: "I'm really pleased they did the dig, I think it was a great thing for them to do.
"And I'm glad they're going to create the memorial, it will be a really nice thing to commemorate all of their lives.
"It will be nice to have that permanent monument, as uncle Nicholas never got anymedals during his life.
"I had asked if he was awarded the purple heart, but they told me he wouldn't get one because he was killed on a training mission. That upset me, because he did die while serving his country."
The man who led the archaeological dig in Woodford, Blakesley resident Romer Adams, said he was proud of the discovery of the B-17 wreckage
and the fact it had help Mr Jorgensen understand his family's history.
The historian, who actually heard the B-17 crash close to his home when he was just five-years-old, said: "The discovery of Lt Jorgensen's family was something I always dreamed would happen in time.
"I always wanted to get in touch with the relatives of the people who died in the crash and I think this was clearly meant to happen.
"The fact we went into that field and found the remnants of a bracelet
just a couple of inches long is just incredible, I think there must have been some kind of guiding voice there."
Over the years since the crash, Mr Adams has visited the site every October to pay his respects to the airmen who died there.
He said: "We'll remember Nicholas a lot more clearly now, because we know so much more about him.
"I really feel as if I know him now."
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