5. REDNAL MUSTANG LOSS

At approximately 0930 on March l0th 1945, four P-51 Mk.111 Mustangs of 61 Operational Training Unit took off from their base at Rednal in North Shropshire to take part in a dummy attack on the airfield.

At low level and high speed, the Mustangs began a tight turn towards the 'target' when one of the 'attackers', FZ 150, flown by Polish pilot Sergeant Boleslaw Zgainski, began to turn too low. The left wingtip of the aircraft struck a telegraph pole/breaking part of the wing away. The Mustang then rolled to an almost inverted attitude before striking the ground and cart wheeling across three fields, the engine coming to rest almost three hundred yards from the first impact point. The body of Sergeant Zgainski was found on a hedge in the same field.

Just after the crash, another of the Mustangs flew slowly and low over the scene before returning to Rednal. The station's fire tender arrived, only to become bogged down in the first field. After being dragged out, it was driven around the edge of the fields to reach the crash site, by which time, the fire was nearly out.

The wreckage remained at the site for almost a week while an investigation was carried out. During this time, a farm lady found a ring which had belonged to the pilot. A week later, a farm worker discarded a cigarette nearby. Much to his surprise, the ground burst into flames, caused by spilled fuel from the Mustang.

The aircraft had come down at Station Farm, near the old railway station. A policeman at the station at the time told the farmer what he had seen. Sixty years later, the same farmer told me what had happened.

The present owners of the farm gave their permission for a search across the fields and pointed out where they thought the aircraft had crashed. After four hours searching, nothing was found. On returning to the farm, I was given the address of the previous landowner. During a chat with him, I found that I had been looking about two hundred yards in the wrong direction.

Armed with this new information, I returned to Station Farm, this time finding lots of ammunition cases, light alloy remains, an oil tank cap and a stainless steel Chicago clip in as good condition as when it was made.

Finding the site surely proves that time can be saved by finding a witness rather than relying on hearsay which can become distorted each time the story is told.

Boleslaw Zgainski was born on April l5th 1917 at Splanie Koscain, Poznan. According to Commonwealth War Graves Commission information, he is buried at Arnold Cemetery, Nottinghamshire, where he apparently had a close friend.