Archaeologists search for lost American WWII pilot in UK field

By Dean Murray

Archaeologists are working to recover a young US WWII pilot from an Essex field.

2nd Lieutenant Lester Leo Lowry was just 23 when his fighter plane plunged into the ground on a cloudy day in 1944.

At the time, there was no indication he ejected and there was no sign of a body.

A six-week archaeological recovery is underway on private farmland in North Essex, to investigate the crash site of the P-47 Thunderbolt using modern techniques.

The operation, led by Cotswold Archaeology in partnership with the US Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA), aims to locate evidence from the aircraft and, if possible, recover remains related to the young fighter-pilot for repatriation to the United States.

The team have already surveyed over 2,300m² and recovered close to 5,000 artifacts relating to the aircraft’s cockpit, fuselage, wings, engines, and machine guns.

After his loss on January 26, 1944, Lowry was listed Missing in Action and is commemorated on the Walls of the Missing at Cambridge American Cemetery, Madingley, UK.

The project has brought together nearly 250 volunteers from both sides of the Atlantic, including UK and Canadian veterans, active-duty US military personnel, archaeologists, researchers, the local community, and responsible metal-detectorists.

Sam Wilson, Lead Archaeologist, said: "This is painstaking, highly respectful work. Our goal is to document the crash scientifically, responsibly recover any evidence, and support DPAA’s mission to account for missing US personnel."

Rosanna Price, Project Engagement Manager, said: "We have a truly diverse team, spanning all generations and backgrounds, but united by their shared commitment to the careful, respectful recovery work of this humanitarian effort."

2nd Lieutenant Lester Leo Lowry, 487th Fighter Squadron, 352nd Fighter Group, was the sole occupant of P-47D ‘Lucky Boy’, which had departed RAF Bodney, Norfolk, on a training flight.

The aircraft was flying last in a string of four P-47s, practicing maneuvers in the low visibility of the wintry Essex skies.

Flight logs indicate that Lowry’s aircraft entered thick cloud in a steep dive and impacted open ground at a 60° angle, sadly with no sign of the airman being able to bail out.

The wreckage was seen to smoulder for several days before military teams were able to safely investigate the scene. Contemporary records of the US post-crash recovery describe the destroyed airframe, but found no remains.

Rosanna Price said: "We’ve already been fortunate enough to meet with one eyewitness of the crash in 1944. I’d encourage anybody with memories, photographs, or documents relating to the incident to please get in touch with us, to help direct the recovery and enrich the archival information relating to Lowry."

Rocky Gillette, DPAA Director of Partnerships & Innovation, said: "We are grateful to the volunteers, local community, landowner, and our Cotswold partners for their dedication to Lowry’s recovery. Their support strengthens DPAA’s mission to honour America’s missing, and keep faith with their families until every effort has been made to bring them home."

The site is licensed under the UK Protection of Military Remains Act, with the cooperation of the landowner. It is a grave site and secure working area not open to the public, and the team respectfully request that members of the public do not try to enter the excavation or disturb the ground.

Lester L. Lowry, born on 5 February 1920 in Grove City, Pennsylvania, was orphaned at nine and raised by his grandparents. He joined Pennsylvania’s National Guard, was mobilized in 1941, and later transferred to the US Army Air Forces for pilot training. After training in Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas and Florida, he was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in July 1943 and arrived in England that November.