Marking 75th Anniversary of Fatal Aircraft Crash At Jacobs Well With A Podcast

Published on: 25 Oct, 2019
Updated on: 31 Oct, 2019

The 75th anniversary of an American military aircraft that crashed in Jacobs Well, Guildford on October 25, 1944, has been commemorated with local historian and writer David Rose recording a podcast for the Wings Museum in West Sussex.

David Rose (left) being recorded by Andrew Denyer for a podcast for the Wings Museum at the Lilly Bell II memorial in Jacobs Well, Guildford. Click to enlarge in a new window.

The recording took place on Friday, October 25, 2019, at the memorial to the four young American airmen who died when their C47a Skytrain (also known as a Dakota) crashed in a field off Clay Lane, Jacobs Well.

David spoke to Andrew Denyer, who records podcasts for the museum that is in Balcombe, West Sussex, and explained the story of what happened on that fateful day.

Click on the link below to listen to the podcast.

Wings Museum – Lilly Bell II – 75 years since the C47 crashed near Guildford

A brief mention of the crash was noted in David’s book (co-written with Graham Collyer) Guildford The War Years 1939-45, which they wrote in 1999 when they worked together at the Surrey Advertiser.

Following the book’s publication, military and local historian Frank Phillipson looked further into the story of the crash and the aircraft that was nick-named Lilly Bell II.

An archaeological dig on the site was conducted in 2008 in which small items from the aircraft were found. In 2010 a memorial plaque was unveiled near the junction of Clay Lane and Queenhythe Road. Worplesdon Parish Council was instrumental helping in the planning of the plaque and its funding, and now looks after it.

David said: “The whole story of Lilly Bell II, its crew, what happened 75 years ago, the people who Frank and I have met during the time that more and more information has come to light has played a huge part of my local history work and interest.

“It was a pleasure to be recorded by Andrew at the memorial 75 years to the day the crash happened. The cloudy weather on Friday morning must have been the same on the day the four airmen lost their lives here.”

The C47 fuselage at the Wings Museum painted up as Lilly Bell II. Click to enlarge in a new window.

The Wings Museum has a fuselage of a C47 on display and it has been painted with the same “Lilly Bell II” sign-writing that was on the original aircraft.

Some of the finds of Lilly Bell II found during the dig in 2008 have been donated to the Wings Museum and these will soon be on display.

For the full story of Lilly Bell II, click her for previous story on The Guildford Dragon NEWS.

A further story here.

And another here.