In June, HopNews published an article on a mid-air plane crash above Hopkinton that occurred in 1943, written by guest author Jim Nash. Mr. Nash described a terrible accident involving two P-43 Thunderbolt fighter planes that had been flying in formation and collided, resulting in the death of one of the pilots and the eventual derailment of an eastbound passenger train.
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HopNews readers, several of whom remember the accident, were incredibly helpful by supplying additional information about the event in the comments section. This piqued the interest of author and historian Eric Wiberg, who became convinced that one of the planes is still resting in Cedar Swamp, waiting to be discovered. Wiberg has discovered several planes lost to history and has published more than 47 books on a wide range of topics, including German U-boats that were lost during the war near the Bahamas.
This week we followed Eric down the Sudbury River and through the thick of Cedar Swamp in search of the elusive aircraft.
Yes!
Thank you Peter, HopNews, Mr. Joe Martin, the Hopkinton Historical Society’s Anne Mattina and ALL volunteers and contributors – Jim Nash and Larry Webster for your input, hospitality and help. Here’s to always learning and sharing more! Eric W. East Boston http://www.ericwiberg.com
Very interesting. i never saw the Sudbury River so full and active. A testament to all the rain you foks have experienced.
This is great!!
A lot more water than when we ventured upstream from the bridge! Nice! Thank you!
I think a drone would be very helpful in this type of situation – at least to narrow down the search area.
Odds are any remaining wreckage is under were route 90 and 495 intersects, as that was probably wetlands in 1943, and later turned into a highway in the 1950’s. If it was 300 yards from the train line and in Hopkinton, as per the article in HopNews. Also people in the 1940’s would have seen scrap metal value in a plane, and scapped it. The military would have made it to any wreckage to recover, presumably 8X .50 caliber machine guns, and any other ordnance on the plane, at the time of the crash. Best bet is to comb the archives of local papers, for references and pictures of the downed plane.
This is such a fascinating story. Thank you Eric for leading the investigation on this interesting subject.