2/Lt. Charles Harris Hodge
(C. Hailey)
2/Lt. Charles Harris Hodge
343rd FS 13 February 1944 - 15 February 1944 (Killed in Action)
Assigned Aircraft |
Not Known |
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Mission History |
Not Known |
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Mission List |
Not Known |
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Air Scores |
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Ground Scores |
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Notes | Lt. Hodge was killed in a flying accident at Reed End,
near Therfield (Hertfordshire, England). Lt. Hodge lost his
life on his third day with the 343rd, having just been assigned to the
squadron on the
13th February 1944. Lt. Hodge took off from Nuthampstead on a training flight at 11:45 on 15th February and crashed in P-38J 42-67852 at 12:45. Lt Hodge was good friends with Lt. Underwood (38th FS) |
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Awards |
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Memories | The following report was made by
2/Lt. Seely on the
16th February 1944: 'I, 2nd Lieut. Ralph S. Seely, was a member of the
flight in which 2nd Lieut. Charles H. Hodge met with his fatal accident.
Hodge's airplane was in a tight, steep level bank to the right at about
170mph at 3000 or 4000 feet. I believe that he had some flaps down.
The airplane did a series of violent turns and skids, gradually losing
altitude and speed. His rate of roll into and out of these turns was
faster, by far, than I could do in my airplane. His nose dropped
down but it came up level, or nearly level. His nose dropped again,
this time at an angle of 75 or 80 degrees. again he pulled it out,
faster than one would think possible. By this time his altitude was
less than 1000 feet. The nose of his airplane dropped again to an
angle of about 30 degrees at which angle he hit and exploded at 1245
hours. Throughout all these manuevers (sic) his wings were waving
violently and he was skidding from side to side. There was no smoke
or loose parts until he hit the ground. I observed no attempt by him
to leave the airplane, for he seemed to be fighting the airplane all the
way in.' 'Charles was putting the P-38 into secondary stalls and never allowed the airflow over the wings to recover.' (Frank Birtciel - August 2005) |
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