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Flying from Duxford, the 78th Fighter Group were the last of the 8th Air Force fighter units to convert from their P47 'Thunderbolts' on to Mustangs. Lt Cyril ~ Tom ~ Bendorf was assigned his first personal P51 in January 1945. On the 4th there were no fighter operations so Tom took the opportunity to take his brand new aircraft up for a shakedown flight. He climbed to altitude and headed out over the coast. After enjoying himself with some aerobatics he let down towards sea level and emptied out his guns. Climbing back up and heading inland for home he noticed the oil pressure dropping fast, throttling back he knew that he would have to gently nurse his ailing Packard Merlin to the first airfield he saw. It didn't last though, the engine cut out. Putting the Mustang into a shallow dive, Tom went through the start procedure, but after a couple of failed attempts he realised that the prop was stationary - the engine had seized. No choice then but to bail out. 

He jettisoned the canopy and trimmed the aircraft nose down. Halfway out of the cockpit the front of his flying overalls snagged on the gunsight and with the top of the seat armour in the small of his back; he was stuck. What seemed an eternity passed before the overalls ripped and he was free. He landed a couple of fields away from where the Mustang buried itself into a Suffolk ditch, on Broadway Farm, Monk Soham. The local policeman was cycling along a nearby lane, seeing Tom land he dismounted and waited as Tom struggled to cross a barbed wire fence whilst carrying his chute, flying helmet and trying to hold his overalls together to preserve his dignity. Just as he told the bobby that there was no ammunition or bombs in the burning wreck some rounds of .50 calibre ammo started to explode in the heat. Evidently he had had a stoppage but; as Tom put it the policeman probably thought that he just 'another stupid yank'. 

One of the official photos taken of the crash scene

After hearing a tale about a buried Mustang engine at Monk Soham and finding the pilots name from surviving records we were able to contact Tom Bendorf in America. He was surprised but keen to be reunited with his plane. Once the recovery was organised he flew over especially to join us. The farmer had removed some wreckage of the aircraft as he cleaned out the ditch but the engine still laid buried. This and the propeller hub, with three blades still attached were found when the site was excavated in 1989. A few cockpit items such as the throttle quadrant and rudder pedals also came to light. When the mud was pressure washed out of the engine it could be seen that it had suffered a catastrophic failure, with all twelve connecting rods had been thrown from the crankshaft making fist sized holes through the engine casing.

Work to free the engine is watched by Tom

The propeller hub and blades are lifted free of the ground

Paul & Tom with one of the rudder pedals from the cockpit.

© copyright Jeff Carless