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	Corsair, Somerset

Vought Corsair F3A-1, JS590
Charlton Mackrell, Somerset
13th February 1945
Sub Lieutenant Richard Catlin Scriminger
759 Squadron, No.1 Naval Fighter School, RNAS Yeovilton

The Marches Aviation Society recently excavated a Vought Corsair in Somerset. The aircraft, JS590, was one of 420 Brewster built F3A-1s supplied to the Fleet Air Arm.
Its pilot, Sub Lieutenant Richard Catlin Scriminger was a member of the Royal Navy Volunteer Reserve, training on Corsairs with 759 Squadron, No.1 Naval Fighter School, RNAS Yeovilton.
On 13th February 1945 he was involved in dog fighting practice four and a half thousand feet above Somerset. His Corsair stalled and entered a spin. Diving through fog the aircraft failed to level out and flew into the ground at Charlton Mackrell. Sub Lieutenant Scriminger was killed instantly and his aircraft buried. The navy spent a week recovering the pilot’s body and the remains of his plane. He was buried in his home town of Scarborough. He was aged 22. ‘Remembered with Honour’ is inscribed on his headstone.

Fifty three years after the accident the last surviving eyewitness in the village was located. He remembered seeing the remains of the Corsair in a paddock and was able to point out the spot.

The crash site was on very stony ground with the engine only penetrating six feet. The Navy had done a thorough job of recovering the remains, but the little left was very interesting. Whether due to the dry sandy soil or Vought/Brewsters’s anti corrosion treatments almost everything recovered was in excellent condition, even down to pencil marks on the structure and paintwork on steel. At the bottom of the hole were fragments of the prop boss showing traces of yellow paint. The largest item found was a complete cooling gill from the cowling. Wreckage was in no particular order with cockpit items scattered throughout. Digging was taken very slowly and a fingertip search revealed pieces as small as the Bakelite trigger and bomb release button from the stick top, as well as tiny fragments of the grip. The base of a US made gun sight was found, as well a knob from a British TR1196 radio set. Distinctively Corsair parts included the label from the wing folding control and a drop tank release selector. Airframe sections, although in small parts, showed a temperate scheme of dark green and dark grey camouflage on top with light grey undersides. The presence of the aircraft’s rear view mirror suggested the pilot hadn’t jettisoned the canopy in an attempt to bale out.

Having heard the story of the accident the landowner has named the paddock 'Scriminger Field' in memory of the pilot.

	The crash site in a paddock at Charlton Mackrell - now named 'Scriminger Field'.
	Although the aircraft had hit the ground at great speed, the hard and stoney ground meant that it did not penetrate the ground very far.
	Digging was taken very slowly and a fingertip search revealed pieces as small as the Bakelite trigger and bomb release button from the stick top, as well as tiny fragments of the grip.
	The drop tank release selector.