23-Year-Old Pilot Crashed During WWII Training Exercise. He’s Remained Missing in Action for Over 80 Years

Eighty years after Second Lt. Lester L. Lowry’s plane went down during World War II, archaeologists have identified the site of the crash — finally shedding light on the fate of the young American pilot who had been missing since 1944.

According to The Guardian, Lowry, 23, was flying a P-47 Thunderbolt named Lucky Boy during a training exercise near Essex, England, on Jan. 26, 1944, when the aircraft suddenly plunged into the ground and burst into flames. He was declared missing in action following the crash.

Investigations began in 1949 to locate Lowry and the wreckage, but initial searches turned up nothing, the BBC reported. In 1979, amateur archaeologists uncovered aircraft parts later linked to Lowry’s plane. Decades later, the U.S. Department of Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) surveyed the area in 2018 and requested a full excavation.

By 2023, a joint effort involving the DPAA, the U.K.’s Ministry of Defense, and Cotswold Archaeology launched Operation Nightingale — a project to recover and honor soldiers who never returned home. The Guardian noted that approximately 72,000 American service members from World War II remain unaccounted for.

Since then, archaeologists have examined nearly 25,000 square feet of the site and recovered close to 5,000 artifacts, including pieces of the plane’s engine, fuel system, machine guns, wings, and cockpit panels, according to the BBC.

Their findings confirmed that Lowry, a member of the 487th Fighter Squadron, was the pilot. “We’re piecing together the untold story of a young man who never made it home,” said Sandi Toksvig, who co-hosts an episode of More4’s Hidden Wonders featuring the excavation, as quoted by The Guardian.

Among the personal items found were photographs and Lowry’s parachute harness clips. “You get an intense human connection that you don’t really get in other forms of archaeology,” said Sam Wilson, lead archaeologist at Cotswold Archaeology. “We have photographs of Lowry and we know his history and service record — it brings the person to life.”

Lowry was born in Grove City, Pennsylvania, in 1920, the BBC reported. Orphaned at age nine, he was raised by his aunt. He joined the Pennsylvania National Guard before transferring to the U.S. Army Air Forces, and by late 1943, he was stationed in England.

While some believed his limited training — just 47 flight hours — caused the crash, a surviving witness, Peter Morris, now 90, told The Guardian that Lowry appeared to steer the aircraft away from a nearby schoolyard filled with children.

“Peter thinks Lowry missed the school on purpose,” Toksvig said. “Suddenly, the whole story flipped — maybe Lowry wasn’t inexperienced. Maybe he was a hero.”

Wilson added that even though Lowry died during a training mission, his “sacrifice is no less than someone who’s killed in the first wave on Omaha Beach.”

Lowry’s remains have not yet been recovered, but once located, they will be returned to the United States.

Hidden Wonders will premiere on More4 in the U.K. on November 4.