New details of Blythburgh crash that killed Joseph P Kennedy

Now more 'fascinating' information about the night the man groomed to become the next US president died in the skies over Suffolk is revealed in new archives.

Joseph P Kennedy senior, an American businessman and head of the famous Kennedy family, had high hopes his son Joseph P Kennedy junior would go on to become the head of state in his country, but that all changed.

READ MORE: The Kennedy curse: Tragedy in the skies over Suffolk

A B-17 Flying Fortress similar to the aircraft flown by Joseph P Kennedy, which exploded near Blythburgh (Image: Archant)Joseph junior was an aviator with the US Navy when the B-17 Liberator (Flying Fortress) bomber he was flying exploded at 2,000ft approximately eight miles south east of Halesworth, killing him instantly and showering wreckage over Blythburgh and the surrounding area.

He had been on a top secret mission to attack a Nazi weapons development site in northern France, but the explosives the plane was carrying detonated prematurely.

The mission was part of an operation called Project Anvil, targeting Mimoyecques in France. The site, south-west of Calais, was being developed as an underground complex for the Nazis’ V-3 supergun.

The death of his eldest son resulted in Joseph senior turning his attention instead to the ambitions of his brother John F Kennedy, who became president in 1961 and was infamously assassinated two years later in Dallas.

JFK was shot in 1963 in Dallas. (Image: Archives)

Mike Muttitt pictured in 2004 with a piece of the plane's wreckage. (Image: Archive)

READ MORE: Halesworth news

Now Saxmundham town clerk Sharon Smith has uncovered property war damage documents relating to that night, which show that the disaster caused widespread damage to homes in Blythburgh, Hinton, Thorington, Walberswick and Wenhaston, although there were no injuries on the ground.

The find is among a collection of war damage documents from the years 1940-44 produced by the former Blyth Rural District Council, which was abolished in 1974 to become part of the then Suffolk Coastal District Council (now East Suffolk Council).

A memorial for Joseph Kennedy Jr. at Mimoyecques, which during the war was a site for a Nazi supergun project (Image: archive)

As well as details about the Kennedy incident, the records also detail the damage caused by crashed United States Air Force (USAF) aircraft, British land mines, barrage balloons and an enormous explosion at RAF Metfield, which was then being used by the USAF.

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The archives reveal the causes of the damage, the names of workmen that repaired the homes and sometimes, poignant correspondence.

The remains of lieutenants Kennedy and co-pilot Lt Wilford John Willy were never found.

Experts later suggested the disaster was caused by the lack of electrical shielding material on the camera. This, it’s thought, allowed electromagnetic emissions to open a relay solenoid, which in turn set off a detonator and thus the explosives.

Kennedy was posthumously awarded the Navy Cross, the Distinguished Flying Cross and the Air Medal. 

They will soon be sent to The Hold in Fore Street, Ipswich, where they can be accessed by researchers.

Suffolk County Councillor Bobby Bennett. (Image: Simon Lee Photography Suffolk UK)

Councillor Bobby Bennett, the county council's cabinet member for equality and communities, said: "We are very grateful that Saxmundham Town Council are going to deposit this exciting and important find with us at The Hold where it will be accessible for researchers once it has been catalogued.  

"The stories illustrate how local history can contribute to national and international narratives and will complement other archives that we have relating to the Second World War in Suffolk.  

"War damage claims often contain fascinating details about both the people and the buildings affected as well as the local businesses who repaired the damage and illustrate the impact of hostilities on Suffolk."