Well guy's thanks for the links ,I contacted Peter Randall at little
friends and he's come up with this although the Name is not completely correct as I have Thomas B O'bannon and this report calls him Thomas C O'bannon,but it's a start.
Thanks for all the help it's much appriciated.
O'Bannon Killed The RAF and USAAF authorized a comparative perforÂmance test of the three major photo planes. Two were twin-engine aircraft, the American F-5 Lightning, and the DeHavilland Mosquito, the famous "Wooden Wonder" of the RAF. The third plane was the RAF's Supermarine Spitfire. Group Operations assigned 13th Squadron pilot Capt. Thomas C. O'Bannon, Jr., to fly an F-5A during Test Flight 80 on 24 July 1943. After taking off from Mount Farm at 1129 hours, O'Bannon climbed to 25,000 feet where he joined up over the RAF PR base at nearby Benson with F/O A. Glover in the Spitfire and S/Ldr. M.D.S. Hood in the Mosquito. The trio flew northward. Below 2,500 feet there was poor visibility with light clouds but above 10,000 feet the sky was cloudless. Winds below 7,000 feet were light and variable. First, they tried out their respective aircraft in a level-flight speed trial. The Spitfire drew ahead imÂmediately and won that contest. The Mosquito, fitted with drop-tanks, proved only slightly faster than the F-5A. About ten minutes later, the RAF flight leader, beginning the rate-of-climb test, gave orders to the other pilots to begin a turn to starboard and climb to 30,000 feet. The Lightning and Mosquito climbed at about the same rate but again lost to the Spitfire, which reached 30,000 feet with the other two planes still 2,000 feet below. Test completed, they set course for home base. When O'Bannon's F-5 got far ahead of the formaÂtion and did not respond to radio calls, Flight Officer Glover in the Spitfire went ahead of the Mosquito and caught up with the Lightning. They made a turn allowing the Mosquito to catch up. The Mosquito pilot, Squadron Leader Hood, ordered maximum cruising speed for ten minutes and another turn. The Lightning responded imÂmediately, but instead of a level turn, it began a descendÂing turn at a 45 degree angle which took O'Bannon down into the haze characteristic of skies around Britain's inÂdustrial areas. Hood and Glover did not see Captain O'Bannon's F-5 again. When O'Bannon did not return to Mount Farm the squadron hoped to hear he had landed safely at anÂother field. Unfortunately, he had crashed, the wreckage discovered approximately six miles WNW of Warwick. Captain O'Bannon had almost 400 solo hours and 157 hours P-38 experience. His aircraft, destroyed on impact with the ground and the resulting fire, had a total of 131 hours at time of the crash. O'Bannon had been killed instantly. Capt. Kermit Bliss and W/O "Pop" Porter investiÂgated the crash site. Porter found the tail assembly some distance from the rest of the aircraft wreckage. He and Bliss searched for anything that could shed light on the accident. "Pop" Porter looked at what was left of the tail assembly and, upon close examination, found that the bolt that adjusted the elevator trim tab push rod had broÂken. They took their findings to representatives of the Lockheed Corporation investigating the crash, who inÂsisted that the bolt was stronger than the rod and it couldn't have broken. Bliss and Porter convinced them to test some bolts until they broke. The tests revealed that, during comÂpression, a bend ran down into the under-sized bolt causÂing it to sheer off. Lockheed ordered rods with bigger bolts installed in all P-38s.
Thanks for all the help it's very much appriciated.
Kindest regards
Steve Chaplin
www.501para.net