Lockheed Hudson N7260 - 28/07/1939

On the 28th July 1939 Lockheed Hudson No N7260 was on a test flight from the Lockheed Aircraft Corporation at Speke prior to being handed over to the RAF. During this flight at about 15:30 hours the wing and tail plane came off the aircraft in the flight and the aircraft went into a spin crashing in a field at Church Farm near  Thurstaston, Wirral killing the American crew of three, the aircraft which had been in flight for only a few minutes was completely burnt out. Members of the Birkenhead fire brigade extinguished the flames and extricated the bodies and found Anderline's parachute partly open.

Witnesses stated that the aircraft streaked downwards after the wing fell off, but that Anderline  who was at the controls, made a gallant effort to effort to keep it from hitting a row of cottages in Thurstaston. 

Western Flying reported in their account of the crash in September 1939 that sabotage was the suspected cause, however due to a lack of records it has not been possible to confirms if this was the case.

Frank W Anderline

Frank W Anderline was from Seattle and was a former United Airlines pilot and was on of the first to fly United States mail on the Pacific route when operations were opened in 1926. Later he began flying United Air Lines Mainliners on the Seattle-Oakland run, leaving the company to join the Lockheed Aircraft Corporation in January 1939. At the time of the accident his wife had left Seattle to join him in England.

He was known not only as a pilot but as an enthusiastic yachtsman, fisherman and hunter. 

Anderline set a record in November 1933 between Oakland and Portland of 192 mph, presumably in a Boeing 247.

Fred Taylor

Fred Taylor was from Burbank and had learned to fly ten years earlier.

John Hagadorn

John Hagadorn was from Long Beach and his remains were cremated in Liverpool before being sent home to Long Beach.