Pilot, Simpson crew. 381st BG, 534th BS. Shot down 17 August 1943 in B-17 #42-30245 'Lucky Lady'. Mission #20 "Black Tuesday" to the ball bearing works at Schweinfurt, Germany. MACR 381. Killed in Action (KIA).

Lubbock, TX

Lt Simpson was the last man in the plane to make sure all the other crew members bailed out first. The aircraft had inverted in flight and he righted it to regain partial control. There are a couple of thoughts amongst the crew about the circumstances of Lt Simpsons death. He was last seen standing in the catwalk between the pilot seats, attaching his chest chute to the harness. One idea was he was trapped in the plane as it was spinning out of control and went down with the aircraft. Germans and a Belgian farmer had told Lt Mee that they pulled a body out of the plane. Others thought when the plane exploded, he was thrown free and decapitated by the propellers. His body was seen laying on the ground approximately 30 feet from the tail section in a bad state. His chute was attached to the harness but not deployed. Initially Lt Simpson was buried in Antwerp, Belgium. He was reinterred in the Ardennes AMC.