Jay Frederick Simpson was born on August 26, 1916, in Gillett, Oconto County, Wisconsin USA.

He enlisted as an air cadet on June 1, 1942, and was first stationed at Santa Ana, California, and then at Oxnard, California, where he received his primary flight training.

He then went to Gardner Field California and later to Yuma, Arizona, where he graduated and was commissioned as a pilot on May 20, 1943.

After graduation, he was sent to Patterson Field, Fairfield, Ohio, where he was a test pilot until he left for overseas on November 1, 1943, and was stationed in England.

2Lt Simpson died on January 9, 1944, aboard the P-47 (serial no. 42-75584) which was on a pre-delivery test flight from Burtonwood. After flying out to sea, it then headed back inland and was seen to be on fire (over Hoylake) and began circling RAF West Kirby (not far from the crash site). The aircraft was seen to flip over, presumably out of control, and crashed into farmland at Saughall Massie, killing 2Lt Simpson. Parts of the aircraft were unearthed in 1974 and are now in the WWIG museum at Fort Perch, New Brighton, Wallasey. He is now buried in the Cambridge American Cemetery, Cambridge, United Kingdom.

2Lt Simpson has been posthumously nominated for Wirral's highest civic honor. Eyewitness reports at the time said the pilot steered away from residential areas before his plane crashed in a field close to the Arrowe Brook, thereby ensuring lives were saved.

Source of information: www.findagrave.com, www.wirralglobe.co.uk