Edwin Goode Watkins Jr

Second Lieutenant Edwin Goode Watkins Jr was killed in the collision of his P-51C Mustang fighter with another fighter plane on March 21, 1944 during training exercises for D-Day over Rivenhall, England during World War II.  He was 27 years old.

Edwin Goode Watkins Jr. was born on September 21, 1916 in Vance County, North Carolina, the son of Edwin Goode Watkins and Mildred Lewis Watkins.  He graduated from Henderson High School in the Class of 1935 and from High Point College.  He was married to Nancy Smith Watkins, and they had a son who was two years old at the time of his death.

2nd Lt Watkins was inducted into the Army Air Corps in January 1943 and received his commission as a 2nd Lieutenant in October 1943 serving as a fighter pilot with the 382nd Fighter Squadron, 363rd Fighter Group.

The 363rd  moved to England in December 1943 for duty with the Ninth Air Force. At RAF Keevil, the group was re-equipped with North American P-51 Mustangs in January 1944 and entered combat in February. The Group escorted bombers and fighter-bombers to targets in France, Germany and the Low Countries; strafed and dive-bombed trains, marshalling yards, bridges, vehicles, airfields, troops, gun positions, and other targets on the Continent.

On March 21, 1944, 2nd Lt Watkins was piloting his P-51C Mustang during training exercises in preparation for the D-Day invasion of France in June 1944.  He collided with another fighter flown by 2nd Lieutenant Stewart Paul Sullivan over Rivenhall, Essex, England.  Both men were killed.

Second Lieutenant Edwin Goode Watkins Jr is buried in the Cambridge American Cemetery and Memorial, Coton, Cambridgeshire, England. 

Last edited: 8 June 2026