Attleboro, Massachusetts – July 2, 1949
On the evening of July 2, 1949, a 22-year-old pilot rented a single engine airplane at the Berkley Airport in Cumberland, Rhode Island. With him was a 17-year-old friend and neighbor. Together they took off towards Attleboro.
It was the pilot’s custom, whenever he rented an airplane, to “buzz” the home of a friend who lived at 23 Robinston Street in Cumberland. The home was in Attleboro, but was very close to the Rhode Island state line.
According to witnesses, the pilot made the plane do a loop above the property, and as the plane came down it clipped a 15 foot apple tree and sheared off a large branch. It then continued on and just missed hitting the house before it began to bounce along the ground strewing debris before finally crashing into a gravel bank just 20 feet over the Massachusetts state line. The plane was destroyed and both occupants were killed. There were no injuries to persons on the ground.
Source:
The Attleboro Sun, “Two Killed As Airplane Falls”, July 5, 1949
