Off Harwich Massachusetts – May 19, 1946
Updated January 29, 2026
F6F Hellcat
U.S. Navy Photo
On May 19, 1946, Lt. (Jg.) Richard M. Kimball took off from the Squantum Naval Air Station in an F6F-5 Hellcat, (Bu. No. 70556), for a routine training flight. His flight path took him over the water off the coast of Harwich, Massachusetts. There he encountered a fog bank lying three to five miles off shore, with a low cloud ceiling of 50 to 100 feet covering the entire area. As he was approaching the shoreline, he began attempting to drop below the cloud ceiling to obtain a visual reference with the ground and while doing so crashed into the water about one-quarter mile from shore near the harbor breakwater. The aircraft broke apart on impact and Lt. (Jg.) Kimball was killed.
A fisherman who’d witnessed the crash from his boat immediately went to the area and recovered pieces of the aircraft as well as identification papers floating in the water.
It was reported that Lt. (Jg.) Kimball’s airplane had been seen flying over the area earlier in the day, and some said they thought they saw smoke trailing from the plane.
Lt. (Jg.) Kimball was born July 8, 1920, in Attleboro, Massachusetts. He attended Deerfield Academy and graduated from Amherst College in January of 1943. On February 8, 1943 he entered the U. S. Navy and during WWII served as a fighter pilot aboard the three aircraft carriers including Enterprise and Lexington.
Twice during his combat flying career he’d had to bail out. Once in the Pacific, and another stateside.
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/20801347/richard-montague-kimball
Sources:
U. S. Navy accident report dated May 19, 1946.
The Attleboro Sun, “Navy Opens Investigation Of cape Plane Crash; Lt. Kimball Of Foxboro Killed”, May 20, 1946
