Point Judith, Rhode Island – December 15, 1944
On the night of December 15, 1944, a flight of U. S. Navy F4U Corsairs took off from the Brunswick Naval Air Station in Maine for a cross-country flight to Groton, Connecticut. All of the aircraft were assigned to Fighter Squadron 10, (VF-10).
At about 3:00 a.m., the flight was passing over the water about a half-mile south of Point Judith, Rhode Island, at an altitude of 600 feet, staying just below a layer of haze. The flight was split into two sections. Members of the first section included Ensign Herman Arthur Rodgers, piloting aircraft #57673, and Ensign William P. Brede, Jr., piloting aircraft #57514.
Suddenly Ensign Rodgers’, and Ensign Brede’s aircraft were observed by members of the second section to abruptly drop out of formation and plunge into the water and explode on impact. Neither pilot had radioed any trouble with his aircraft, or given a distress signal.
The aircraft and the pilot’s bodies were never recovered, and the cause of the accident is unknown.
Source:
U. S. Navy accident report dated December 15, 1944.