Windsor Locks, CT. – March 11, 1957
T-33 Trainer Jet
U.S. Air Force Photo
At 4;45 p.m. on the afternoon of March 11, 1957, two T-33 trainer aircraft took off from Westover Air Force Base to participate in a radar-search training mission. The two T-33s were to act as “targets” for an F-86 Sabre jet. After take off the T-33 pilots had been briefed to climb to an altitude of 40,ooo feet.
One of the T-33s, (Ser. No. 56-1600), was occupied by 1st Lieutenant Harold D. Gibson, (20), and 2nd Lieutenant John W. Chandler, (24), both assigned to the 337th Fighter Interceptor Squadron at Westover.
While participating in the exercise over the Hartford, Connecticut, area, Gibson and Chandler’s T-33 disappeared, and a search was instituted. The wreckage of the aircraft was later located in a wooded are about 2.5 miles from Bradley Field in Windsor Locks, Both had been killed instantly.
Lt. Gibson is buried in Parkhill Cemetery in Columbus, Georgia.
Lt. Chandler is buried in Portland Cemetery in Portland, Maine.
Sources:
Springfield Union, “Westover Jet Is Missing”, March 12, 1957, page 1
Book: 60/33th Fighter Interceptor Squadron – Westover Memories, 1953-1960, by Stan Lukasiewicz, Trafford Publishers, C. 2005.
