Litchfield, Connecticut – April 3, 1973
Bantam lake
On the evening of April 3, 1973, a piper Cherokee 180 left Worcester, Massachusetts, bound for Stewart Airport in Orange County, New York. It is believed there were three people aboard, one being a student pilot.
Shortly before 10:30 p.m., the control tower at Stewart Airport received a radio call from a pilot stating that his aircraft’s wings were icing up and that he was loosing altitude. The pilot gave his position as being “over the Litchfield area.”
At 10:30 p.m. a witness reported seeing an aircraft plunge into Bantam Lake off Point Folly. The water depth in that area is between 10 to 18 feet.
Connecticut State Police divers responded to the scene and recovered two bodies, one a 37-year-old man from Washingtonville, New York, and the other a 30-year-old man from Newburgh, New York. It was reported that divers were continuing the search for a third man believed to have been aboard, identified only as a “student pilot”.
Source:
Westerly Sun, (R.I.), “Two Killed In Connecticut Plane Crash”, April 4, 1973