Burlington Vermont Military Plane Crash | New England Aviation History

Burlington, VT. – February 11, 1936

December 13, 2022

Burlington, Vermont – February 11, 1936

On February 8, 1936, a fleet of U. S. Army aircraft assigned to the 20th Pursuit Group at Barksdale Airfield in Louisiana, arrived in Burlington to participate in aerial “war games” with army planes from the 3rd Attack Group stationed at Concord, New Hampshire. In all there were 31 planes which, it was reported, was the largest concentration of aircraft to date at the Burlington Airport.

The “war games” were to be conducted over several days to test how the aircraft would react to cold weather, and to hone readiness and response capabilities of the air crews.

In one particular exercise, 6 bombers and 9 attack aircraft took off from Concord to conduct and air raid on Burlington. The aircraft approached the city in groups of three, with each group attacking at five to ten minute intervals. The raid was successful, but 16 defending aircraft “shot down” the attackers before they could get away, with both sides claiming victory.

On February 11, three aircraft participating in maneuvers crashed at the Burlington Airport.

The first occurred at 6:30 a.m. when a pilot taking off in a Boeing P-26 struck a snow bank and wrecked the aircraft. The pilot was not seriously injured.

The second crash occurred at 8:30 a.m. when a pilot flying a Boeing P-36 came in for a landing and overshot the runway and crashed at high speed into a snowbank. The pilot was not seriously injured, but the aircraft was wrecked.

The third crash occurred later in the day when a pursuit plane taking off in poor visibility failed to gain sufficient altitude and crashed into a snowbank. The aircraft flipped over onto its back, but the pilot wasn’t seriously injured.

The “war games” came to an end on February 15 due to poor weather.

Sources:

Burlington Free Press, “Two Army Planes Here Crack Up In Maneuvers, No Serious Casualties”, February 11, 1936

Burlington Free Press, No Headline-news snippet, February 12, 1936.

Burlington Free Press, “Burlington A Mass Of Ruins”, February 13, 1936, pg. 12.

Burlington Free Press, “Air Maneuvers Come To End”, February 15, 1936.

Daily Alaska Empire, “Army Pursuit Planes Crash”, February 11, 1936

Burlington, VT. – December 6, 1970

July 6, 2017

Burlington, Vermont – December 6, 1970

Dehavilland U-6 Beaver
U.S. Air Force Photo

At about 3 p.m. on December 6, 1970, a Rhode Island Air National Guard De Havilland U-6 Beaver aircraft, (Ser. No. 0-16489), took off from Burlington Airport with five men aboard bound for T.F. Green Airport in Rhode Island. It was snowing heavily at the time with 20 mph winds.

Immediately after take off the pilot, Lt. Colonel Benjamin F. Mendes, radioed Burlington tower that some radio directional equipment had suddenly become inoperative. Moments later the plane crashed in a wooded area about a half-mile from Interstate 89. Six youths who were riding in a car on the interstate at that time reported that they saw flames coming from the De Havilland as it was going down. All five men perished in the crash.

The passengers were identified as:

Roger Baron, 42, of Laconia, New Hampshire.

Charles Larsen, 32, of Bedford, Massachusetts.

Raymond Maher, 37, of Lincoln, Massachusetts.

Louis Pappas, 39, of Framingham, Massachusetts.

Lt. Col. Mendes, a native of Rhode Island, was assigned to the First Army at Fort Meade, Maryland, but at the time of his death was living with his family on Long Island, New York, while studying for an advanced degree at Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, New York, under a program called “Operation Bootstrap”.

As a military pilot, Lt. Col. Mendes was required to fly a minimum of four hours a month to maintain his proficiency rating, which was a common practice for pilots not assigned to active flight duty. As such, arrangements were made for him to use the De Havilland belonging to the Rhode Island Air National Guard to make the flight to Burlington. He’d made the flight from Rhode Island to Vermont alone, and picked up the passengers before leaving Burlington.

Sources:

Providence Journal, “Army Probes Plane Crash”, December 7, 1970

Providence Journal, “Five Killed In Crash Of R. I. Guard Plane”, December 8, 1970