Mashpee, Massachusetts – July 7, 1942

     On July 7, 1942, a Luscombe trainer aircraft took off from Falmouth Airport with an instructor and student aboard.  While over the Popponesett Beach area of the nearby town of Mashpee, the aircraft’s controls became jammed and John Kerrigan, the instructor, and his student, Norman Nickerson, were forced to bail out.  Both men landed safely.  The airplane crashed in a wooded area between Popponesett Beach and the Waquoit section of Mashpee. 

     Kerrigan had been an instructor for over a year, and Nickerson had more than 100 hours of flight time.  Nickerson was making the flight to qualify for his civilian pilot instructors license.

     Source: Falmouth Enterprise, “Plane Crashes”, July 10, 1942.