East Greenwich, Rhode Island – May 16, 1944
Near the Exeter town line, off Shippey Road
Updated December 8, 2018
F6F Hellcat
U.S. Navy Photo
At 10:50 a.m. on the morning of May 16, 1944, Lt. Cmdr. David Wooster Taylor, Jr., 32, took off from Quonset Point Naval Air Station in a F6F-3 Hellcat (Bu. No. 41944) for a routine training mission. Fifteen minutes later his aircraft was observed by witnesses on the ground to be at about 3,000 feet and flying level when it suddenly went onto a spinning dive from which it did not recover. Lt. Cmdr. Taylor was killed when his aircraft crashed and burned at the Sunset Valley Reservation in East Greenwich. The cause of the crash was not stated in newspapers.
Due to the complete destruction of the aircraft investigators were not able to determine an exact cause for the accident.
Lt. Cmdr. Taylor was reportedly survived by his wife Virginia, and two young children, Jean, 4, and David, 3.
A housing development now stands on the site where this accident took place.
Lt. Cmdr. Taylor was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross while assigned to the aircraft carrier USS Ranger (CV-4) for his part in an attack against enemy shipping off Bodo, Norway, on October 4, 1943.
To learn more about Lt. Cmdr. Taylor, and to see a photo of him, go to https://usnamemorialhall.org/index.php/DAVID_W._TAYLOR,_JR.,_LCDR,_USN
Sources:
Woonsocket Call, “Lt. Cmdr. D. W. Taylor Killed In Plane Crash”, May 17, 1944, Pg. 1
North Kingstown, Rhode Island, death records
The Standard, “Quonset Pilot Falls To Death”, May 18, 1944
U. S. Navy Crash report, #44-14197
