Mapleton, ME. – September 13, 1931

Mapleton, Maine – September 13, 1931

     On the morning of September 13, 1931, an instructor and student pilot took off from the Presque Isle Airport in a dual-control Waco 10 airplane.  The instructor sat in the front cockpit and his student in the back cockpit.  The pair then began practicing take-offs and landings.  After completing three successful landings, the plane took off for a forth time.  Witnesses saw the aircraft heading toward Creasey Ridge Road to the west of the airport at an altitude of about 100 feet.  At one point it appeared that the aircraft tilted back so as to begin climbing and then suddenly nosed over and dove to the ground.  The plane crashed in a potato field about 1,000 yards into the neighboring town of Mapleton.  Both student and instructor died as a result of the accident.      

     Source:

    Presque Isle Star Herald, September 17, 1931, page 1.  

Mapleton, ME. – July 3, 1943

Mapleton, Maine – July 3, 1943

 

B-26G Bomber
U.S. Air Force Photo

     At about 5 p.m. on July 3, 1943, a U. S. Army B-26C bomber aircraft, (Ser. # 41-35181), took off from the Presque Isle, Maine, Air Base, for a routine training flight when it lost an engine shortly after take off and went down and exploded in a wooded area of Mapleton, about five miles west of the airfield.    

     There were five men aboard at the time, three of whom perished. 

     The dead were identified as:

     The pilot: 1st Lt. Walter M. Cochran of Wilmington, Del.

     The co-pilot: 1st Lt. Walter H. Peoples of Wilmington, Del.

     Flight Engineer: Corporal Albert O. Williams of Central, New Mexico.  

     The injured survivors were identified as:

     Corporal Richard P. Hamilton of Pasadena, Cal.

     1st Lt. Norman F. Smith, of Sandena, Cal.

     Both were brought to Presque Isle Air Base Hospital. 

     Sources:

     Evening Star, (Wash. D.C.), “Three Army Fliers Die In Maine Plane Crash”, July 4, 1943m, page C-7 

     Aviation Safety Network

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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