Lasting Effects Of A Late Winter Storm -1943

Originally Published in The Smithfield Times, (R.I.) – May, 2016

Lasting Effects Of A Late Winter Storm

     It was March 30, 1943, the world was at war, and although the calendar declared it to be spring, snow began falling over New England as a weather system blew in from upstate New York.  Although it had been expected, it was underestimated, and left war casualties, sadness, and two unsolved mysteries in its wake.  

     This is a story that won’t be found in history books; a forgotten footnote eclipsed by grander world events that I discovered when a tiny news item about a missing navy airplane caught my eye as I sifted through microfilm at a local library.  Intrigued, I dug further, and learned that the missing plane was only a small part to a much larger story.   

    Even before the snowy weather set in, lowering thick clouds indicated what was coming, and by mid-morning had dropped to 4,000 feet.  But there was a war on, and pilot training necessarily included flight instruction in all types of conditions. As such, events for that day began to unfold at 10:45 a.m. over Bozrah, Connecticut, a town just west of Norwich, where a formation of four British naval aircraft out of Quonset Point were on a routine training flight.  One of those planes was piloted by 19-year-old Midshipman, Raymond Clarke of Nottingham, England, and his instructor, 21-year-old Sub-Lieutenant Donald F. Dillon of New Zealand.  While over Bozrah, their plane developed engine trouble possibly due to carburetor icing.  Flying beneath the low clouds, they were too low to bail out, and subsequently crashed in a wooded area where the resulting explosion killed both men.

U.S.S. Ranger (CV-4)  U.S. Navy Photo

U.S.S. Ranger (CV-4)
U.S. Navy Photo

  While authorities investigated the wreck in Bozrah, the aircraft carrier U.S.S. Ranger steamed towards Boston off the coast of Massachusetts, on its way to the Boston Navy Yard for re-fitting.  Prior to its arrival, the ship‘s complement of thirty aircraft were being sent inland; their ultimate destination Quonset Point, R.I.   

     Ranger’s planes began taking off at 3:25 p.m., but what nobody aboard realized was that the weather system had moved across the area faster than anticipated, and once the aircraft neared shore they found themselves in thick overcast that began 200 feet off the ground and extended upwards to 7,000 feet. As visibility dropped to zero, the weather began affecting radio communications, and inevitably the aircraft became scattered.  

     It’s likely that at first the men weren’t too concerned, for all were experienced combat pilots.  Yet Lt. Lukes M. Boykin knew there was something wrong with his aircraft when he tried to lock the air control lever in the “alternate” position and it wouldn’t stay there.  Placing the control in this position was necessary to prevent ice forming in the carburetor, so he held it in place with his right hand and flew with his left.  Despite his efforts, the engine began running rough, and then lost all power, forcing him to ditch in the icy water off Swampscott, Massachusetts. As the plane began to sink, Boykin and his radioman H.H. Reed, scrambled into an inflatable life raft, and were rescued a short time later by a Coast Guard boat from nearby Winter Island.

   Meanwhile Lt. Theodore A. Grell, was experiencing engine trouble with his airplane while passing over a rural section of northern Fall River, Massachusetts.  As the plane quickly lost altitude he knew a crash was inevitable, and bailed out even though he was now below a safe altitude to do so.  His chute had only half opened when he crashed into the top of an apple tree which miraculously broke his fall.  His plane crashed and exploded about a half-mile away. 

     As he lay there seriously injured in the falling snow, he was probably amazed to be alive.  Before long local residents came to his aid, covering him with blankets until an ambulance took him to Truesdale Hospital.  

     As Lt. Grell was on his way to the hospital, three other Ranger pilots were also in trouble.  Lt. (Jg.) Charles V. August, Lt. Keene G. Hammond, and Lt. (Jg.) Dee Jones, had managed to stay together, but came to the realization that they were lost.  With no visual reference points, they had inadvertently veered off course and were now heading over western Massachusetts towards upstate New York. 

     At about ten miles west of Poughkeepsie, N.Y., they found themselves running low on fuel over the small town of New Paltz, and began circling for a place to land. With no airport in sight, the pilots were forced to try for a rough landing in an open field.  Lt. Hammond came in first and made a “pancake” landing with his wheels up causing minor damage to the plane, but was uninjured.   

    The next to land was Lt. August who managed the same feat.

     Lt. Jones wasn’t as lucky.  Upon landing his plane caught in the snow and nosed over onto its back trapping him inside.  Although he was relatively unhurt, he was in a very precarious position should any fuel ignite 

     The landings were noticed by two civil defense aircraft spotters stationed in an observation tower, who dutifully notified authorities.  As townspeople rushed to the scene, Lt. Hammond called for shovels and efforts to free Lt. Jones were begun.  Once he was extricated, the people opened their hearts and homes to the airmen, offering them a nights lodging, which they graciously declined, for their duty was to remain with their aircraft. 

     The New Paltz Independent, quoted one local resident who described the event as “the biggest thing since the Huguenots landed!”    

U.S. Navy Wildcat like the one Lt. Jg. Cassidy vanished in March 30, 1943. U.S. Navy Photo

U.S. Navy Wildcat like the one Lt. Jg. Cassidy vanished in March 30, 1943.
U.S. Navy Photo

     Yet another Ranger pilot, Lt. Arthur J. Cassidy, of Cranston, Rhode Island, was also in trouble.  He was last seen in his Wildcat fighter over Attleboro, Massachusetts, and by the end of the day he was declared “missing”. 

    As the search for Lt. Cassidy was begun, remnants of foul weather lingered into the following day.  On the afternoon of the 31st, army 1st Lt. Daniel H. Thorson took off from Mitchell Field, Long Island, in a P-40 fighter plane bound for Bradley Field in Windsor Locks, Connecticut.  When he failed to arrive, he too was declared “missing”. 

     Later that same afternoon, a flight of four navy Wildcats belonging to Fighter Squadron 24, left Quonset Point for Floyd Bennett Field on Long Island. (These aircraft were not part of the Ranger compliment.)

     The flight left in two sections, each section containing two planes each. The first section, consisting of Ensign Robert G. Carlson, and Ensign Herr, dropped to an altitude of fifty feet as they crossed Long Island Sound, presumably to get under the low cloud ceiling for better visibility.  Suddenly Ensign Carlson’s aircraft banked sharply and disappeared.  (His body was later recovered on a Long Island beach.)  Ensign Herr continued onward and landed safely at Quonset Point.   

     The second section consisting of Lieutenant Ernest C. Houck, and Ensign Leonard E. Byrer, also met with tragedy.  Ensign Byrer was killed instantly when he crashed near the Bell Port Coast Guard Station on Long Island.  His body was recovered and sent home to Terre Haute, Indiana, for burial.  Lieutenant Houck simply disappeared and was never seen again.        

     On April 2, the Ranger left Boston for Argentina, and once safely out of port she began to recover her planes.  The storm had made for rough seas, which led to further accidents.  Lieutenants George C. Simmons, and Allen H. Thurwachter, damaged their planes with “hard-deck” landings, but both survived.

   As the Ranger resumed the war, the search for Lt. Cassidy was ending its third day. Both he and his Wildcat fighter (# 11740) had seemingly vanished while over land without a trace.

     Naval authorities appealed for help through the media, and many witnesses came forward claiming to have seen a plane in trouble, but whether it was actually Lt. Cassidy’s is open to interpretation. 

     Despite a wide spread air and ground search that eventually extended into northern Rhode Island, no trace of Cassidy or his plane was ever found.   

Curtis P-40 Aircraft U. S. Army Air Corps Photo

Curtis P-40 Aircraft
U. S. Army Air Corps Photo

     Meanwhile in Connecticut, the Army was conducting its own search for Lt. Thorson’s missing P-40, with negative results.  It wasn’t until April 24th that two Yale Forestry School students conducting a timber survey discovered the wreck of Thorson’s plane on Blackberry Ridge in Norfolk, Connecticut.

     Investigators were quick to surmise what happened. The cloud ceiling for March 31st had been 1400 feet, and the crash site was at an elevation of 1571 feet.  Lt. Thorson probably never saw the mountain. 

     As the war effort increased, these localized incidents were quickly forgotten, and the late winter storm became a distant memory.  

     Some of the pilots mentioned in this story were destined for bigger things.  Others wouldn’t survive the war.

     Lt. Lukes Boykin, who splashed down off Swampscott, was later promoted to Commanding Officer of Fighting Squadron 4 aboard the aircraft carrier USS Essex.

    Lt. Theodore Grell, who went down over Fall River, survived his injuries, but this wasn’t his first brush with death.  He’d previously survived being shot down over North Africa in 1942 during Operation Torch. He survived the war, and retired from the navy as a captain.

   Lt. (Jg.) Charles V. August, who landed in New Paltz, N.Y., had also survived being shot down during Operation Torch. Research indicates that after the war he moved to California.  

     Lt. Keene G. Hammond, another New Paltz pilot, was later promoted to Lieutenant Commander, and became commanding officer of Fighting Squadron 4 before Lt. Boykin took over.  Lt. Cmdr. Hammond was killed when he was shot down January 6, 1945, eight miles south-west of Vigan, Luzon. 

     Lt. (Jg.) Dee Jones, the third New Paltz pilot, was also a combat veteran of Operation Torch. He was killed May 4, 1943, when his plane crashed during gunnery training. 

     Lt. George C. Simmons who crash landed on Ranger April 2nd, later took part in the sinking of a German freighter in October, 1943. He made it safely back to the carrier with his aircraft shot full of holes.

     Lt. Allen H. Thurwachter who also crash-landed on Ranger’s deck April 2nd, died a few months later on October 19, 1943, while participating in search and rescue operations for two missing navy airplanes that left Martha’s Vineyard for a training flight. His radioman/gunner, ARM1c Bradley E. Hunter was also killed. 

     The bodies of Midshipman Raymond Clarke and Sub-Lieutenant  Donald Dillion, both killed in Bozrah, were buried with full military honors in Newport, R.I.

Lt. Daniel H. Thorson U.S. Army Air Corps Photo

Lt. Daniel H. Thorson
U.S. Army Air Corps Photo

    The body of Lt. Daniel Thorson, killed when his P-40 crashed in Norfolk, Ct., was sent home to Great Falls, Montana, for burial.  In 2003, the citizens of Norfolk, remembered the 24-year-old’s sacrifice and erected a memorial at the crash site.        

     The enduring questions left in the aftermath of this storm are what became of Lieutenants’ Houck and Cassidy.  Houck was presumed to have gone down in Long Island Sound, but Cassidy had disappeared while over land.  Why then, was he never found?  One possibility is that he went down in a remote area, perhaps rural western Massachusetts, Vermont, New Hampshire, or even upstate New York, and his plane disintegrated on impact.  Another theory is that he went down over water, possibly in a lake, or a reservoir.  Perhaps, someday, the mystery will be solved.    

    Hope of solving that mystery arose in July of 1958, when a New Bedford fishing boat snagged its nets on the wreckage of a World War II navy fighter off Martha’s Vineyard. Divers hired to inspect the boat’s propellers also dove on the wreck and found human remains inside.  A newspaper story about the find stated in part; “The Quonset public information office said it has had one inquiry from a man who said a member of his family was lost during World War II, supposedly on a flight to Quonset from his carrier.”  Follow up research was unable to uncover more information other than the fact the aircraft recovered was a navy Hellcat, and not a Wildcat of the type flown by Lt. Cassidy. 

     What makes the case of Lt. Cassidy even more tragic is the fact that he was married only thirty days before he disappeared, and was looking forward to spending some time with his new bride at their home in Cranston.  She lived the rest of her life never knowing what happened to him.    

     This Memorial Day, please take the time to thank a veteran. 

 

Sources:

U.S. Navy crash report briefs

#43-6398, dated March 30, 1943

#43-6399, dated March 30, 1943

#43-6410, dated March 30, 1943

#43-6411, dated March 30, 1943

#43-6424, dated April 2, 1943

#43-6425, dated April 2, 1943

Attleboro Sun, “Plane Reported Missing In North Attleboro”, April 1, 1943, Pg. 1

Attleboro Sun, “Blimp In Search For Lost Plane”, April 2, 1941.

Attleboro Sun, “No Word Of Missing Plane”, April 3, 1943, Pg. 1

Boston Herald, “Two Planes Crash In State”, March 31, 1943, Pg.1

Boston Herald, “1 Killed, 2 Pilots Missing Near Floyd Bennet Field,

Cranston Herald, “Cranston Flier Reported Missing”, April 8, 1943

Fall River Herald, “Navy Plane Feared Lost”, April 1, 1943

Fall River Herald, “Navy Plane Crashes In Apple Orchard Here”, March 31, 1943

Fall River Herald, “Plane Falls; Pilot Drops In Parachute”, March 31, 1943

Lynn Telegram, “Plane Falls Into Sea Off Swampscott Shore”, March 31, 1943, pg.1

Lynn Telegram News, “Rescue Pair In Navy Plane After Crash”, March 31, 1943, Pg.11

New Paltz Independent, “Three ‘Wildcats’ Lost In Fog Make Emergency Landing On The Paltz Flats Thursday”, April 1, 1943

New York Times, “Navy Flier Dies In Crash”, April 2, 1943, Pg. 13

Newsday, “Recover Body Of Mitchell Field Pilot”, April 16, 1943

Norwich Bulletin, “Two Fliers Lose Lives In Crash Of Plane At Gilman”, March 31, 1943,

Norwich Bulletin, “One Naval Pilot Killed And Two Others Missing”, April 2, 1943, Pg.1

Pawtucket Times, “Navy Plane Sought In North Attleboro”, April 1, 1943

Pawtucket Times, “Plane Crashes Kill 2 Fliers”, March 31, 1943

Pawtucket Times, “3 Navy Craft Forced Down In Scattered Accidents”, March 31, 1943

Pawtucket Times, “Dead Navy Fliers Are Identified”, March 31, 1943, Pg.1

Providence Journal, “Fliers Identified”, April 1, 1943, Pg. 22

Providence Journal, ”Plane Reported Missing By Navy”, April 1, 1943, Pg. 27

Providence Journal, “Two Aviators Missing”, April 2, 1943, Pg. 20

Providence Journal, “Remains Of Unknown Plane, Pilot Found”, July 9, 1958

Providence Journal, “Identification Of Pilot Sought”, July 12, 1958, Pg.2

Woonsocket Call, “Navy Plane Lost In Bay State Area”, April 1, 1943

Milwaukee Sentinel, “1 Dies, 2 Lost On Flights”, October 22, 1943.

Town of Bozrah, Ct., death records.

Website, www.airgroup4.com

“Missing In Action And Prisoners Of War”

“Air Group 4 ‘Casablanca To Tokyo’ The Ranger Air Group Over Casablanca”

“Fighting Squadron Four Introductory History”

“A Tribute To Lt. Cmdr. Keen G. Hammond, Skipper Of VF-4”

“Lt. L. M. Boykin Commanding Officer, Fighting Squadron Four”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bozrah, CT – March 30, 1943

Bozrah, Connecticut – March 30, 1943

   

North American Texan Military Trainer
Author Photo

     On the morning of March 30, 1943, a flight of four SNJ-4 navy trainer aircraft from Quonset Point Naval Air Station in Rhode Island, were on a cross-country training flight over the Norwich, Connecticut, area.  The cloud ceiling was at 4,000 feet, and the planes were flying under it.  

     The SNJ-4 was the navy version of the army AT-6 Texan.  It was a single-engine, two-seat, aircraft manufactured By North American.    

     The aircraft were on loan to British pilots assigned to Carrier Aircraft Service Unit – 22, (CASU-22) based at Quonset Point.  One of the aircraft, (#26816), was piloted by Midshipman Raymond Clarke, 19, of Nottingham, England, and his instructor, Sub-Lieutenant Donald Frederick Dillon, 21, of Aesterfield, New Zealand.   

    At about 10:25  a.m., while the formation was passing over the town of Bozrah, just west of Norwich, Clarke’s aircraft began to experience engine trouble, and had to drop out of formation.  The plane was over a semi-populated area and neither man attempted to bail out.  They crashed in a wooded area in the village of Gilman, which is located in the northern part of Bozrah.   

     The aircraft was seen by two contractors doing work on the Gilman Mill to be trailing black smoke with its engine skipping just before it crashed and exploded.   

     Midshipman Clarke was a member of the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve.  He was the son of Herbert and Constance Hilda Clarke of Lenton Sands, Nottingham, England.  He’s buried in Island Cemetery in Newport, Rhode Island.  To see a photo of his grave go to www.findagrave.com and see memorial #15037563.  His date of birth is July 4, 1923.

     Sub-Lieutenant Dillon was a member of the Royal New Zealand Naval Volunteer reserve.  He was the son of Henry Charles Julian and Frances E. Dillon, of Ashburton, Canterbury, New Zealand.   He’s buried in Island Cemetery in Newport, Rhode Island.  To see a photo of his grave go to www.findagrave.com and see memorial #15037560.  His date of birth is October 3, 1921.

     Sources:

     U.S. Navy crash brief, #43-6396

     Norwich Bulletin, “Two Fliers Lose Lives In Crash Of Plane At Gilman”, March 31, 1943.

     Pawtucket Times, “Dead Navy Fliers Are Identified”, March 31, 1943, page 1

     Providence Journal, “Fliers Identified”, April 1, 1943, page 22.

     Town of Bozrah death records.

     www.findagrave.com – Dillon, Clarke

 

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