Narragansett Bay – February 10, 1945

Narragansett Bay – February 10, 1945

One mile northeast off Quonset Point Naval Air Station

    

U.S. Navy F6F Hellcat U.S. Navy photo

U.S. Navy F6F Hellcat
U.S. Navy photo

     On February 10, 1945, Ensign Pierce Hubert Beach, 22, took off from Quonset Point Naval Air Station in North Kingstown, Rhode Island, in an F6F-5N Hellcat (Bu. No. 58058) for a routine training flight where he and other aircraft were to practice carrier landings and takeoffs.  He was killed when his plane crashed into Narragansett Bay.  

     Ensign Beach earned his pilots wings at Pensacola, Florida, in May of 1944, and was married in June, ’44.   To see a photo of Ensign beach, click on the link below. 

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/180839171/pierce-hubert-beach

     Sources:

     Lewiston Daily Sun, “Navy Pilot Killed; Another Missing”, February 12, 1945, Pg. 1

     Larry Webster, Aviation Historian & Archeologist

     The (Bunnell Florida) Flagler Tribune, (no headline) February 15, 1945

     U.S. Navy Accident Report dated February 10, 1945

Naushon Island, MA – January 1, 1939

Naushon Island, Massachusetts – January 1, 1939

     On January 1, 1939, an aircraft with two men aboard left New Bedford Airport around 11:00 a.m., en-route to Nantucket.  The plane was piloted by Samuel N. Sweet; his passenger was William G. Barlow.   

     After leaving Nantucket, the engine began to sputter, so Sweet landed at Oak Bluffs Airport on Martha’s Vineyard to have the problem attended to. 

     “Everything seemed in order,” Sweet later told reporters, “so we headed for the mainland. We were flying at 2,000 feet over Naushon Island when the motor froze because an oil line became plugged.  I dropped her to 1,500 feet to regain speed, but couldn’t come out of the stall.  I looked about for a suitable landing place and spotted a golf course at the Moors.  Our glide carried us easily, but train tracks and telephone wires loomed up as I was about to land.  I didn’t dare go under because of the tracks, so when the plane was eight or ten feet from the ground I pulled the nose up and let her drop.” 

     Both men suffered non-life-threatening head injuries in the crash.   

     Source: Falmouth Enterprise, “Plane Crashes At The Moors”, January 6, 1939

Lynn, MA – October 21, 1915

Lynn, Massachusetts – October 21, 1915

     On October 21, 1921, two men took off in a bi-plane for an experimental flight from Lynn and flew out over nearby marshland where one of the wings suddenly folded.  The aircraft plunged from an altitude of  750 feet embedding itself deep into the soft mud of the marshes.   Both men were killed.   

     The dead were identified as J. Chauncey Redding of Melrose, Mass., and Phillip Bulman of Malden, Mass.      

     Sources:

     (Woonsocket) Evening Call, “Biplane Collapses, Two Aviators Dead”, October 22, 1915, Pg. 7

     Hartford Courant, (Conn.) “Two Men Killed By Fall Of Biplane”, October 22, 1915

Lynn, MA – October 14, 1921

 

Lynn, MA – October 14, 1921

     On the morning of October 14, 1921, two men took off from Lynn in a home-made monoplane and crashed from an altitude of 1,000 feet.  Both were killed.  

     The dead were identified as Everett Foster of Winchester, Mass., and Fletcher Anderson of West Lynn.     

    The aircraft was to be flown in the American Legion Aerial Regatta being held in Providence, Rhode Island.  It was reported that the aircraft weighed 700 pounds and could fly 80 mph. 

     Source:

     Woonsocket Call, “Two Aviators Dead By Fall Of Plane In Lynn Marshes”, October 15, 1921, Pg. 3

    

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