Presque Island, Maine – March 5, 1932

     On the evening of March 5, 1932, a “Commander” airplane took off from Edmundton, Maine, bound for Millinocket.  The aircraft was built to carry two people, but there were three adults aboard.  As the plane neared Presque Isle the pilot noticed it was low on fuel, and made a successful landing on river ice on the Aroostook River just above the Aroostook Bridge.  From there the pilot and passengers walked into town and arranged for some gasoline at Mckay’s gas station, and Mr. Mckay drove his customers back to their plane as helped with the refueling.  Meanwhile, someone had notified Presque Isle’s chief of police Earnest E. Lyons, who arrived at the plane as it was being fueled. 

     When the fueling was complete, the pilot and passengers climbed back in the plane and prepared to take off from the ice.  The plane seemed to have trouble getting airborne, and when it finally did it, it clipped the top of a large elm tree damaging the propeller.  The plane then continued onward bobbing up and down.  The pilot attempted to make an emergency landing in an open field but the plane crashed in a wooded area off Washburn Road. 

     One of the passengers had suffered a cut above the eye and was transported to a hospital by Chief Lyons.   After being treated, the three aviators spend the night at a rooming house on Main Street.  The aircraft was dismantled and transported to Presque Isle Airport where it would reportedly be repaired.  

     Source: Presque Isle Star, “Airplane In Distress Heard And seen By Residents Of Presque Isle Saturday” March 10, 1932, page 1