from author and historian Jim Ignasher
Quonset Point, R. I. – March 25, 1946
SB2C Helldiver
U.S. Navy Photo
On March 25, 1946, an SBW-4E Helldiver, (Bu. No. 60126), was returning to the Quonset Point Naval Air Station after a training flight. Upon landing the aircraft collided with another Helldiver, which was parked and unoccupied, shearing its tail section off. Both aircraft were heavily damaged, but the pilot was not hurt.
Source:
U. S. Navy accident report, dated March 25, 1946
Quonset Point Naval Air Station – September 17, 1951
P2V Neptune
U.S. Air Force Photo
On September 17, 1951, a P2V-4 Neptune, (Bu. No. 124235), was landing at the Quonset Point Naval Air Station after a training flight. The weather was poor with low visibility. The aircraft ran off the end of the runway and over a sea wall and came to rest with one wing in the water and the other against the seawall. The aircraft was damaged beyond repair but the five men aboard were not injured.
The aircraft was assigned to VF-7.
Source: U. S. Navy accident report dated September 17, 1951
Buzzards Bay, Massachusetts – February 13, 1950
Douglas Skyraider
U. S. Navy Photo
On the morning of February 13, 1950, a flight of navy AD-3 Skyraider aircraft took off from the Quonset Point Naval Air Station in Rhode Island for a dive-bombing training flight over Buzzards Bay, Massachusetts, in the area of the Elizabeth Islands. One of the aircraft, (Bu. No. 122849), was piloted by Midshipman Philip Kuehl.
At 10:02 a.m., Midshipman Kuehl was making a high-speed dive-bomb run at a surface target when his aircraft inexplicably crashed into the water and exploded on impact in the area between Gull Island and Nashawena Island. (41-26N, 70-54W)
Neither the aircraft or the pilot were recovered. The exact cause of the accident could not be determined by the naval investigation board.
Philip Kuehl
High School graduation, 1946
Courtesy of Paul Kuehl.
Midshipman Kuehl was assigned to VA-34 at Quonset Point NAS.
Source: U. S. Navy Accident Report dated February 13, 1950, courtesy of Paul D. Kuehl, nephew of the pilot.
Quonset Point Naval Air Station – June 17, 1943
On June 17, 1943, an Ensign pilot was in the cockpit of a navy NE-1 trainer aircraft, (Bu. No. 26273), while Lt. (Jg.) Robert Allen Pierce stood at the nose and pulled the propeller thru to start the engine. Once the engine started, Pierce turned to walkaway, and as he did so the aircraft suddenly lurched forward and struck him with the spinning propeller critically injuring him.
Source: U.S. Navy Accident Report #43-7295, dated June 17, 1943
Quonset Point Naval Air Station – August 24, 1943
U.S. Navy F6F Hellcat
U.S. Navy photo
On the night of August 24, 1943, an Ensign was practicing “night familiarization landings” at the Quonset Point Naval Air Station when he failed to put the “wheels down” lever in the full “down” position. The landing gear subsequently collapsed and the aircraft, an F6F-3N Hellcat, (Bu. No. 08945) was seriously damaged. The pilot was not injured.
Source: U.S. Navy Accident Report #44-8263
North Kingstown, Rhode Island – December 7, 1944
U.S. Navy F6F Hellcat
U.S. Navy photo
On the night of December 7, 1944, a flight of six F6F-5 Hellcat Aircraft took off from the Quonset Point Naval Air Station to practice night carrier landings on Quonset’s runways. After takeoff, Quonset tower instructed the aircraft to orbit the field two miles outside the designated landing circle to allow an incoming flight of airplanes to land. After that incoming flight was on the ground, Quonset tower gave clearance for the six Hellcats to begin their practice landings, but when the aircraft circled the field it was noticed that there were now only five airplanes instead of six. After ordering all five to land, an accounting was made, and it was discovered that one Hellcat, (Bu. No. 71036), piloted by Ensign Patrick Aloysius Hackett, age 22, was missing.
Shortly afterward another pilot reported seeing a fire in a wooded area of North Kingstown. State police found the wreckage of Ensign Hackett’s plane on Stooke Hill to the north of Route 138.
There had been no witnesses to the crash, and investigators speculated that the cause may have been due to engine failure.
Ensign Hackett is buried in Philadelphia National Cemetery in Philadelphia, PA.
Sources:
U.S. Navy Accident Report dated December 7, 1944
North Kingstown, R. I. death records, # 44-96
Quonset Point, R.I. – March 28, 1944
U.S. Navy F6F Hellcat
U.S. Navy photo
At 7:45 p.m., on the night of March 28, 1944, members of the U.S. Navy’s VF-7 squadron were at Quonset Point Naval Air Station in North Kingstown, Rhode Island, preparing for a night tactics training flight. All aircraft involved in the operation were F6F-3 Hellcat fighter planes.
The first six aircraft left the ground without incident. The next aircraft in line, (Bu. No. 41964), was piloted by Ensign Claude Earl Schilling. When Ensign Schilling was granted clearance, he proceeded down the runway. After traveling approximately 2,000 feet down the tarmac, his aircraft inexplicably veered to the right and went off the runway and onto the grass where it ground-looped back onto the runway and came to rest. Meanwhile, the eighth aircraft, (Bu. No. #41938), piloted by Ensign Charles Francis Sullivan, had also been granted permission to take off on the same runway used by Schilling. Due to the dark conditions, nobody realized that Schilling hadn’t made it into the air, and Sullivan’s Hellcat struck Schilling’s plane just aft of the cockpit severing the fuselage and igniting the fully loaded fuel tanks.
Sullivan managed to escape the burning wreckage, but Schilling was killed.
According to the navy investigation report, what caused Ensign Schilling’s aircraft to leave the runway could not be determined.
Ensign Schilling is buried at Rio Vista Fellows Masonic Cemetery, in Rio Vista, California. See www.findagrave.com, Memorial #135531762.
Source:
U.S. Navy Investigation Report #44-12718
Atlantic Ocean – July 23, 1942
Approximate Location: Lat. 40-40 N, long. 70-25 W.
Updated January 16, 2023
OS2U Kingfisher
U.S. Navy Photo
On July 23, 1942, a flight of U.S. Navy Kingfisher aircraft were on a training flight over the Atlantic off the coast of Rhode Island when they encountered what the navy termed “extremely bad weather”. As the planes continued on visibility dropped to near zero.
One of the planes was piloted by Ensign Harold W. Gray, 25, from Long Eddy, New York. With him was an observer, Lieutenant (jg) William Boddie Bartels, of Memphis, Tenn. Upon entering the weather system, the flight leader signaled to Gray close in tighter which he did, taking a position to the leader’s right. The leader wanted Gray to be able to keep him n sight as visibility dropped. The flight leader went on instrument flight shortly afterwards, and at this time the planes were only 500 feet above the water.
The leader began a shallow turn to the right, and as he did so, Gray elected to slide his aircraft up and over the tail of the leader to take a new position on the leader’s left. Gray’s aircraft disappeared into the scud and was never seen again.
According to the naval investigation report, it was the opinion of naval investigators that Gray, “lost sight of the leader and being in an unusual position and finding himself with no reference point, due to vertigo, he was unable to orient himself on instruments in time to avoid crashing into the water.”
The aircraft was an OS2U-3 Kingfisher, Bu. No. 09404, assigned to Quonset Point Naval Air Station, VB-9.
To see more info about Lt. (jg) Bartels and Ens. Gray, click on the links below.
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/84389917/harold-william-gray
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/77497519/william-boddie-bartels
Sources:
U.S. Navy Accident Investigation Brief #43-4537
Woonsocket Call, “Navy Airmen Lost On Patrol Flight”, July 24, 1942, Pg. 1
The Waterbury Democrat, (Ct.) “Navy Plane Lost With Two Aboard”, July 24, 1942, pg. 4
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