North Kingstown, Rhode Island – August 21, 1944
Updated March 8, 2019
Updated March 16, 2026
TBF-1 Avenger
U. S. Navy Photo
On the afternoon of August 21, 1944, two TBF-1 Avengers, (Bu. No. 23967), and (Bu. No. 06104), left Quonset Point Naval Air Station as part of a flight of several planes that were to take part in a routine training mission. The two Avengers were flying in a two-plane formation over Narragansett Bay along the western side of Jamestown Island while they waited for other aircraft in the flight to join up with them. Bu. No. 23967, piloted by Ensign Walter L. Miller, Jr., 21, of Texas, was in the lead position. The other aircraft, Bu. No. 06104 was piloted by another Ensign, and was flying in the number two position.
While both aircraft were about two miles southwest of the Jamestown Bridge, and at an altitude of 1,500 feet, they began to make a ten degree bank to the left. The air was turbulent, and while the bank was being executed, the right wing of the number two aircraft collided with the elevator of the lead plane. Immediately after the collision, Ensign Miller’s aircraft went down and crashed into a vacant house in the Saunderstown section of North Kingstown and came to rest in the side yard where it exploded killing all aboard. The vacant cottage was destroyed by the fire.
There was an 8-year-old boy playing in the front yard of his home 100 yards away who suffered non-life-threatening burns from the flaming gasoline sprayed by the explosion.
A second house in which an elderly invalid woman was residing was also set ablaze. She was rescued by two Coast Guardsmen, Meredith E. Dobry, of Bensonville, Ill. and Daniel Caruso, of Meriden, Ct., who both happened to be in the area at the time of the crash.
The other Avenger was able to make it safely back to Quonset Point without injury to the crew.
Both aircraft were assigned to CASU-22 at Quonset Point.
The dead were identified as:
Pilot: Ensign Walter Lee Miller, Jr., 21, of Morton, Texas. To see a photograph of Ensign Miller, go to www.findagrave.com, see memorial #38854830. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/38854830/walter-lee-miller
ARM3c Jacob C. Beam, 20, of Pottstown, Pa. He’s buried in Mt. Zion Cemetery in North Coventry, Pa. See www.findagrave memorial #130440147. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/130440147/jacob-camel-beam
AMM3c Donald J. Finkler. 19, of East Cleveland, Ohio. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/232958519/donald-finkler
A side note to this incident: Five years later, in July of 1949, it was reported in The Providence Journal that the Navy still hadn’t paid for the damages caused by the accident, nor had the home been rebuilt. It was reported in part, “…there’s a gaping hole in the ground where her (the owner) newly remodeled nine-room house used to stand with its vine-covered porch and neat shrubbery.”
Since the crash, the property owner had been living in her apartment/garage on the property.
The final outcome of the claim is unknown as of this writing.
Sources:
U. S. Navy accident report dated August 21, 1944
Providence Journal, “Three Quonset Airmen Die As Plane Falls, Fires House”, August 22, 1944, Pg. 1
New York Times, “Plane Hits House; 3 Die”, August 22, 1944
Newport Mercury, “Navy Men Identified In Bomber Crash”, date either Aug. 22, or 23rd, 1944
Town of North Kingstown, Rhode Island, death records.
Providence Journal, “Claim Unsettled After Five Years For House Burned In Plane Crash”, July 3, 1949, pg. 9.
