Watertown, Connecticut – July 27, 1941

     On or about July 25, 1941, a young pilot from Middlebury, Connecticut, with six month’s flying experience, bought a Taylor two-seat, high-winged monoplane equipped with a 450 horsepower engine for $600 from a private owner.  Later that day he flew it from Bethany Air Field to Boston and back without incident. 

     On the morning of July 27, 1941, the pilot took off from the Bethany Air Field bound for Mount Tobe Airport in Watertown, Connecticut. While passing over Watertown, the aircraft developed engine trouble and the pilot was forced to make an emergency landing. The plane came down on a farm off Watertown Road, where it clipped a tree and ripped off a section of one of the wings.  It then hit the ground where the propeller, windshield, and fuselage were damaged.  Fortunately, the pilot was not injured.

     The pilot’s brother helped him salvage the aircraft, and the pilot told a newspaper reporter he planned to repair the plane and fly it again soon. 

     Waterbury Democrat, “Plane Makes Tree Landing”, July 28, 1941, pg. 2.