Westwood, Massachusetts – November 16, 1952

     On November 16, 1952, two naval officers were flying from Columbus, Ohio, to the Squantum Naval Air Station in Quincy, Massachusetts.  (The type of aircraft is unknown.) As they were approaching the Boston metropolitan area they encountered thick fog and switched to instrument flight rules.  

     The aircraft was unable to land at Squantum due to the fog, and was redirected to Boston.  As they circled waiting for clearance, the plane ran low on fuel.  The pilot radioed that he would be making an emergency landing, and began descending down through the fog. 

     “I couldn’t see where I was landing,” the pilot later told a reporter, “because the fog was pea-soup thick until we came under 100 feet.  Then it was too late to do anything.  We hit. We were just lucky.”  

      The plane came down in a swamp about four miles from the Norwood Airport, and a half mile off Rt 128.   Although the aircraft was wrecked, neither man aboard was hurt.  

     Due to fog, nobody at the airport had seen the plane go down, and due to miss-communication, rescue crews initially responded to the airport.  

     Source: 

      The Boston Globe, “2 Navy Men Unhurt In Crash Landing”, November 17, 1952, pg. 1.  Submitted by Eric Wiberg, author and historian.