Warwick, Rhode Island – September 17, 1951
On September 17, 1951, a 35-year-old student pilot of a small airplane was in the process of landing at Warwick’s Hillsgrove Airport when, according to the pilot, a National Guard aircraft “buzzed in” suddenly from overhead and its propeller wash pushed the smaller plane off the runway causing it to crash. The plane was demolished.
A spokesman for the 152nd Fighter Squadron of the Rhode Island National Guard, denied the military plane was to blame.
A spokesman for the corporation that owned the civilian plane stated that the military aircraft should not have come over the top of the student pilot and landed.
An airport employee who witnessed the crash stated that the landing procedure wasn’t unusual, and felt that the accident wouldn’t have occurred had the student been more experienced.
Source:
Providence Sunday Journal, “Light Plane Crash At Airport Probed”, September 23, 1951, pg. 56.
