Off Block Island – May 10, 1956
T-33 Trainer Jet
U.S. Air Force Photo
On May 10, 1956, a U. S. Air Force T-33 jet trainer took off from Suffolk County Air Force Base in Westhampton, Long Island, New York, for an instrument check flight. The pilot was Captain Howard M. Blanton, 32, of Baltimore, Maryland, and the observer was First Lieutenant William J. Reichard, 26, of Berwyn, Illinois.
The aircraft headed eastward out over the Atlantic Ocean. At some point the crew discovered that the radar compass wasn’t working properly, and that they were lost. They flew for a period of time until picked up by radar at Montauk Point, New York, and Quonset Point Naval Air Station in Rhode Island. By now the jet was running low on fuel, and being closer to Rhode Island, was given emergency clearance to land at Quonset.
At about 12:30 p.m. the T-33 ran out of fuel as it approached Block Island/New Shoreham, which is located three miles off the Rhode Island Coast. The crew ejected and the jet went into the water about a half-mile east of Block Island.
Both crewmen landed safely in the water several miles apart from each other and rescue craft were immediately dispatched to the area. Navy and Air Force helicopters found the men quickly due to the yellow dye markers each had carried, and directed surface vessels to their locations. Both men were still alive at this point, but the cold temperature of the water was sapping their strength.
A sling was lowered form the Quonset helicopter to Lt. Reichard who managed to grip on to it, but moments later he fell back into the water and became entangled in the cords of his parachute. He was retrieved by the crew of a Coast Guard boat, but wasn’t breathing when hauled aboard. The crew attempted to revive him with artificial respiration without success.
Meanwhile, another Coast Guard boat recovered Captain Blanton, and he too was not breathing. Attempts to revive him also failed.
Source:
Unknown newspaper, “Two Jet Pilots Die Off Block Island”, May 11, 1956
