Cheshire, MA – September 17, 1988

Cheshire, Massachusetts – September 17, 1988

Mt. Graylock

     On the evening of September 17, 1988, a single-engine Cessna 172, (Reg. no. N6586J), containing a pilot and two passengers, took off from Westerly, Rhode Island, bound for Bennington, Vermont.   As the aircraft was passing over western Massachusetts it encountered heavy fog and clouds and the pilot became disoriented. 

     At 6:30 p.m. the pilot radioed radar controllers that he was lost.  The controllers, seeing the aircraft blip on their screens, attempted to guide the pilot through the cloud cover to the nearest airport before the blip abruptly disappeared and all radio contact was lost.  A search was instituted shortly afterwards. 

     The wreckage of the plane was spotted by a helicopter crew the following afternoon on the east side of Mount Greylock in the town of Cheshire. When rescuers reached the scene, they found the two passengers deceased inside the aircraft.  The pilot was found one-tenth of a mile from the wreck, injured, but alive.  He had tried to make his way down the mountain to get help.

     The two passengers were from Vermont, and had gone to Rhode Island for a fishing trip.    

    At least two other plane crashes have occurred on Mt. Greylock; one on August 12, 1948, and another on April 2, 1958.     

     Sources:   

     The Providence Journal, “Bodies To Be Pulled From Plane That Crashed on Mt. Greylock”, September 19, 1988, pg. A-2. 

    The Providence Journal, “2 Bodies Recovered From Mount Greylock Plane”, September 20, 1988, pg. A-16

 

Cheshire, MA. – March 9, 1943

Cheshire, Massachusetts – March 9, 1943

 

P-47B Thunderbolt
U.S. Air Force Photo

     At 4:15 p.m. on March 9, 1943, a P-47B aircraft piloted by 2nd Lt. Sommers D. Levermore, 22, crashed on the farm of Adolph Geoffron, located on Windsor Road, in Cheshire, Massachusetts. 

     Two children on their way home from school witnessed the accident and ran to a nearby home to alert the homeowner, who then called the state police barracks in Pittsfield. 

     Several nearby residents made their way through the snow to reach the plane, which had come to rest in two pieces at a tree line at the edge of a field.  The pilot was still alive, and first aid was given, but he died a short time later before an ambulance could arrive. 

     The cause of the crash was not stated.

     Lt. Levermore was assigned to the 321st Fighter Squadron at Westover Field in Chicopee, Mass.

     Lt. Levermore was from Rockville Center, New York.  To see a photograph of him, go to www.findagrave.com, memorial #156413374.  

     Sources:

     Unknown Newspaper, “Cheshire Plane Crash Fatal To Army Pilot”, March 10, 1943.  (Article found on www.findagrave.com)

     Springfield Republican, “Cheshire Crash fatal To Young Army Flier; Plane Breaks In Two”, March 10, 1943, page 1

 

 

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