Pawcatuck Plane Crash | New England Aviation History

North Stonington, Ct. – June 28, 1944

March 16, 2015

North Stonington, Ct., (Pawcatuck) June 28, 1944

Shortly before 6 p.m. on June 28, 1944, a single-seat navy plane from Quonset Naval Air Station was flying over the Westerly – Stonington area at 18,000 feet when the tail developed a “flutter”. The pilot dropped down to 10,000 feet and the “flutter” got worse. Since the pilot was near Westerly Air Field, he radioed a distress call, and said he would attempt to land there. As he attempted to reach the field the “flutter” got even worse, forcing the pilot to bail out.

The plane began falling from the sky, but as it neared the ground it leveled off of its own accord, and swept across North Stonington Road tearing away power lines and smashing into the home of Earl and Grace Norman. Both received burns from exploding aviation fuel.

Meanwhile the pilot landed safely in a field about three miles away.

Source: Providence Journal, “Plane Hits House; Man, Wife Burned”, June 29, 1944, page 1

Stonington, CT – January 15, 1932

August 13, 2015

Stonington, Connecticut – January 15, 1932

On January 15, 1932, a plane carrying three men left Boston bound for New York. The pilot, Glenn Parker, 22, of St. Johnsbury, Vermont, was ferrying Cresson Parker, 31, and Earl Johnson, 22, both of Newport, New Hampshire, to New York so they could fly two new airplanes back to New England. While traveling along the southern coast of Rhode Island they encountered heavy fog, so the pilot dropped the airplane low to the ground. As they passed over the town of Westerly, R.I., they barely missed scraping the roofs of several buildings. Shortly after the plane passed from Westerly to the neighboring town of Stonington, it crashed near the New Haven Railroad tracks in the Pawcatuck section of town.

Cresson Parker later died at Westerly hospital from injuries he received in the crash. The other two men suffered cuts and abrasions, but recovered.

Source:

New York Times, “Crash In Connecticut”, January 16, 1932