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From: "mcasada" <>
Subject: Fw: [KYMCCREA] Man Falls From Airplane - 1943
Date: Tue, 23 Sep 2003 08:39:10 -0400


Didn't the body fall in Whitley City at the John Gerry house in the back
yard ? Maxine
----- Original Message -----
From: "Mary Lou Hudson" <>
To: <>
Sent: Tuesday, September 23, 2003 12:16 AM
Subject: [KYMCCREA] Man Falls From Airplane - 1943


> The McCreary County Record, Feb. 11, 1943
>
> Plane Near Whitley City
>
> Bowman Field Officer Says California Man Opened Outer Door By Mistake
>
> PANEL FOUND NEARBY; DOOR ON DAY RIDGE
>
> Mrs. Eliza Clark Locates Body Monday; Says She Watched It Fall
>
> The body of a soldier identified as Herman A. Tinder of Hollywood, Calif.,
who fell from an Army transport plane Sunday afternoon at 4:20 o'clock, was
found at eight a.m. Monday a mile northeast of Whitley City.
>
> Coroner Sidney Taylor said the body was moved to the Stearns Undertaking
Establishment late last night. It was not moved sooner on orders from the
Army, he said. An officer from Bowman Field, Louisville, arrived this
morning to conduct an investigation.
>
> The misunderstanding of an order given by the pilot of the plane was
blamed by Major Ira J. Sellers, commander of the 27th Base Headquarters and
Air Base Squadron, Bowman Field, for the accident.
>
> The pilot ordered Tinder to open the door leading from the cockpit, but
Tinder misunderstood and opened the outer door of the plane, Major Sellers,
who made a preliminary investigation, was quoted at Louisville by Major
Gerald J. Fusco, Bowman Field public relations officer, as saying.
>
> The door, a double panel outlet, of aluminum, whipped open with Tinder
holding on, Major Fusco said. The crew chief rushed to Tinder's aid, but he
was thrown from the door and whipped against the plane body by the wind.
>
> The door battered against the body for perhaps five minutes, then tore
loose and fell, Major Fusco said. He explained the door is made of an inner
and outer panel, the door proper probably being the one found by Henry
Gibson of the Day Ridge section of the county. The plane was bound from
Bowman Field to Pope Field, near Fort Bragg, N.C., Major Fusco said.
>
> The body, clad in coveralls and with no parachute, was found lying in a
pine thicket 100 yards from a narrow country road. Coroner Taylor said he
identified the body from a metal identification tag around the soldier's
neck. Also on the tag was the name, Mrs. Bessie Tinder, Hollywood, Calif.,
presumably either the mother or the wife of the victim. Coroner Taylor
estimated his age at around thirty years.
>
> An aluminum panel was found twenty feet from the point where the body was
located. The panel was constructed in such a manner that it could be
detached. The panel, measuring approximately two by five feet, was painted
the grayish black color used on the outside of Army planes. The inside was a
light green. On the inside was printed the warning, "Do not open at speeds
in excess of 150 miles per hour," and the label "Cargo panel."
>
> Mrs. Eliza Clark, who has two sons in the Army and who lives about a
quarter of a mile from the point where the body was found, said she was in
her yard Sunday afternoon and was watching the plane as it passed over at a
high altitude in a northerly direction. She said she saw some object fall
from it and heard it hit the ground with a metallic sound. She did not
believe it to be a body at the time, but thought it merely a part of the
plane. She made a search of the vicinity Sunday afternoon, but found
nothing. Monday morning she resumed her search, first locating the metal
panel and then the body. She expressed the opinion the soldier was grasping
the panel and did not release it until he struck the tree tops.
>
> Coroner Taylor said the body was not badly mangled and the force of the
fall was evidently broken when the body struck the tree tops. Only a few
twigs were sheared from the top of a nearby tree. Coroner Taylor said some
dents in the ground about twelve feet from the body were evidently made by
the feet when the body struck. The dents were about three inches deep and
five feet apart.. A knife, cigarette lighter and 41 cents in change were the
only other objects found near the body.
>
> Mr. Gibson, who lives ten miles northwest of Whitley City near Natural
Arch and who found the plane door, said that Sunday afternoon about 4:30
o'clock he saw a plane go over in a northerly direction and saw two objects
falling from it. He said his daughter, Louisa Gibson, called his attention
to the falling objects. One fell a half mile from his home and the other a
greater distance away in another direction, he said. Monday morning he
located the nearest one which was the door, measuring three and a half by
five feet. The door closely resembled the panel found at Whitley City, but
had two latches on it, neither of which was damaged. It had been held in
place on the plane by two hinges, both of which had been ripped from the
door. It was painted identical with the panel.
>
> A large number of persons visited the scene near Whitley City Monday.
>
>
>
>
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