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The Forgotten Crash Of 1950
The first F-86s to land at Kanawha Airport, crashed just 3 minutes after takeoff. March 22 1950 was a cloudy overcast day in the Kanawha valley with drizzle in the air. On this day two F-86 jets were warming up at Kanawha Airport ready for takeoff. These were the first F-86's to ever land here, as production jets of any type had only been in operation for about two years. The reason these jets had landed the day before was sort of an emergency in itself: They had run low on fuel. Because of the scarcity of jets and jet fuel, the pilots would have to wait for fuel to be delivered from Dayton Ohio the following day. So, Lt. Col. A.F. Reinhardt (43) and Capt. George Evans (28) spent the night in Charleston, and even visited the old "Press Club" during their stay. The two were veteran pilots of the war, and were based out of Kirkland Field, Albuquerque New Mexico. At around 12:19 pm on March 22nd, the jets roared down the runway in formation almost wingtip to wingtip. The Press covered the event live, including a radio station. About 3 minutes later, both jets crashed into the ground at 500 miles per hour near the Coal River town of Emmons WV. One jet entered the earth vertically, blowing a hole over 10 feet deep and 30 feet across. The other hit about 300 feet up the hill at less than vertical, but still digging a huge hole in the earth. The resulting double crash was so violent that only a few larger pieces were recovered and those could be carried away by one man. The crash of one jet was about 100 feet from a house in which three people were home. One was a baby named Jean Parcell, and she lives in the same house today. The following are reports of the event. Be aware that some misinformation was printed as is the case with almost all disaster stories. This was later corrected or inconclusive... The following is from the Charleston Gazette, March 23rd 1950 Jets Fall; Pilots Die In Crash Two Air Force F-86 jet fighter planes crashed yesterday in a rugged mountain section about 20 miles from here, killing both pilots. Time of the crash was set at 12:19 p.m., less than two minutes after the two planes took off from Kanawha Airport. An eye-witness said the two planes brushed wings at about 5,000 feet and plummeted downward, disintegrating as they hit the earth with a deafening explosion that severely damaged a house 50 yards away and blew the pilots to bits. The two pilots
were identified as: Lt. Col. A. F. Reinhardt, 43, a native of Huntington,
Long Island, N. Y., and Capt. George W. Evans, Jr., 28 of Laurel,
Miss. Mrs. Parcell
said she thought lightning had struck the house and immediately grabbed
up her baby and ran from the house. "When I reached the road
in front of the house," she said, "1 looked up on the hill
back of the house and saw the two fires, pieces of stuff were flying
all through the air." That was the last heard from the two men as they traveled approximately 600 miles an hour in the two craft, described as "Sabre" fighter planes. Early reports
that the planes had struck a power line were discounted by State Police
and Army officials, who pointed out that the line was about 300 yards
below the top of the mountain over which the two jets flew. Power
line No. 5 carrying 66,000 volts from the Cabin creek power plant
to the South Charleston Naval Ordnance plant, was severed as the planes
plunged earthward. A 10 mile area around the crash scene was without
electric power. In response
to a request for information, Air Force headquarters in Washington,
D. C. said Col. Reinhardt graduated from Arlington, N. J. high school
in 1921, worked for the Sanders Reinhardt Co. in Allentown, Pa., from
1927 to 1937, was an employee of the Washington D. C. Post newspaper
before entering the Air Force in 1942. Reinhardt's wife is Mrs.
Carole Reinhardt. Capt. Evans was a flight lead of the 93`d Fighter
Squadron of the 81st Fighter Group at Kirtland Field, Albuquerque,
N. Mex. Reports were printed in both the Charleston Gazette and Daily Mail newspapers on the day before and several days after the above article, including this eyewitness report from Adrian Gwin, a veteran reporter for the Daily Mail, who said the scene of the crash was an "awesome and spectacular sight".... "There are pieces of bodies and the two planes over an area of roughly four square acres. "I saw two feet severed just above the ankles, the largest part of any body remaining. "One plane hit beside a small dirt road at a community known as Grippe, which is half a mile from Emmons. The other hit 200 yards away up the slight slope of a hill. "Both planes made craters roughly 40 feet square and about 10 feet deep. "I saw a torn pass bearing the name of Lt. Col. Reinhardt. It was a crash pass that would permit him to go through police lines when crashes occurred so that he could investigate. "I saw torn bits of clothing and little pieces of flesh, including a part of an arm, part of a scalp and a bit of a shoulder. "There were scattered bits of maps and papers. "There was no piece of the planes left that could have been carried away." So how did I come upon this forgotten story?
Jerry and Dick Miller checking out the crash site I had heard bits and pieces of this story over the last 30 years from a couple of friends who were actually at the crash site when it happened. One was Danny Davidson... the other Dick Miller. At the time Danny told me a bit about the crash, it was (to me) like all the other crashes that have happened in our area: Hard to locate now or hard to get to. But a about a week ago Dick Miller mentioned (almost in passing) about the crash as we were talking about the Ashford WV area. As I had just driven right past the crash site and didn't realize it, I asked Dick to help locate the exact site. Naturally, Emmons is a tiny spot in the road and I simply could have asked anyone old enough, and they would have pointed it out. But I wanted the man who actually helped pick up the pieces of the crash to join me in my mini adventure. As we pulled into the exact spot, Dick said it looked right. He was dead-on. We later located the property owner and toured the area where the two jets buried themselves. One sight near the road is now grown over with vegetation. This is the spot where the jet went straight-in and buried deepest. They basically shoveled dirt over it, as there was nothing left to recover.
BEFORE I GO ANY FURTHER ..... Be aware that these crashes took place on PRIVATE PROPERTY. The property owners are VERY private people... good country folk that like most people, are hesitant to have strangers appearing out of nowhere to bother them and trample their land. My connection is my friend Dick, who's family knew the property owners. So take my advice and don't bother these people as they simply wont allow complete strangers on their property for the purpose of looking for relics or anything else. Understood? Great. As I mentioned above, I had an "in" with the property owners and was allowed to look around. On the first day I took some photos. On my second visit I brought my metal detector. The second spot further up the hill was the key, as this jet came in at a slightly more horizontal angle and scattered debris for hundreds of yards. The depression is still visible in the ground after 58 years.
Just as I imagined, at the second site I located hundreds of pieces of aircraft, mostly two inches long or less. (I didn't need to dig these up as my detector tells me how large and how deep something is.) I looked at a couple of pieces anyway just to see if they looked burned or not. They didn't. I looked a little longer and hit a signal that looked interesting. I started digging and saw the end of a piece, that continued further. I finally removed it and discovered that stretched-out, was about 2 feet long. The property owner told me that it was the largest piece recovered since the initial crash 58 years ago. I brought it home and cleaned it up, and after studying this mangled piece, I first thought it was part of the pilots seat, but then discovered that it's part of the wing seal. (I had no idea that old jets used nylon fabric this way)
A couple of background stories.. Dick Miller
is known to many people in the Kanawha Valley and beyond. A
former pilot and business owner, Dick has lead a pretty exciting
life. On the day of the crash, Dick was a young worker
at a local brick plant on MacCorkle Ave in Charleston. He and
a friend were listening to a live broadcast on the radio of the jets
about to take-off from Kanawha Airport. As the jets flew over
his head, the noise was deafening. However, due
to the heavy overcast, he couldn't see the jets in tight formation.
A couple of minutes later, the radio announced that the jets
had crashed near Emmons. Dicks co-worker asked him if he knew
where Emmons was. He said "sure... I have family there".
So they got into a truck and started out to the site, where
they arrived just as the National Guard was pulling in. The
smoke was still heaving in the air as the National Guard commander
barked orders to his men (and anyone interested) to help pick up the
pieces. Dick jumped in and assisted all afternoon. He
told me that the thing he never forgot was a chicken coop, only
feet from the site that survived, along with the chickens inside.
On the chicken wire surrounding the coop was hanging tiny pieces of
the pilot, to which the chickens were pecking. It's been
learned also that that no one around would buy the chickens eggs after
the crash. Danny Davidson is also well known in his circles. Danny took off for the crash site on his BSA motorcycle about 20 minutes after the announcement. Due to the now heavy traffic on the very narrow road, Danny had to take to the railroad tracks to make his way to the scene. Earl Benton and Chet Hawes of the Daily Mail were there also. They both arrived early enough to see the National Guard pull in. Earl took many photos for the paper, while Chet didn't have a camera with him because he was only at the Paper looking for a job that day. When the crash came in, the Editor told Chet to ride along with photographer Ray Wheeler. When Chet returned, he was hired on the spot and spent the next 40 some years at the Daily Mail. I'm sure there were others there that I would later know.... but I wouldn't be born for 6 months. My Opinion on the cause of the crash....
I studied every article written.. too many to post here. And they all agree with two things: 1.... The pilots took-off in very close formation. Why? In my opinion, the Media. There was Press all over the place and even a live radio broadcast. The pilots I think, wanted to put on a good show with these brand new jets that very few people had ever seen in early 1950. However, experts that I have talked to state that it was standard operating procedure for all military fighter aircraft to always fly in formation. This seems rather odd considering the weather conditions on this day, but who knows... 2... The weather was marginal. The sky's were cloudy and overcast. It was even drizzling rain. When the pilots "hit the soup" that close together, one simply became disoriented and "possibly" struck the other. One rumor that's been going around for years is that one pilot got Vertigo and the other pilot followed him in to the ground. This was even mentioned in the newspaper early-on as a "possibility". But it was never proven. However, I can't discount some sort of visual interference along these lines due to the proximity of the aircraft as they crashed at almost exactly the same second... and the fact that they both came-in nose first. A mid-air collision of any type shouldn't have allowed for this pattern. In other words, one plane should have struck the ground before the other, AND in a different attitude had they collided in the air. Moreover, it's hard to understand why they didn't eject at 5000 feet IF they had collided. Even if they'd wasted time trying to determine damage, they still should have been able to eject in the "approximately" 10 seconds or so they had left. So why didn't they even try? It appears that they FLEW the planes into the ground, so it's really difficult to determine the actual cause of the crash. Also remember that the pilots spent part of the previous evening at Charleston's famous "Press Club". These were hard core fighter pilots who had just left WWII behind a few years ago. Did they have a little bit too much fun the night before? Could that have affected one or both in any way... especially considering the marginal weather conditions? We'll never know..... and really, some 58 years later it doesn't matter. What matters is that many pilots wound-up giving their lives in the pursuit of safer aviation. Many had to die in order for us to be able to learn from their mistakes ... both man and machine, and arrive at the place we find ourselves today, where flying around the world on jets is no different than driving your car to the supermarket.....
OFFICIAL FINDING AT
THE TIME....
"It was certain that the accident occurred so swiftly and at such a low altitude that neither pilot had an opportunity to use the F-86 ejection mechanism that catapults the pilot from the single-seater craft 80 feet into the air and gives him an opportunity to use a parachute when trouble is encountered." FINAL REPORT OF THE CRASH Two F-86s
with Lt Col Reinhardt leading the formation takeoff, departed
Kanawha County Airport, Charleston, WVa at 1217E
(12:17pm) for an intended, 500 foot on-top IFR flight, direct to Maxwell
Field. Lt Col Reinhardt in F-86 Number 49-1019 was leading.
Captain Evans in F-86, number 48-306 was on Lt Col Reinhardt's
right wing. Eye witnesses at the scene of the crash stated that they were in a gentle turn to the left, and a slight descent, which steepened just before impact. Both pilots were killed in the crash. The wreckage
of both aircraft was scattered to the northeast of the impact point
for a distance of approximately 3000 feet. No part of the wreckage
was greater than five or 10 pounds. Both pilots were well qualified in fighter type aircraft and in instrument experience. Both held currently valid green instrument certificates. It is impossible to determine the exact cause of the accident. The most probable cause is that the lead pilot experienced vertigo. Here is just
one of a dozen eye witness reports that I
T E S T I M O N Y of Million J. Bock given to Captain James G, Kuntz and Captain Vernon R. Stutta, 25 March 1950, at Charleston, West Virginia. Q. Mr. Bock, we understand that you witnessed the takeoff of the two F-86's and that you had known Colonel Reinhardt previously. A. Yea, that is correct.
I knew Colonel Reinhardt from having served with him as a member of
the 15th Air Q, What time did he arrive at the airport? A. It was about 9:30 or 10:00 o'clock, I'm not sure. Q. Were you with him while he filed clearance? A. Yes Q. Did he or Captain Evans appear concerned about the weather? A. I don't think they
were worried about the weather, however, they made a very thorough
check of the Q. What were your impressions of the weather that day? Well, it looked pretty bad to me, but, as I said before, both Col. Reinhardt and Capt. Evans did not appear to be worried about the weather.. In fact, I specifically asked him how the F-S6 was on instruments. He stated that it was a beautiful ship in any condition. I also talked to Capt. Evans about the weather and Capt. Evans stated he had complete confidence in, not only the airplane, but he respected Col., Reinhardt's experience and ability. His words were to the effect that, "I .would follow Col, Reinhardt anywhere". I know what he was talking about because my earlier association with Col Reinhardt had taught me that he was one of the finest of pilots. He was very safety conscious and also exhibited that that morning.` Some one at Operations, I don't remember who asked him if he would give the airfield a buzz job after takeoff. He refused emphatically and told them even if the weather had been CAVU, he wouldn't do it because the flight he was planning did not leave room for any such exhibitions. Q. Did you witness the takeoff, Mr. Book? A. Yes, I went out with Col Reinhardt before he started his engines. He was waiting in the airplane for ARTC clearance before starting the engines. Q. What were the weather conditions at that time? A. It was raining very
hard, both at that time and while they were taxiing out. It stopped
raining just Q. Were you in Operations at the time of takeoff? A. No. I went back outside to watch the takeoff from the ramp.
A. They were in good formation. Col Reinhardt broke ground first; shortly after Capt Evans broke ground and I lost sight of them immediately after takeoff. Q. You didn't see their climb-out after takeoff, did you? A. No, they disappeared
behind the hangar just after becoming airborne. I didn't get to see
wheels-up. Epilogue Old aviation history has always fascinated me. While some might say "this isn't THAT old", you must remember that production jet aircraft had only been in existence for a couple of years at this time. So now that I have time to pursue things that I didn't before, I enjoy "discovering" events that most people have already forgotten. What I find interesting about this case is the lack of information anywhere on the Internet. Other than a couple of brief newspaper stories, I couldn't find anything on these two men. There are no other webpages concerning this crash as of this writing. There is nothing on the Net to detail this event out of the thousands of military web sites posted. Even the Squadrons commemorative web site mentions nothing about the crash. So who knows what other information may arise from this simple page, on two guys that seem to be forgotten.... * Also: It has been discovered that Wheeler Holstein may have been misquoted by the Gazette, or the Gazette accidentally used another persons comment, as the official government interview with Mr Holstein states that he claimed there was absolutely NO contact between the two aircraft. Also: Mr Holsteins grandson was walking along the road (school was out for lunch) when he and a friend saw the aircraft fly over their heads and then straight down. John Holstein was 12 years old at the time. He told me that he absolutely witnessed both aircraft flying inverted (upside down) as they flew overhead and crashed. This is the only witness to that fact, and as John said: "Who would listen to a kid back in those days?". Plus, his parents didn't think it appropriate to bother the "government" with a kids story. As a side note: When the power lines were damaged, all power to the area ended, including the lights and power down in the mines. This forced many miners to find their way back out to daylight as best they could.
Both were F-86A-5 aircraft, with the following additional
details: 49-1019 with construction number 161-13, delivered 7 November 1949, to 81st Fighter Group, Kirtland AFB, NM.
SPECIFICATIONS (F-86A): PERFORMANCE:
The F-86 was developed in the 1940s following the end of World War II and was one of the most-produced Western jet fighters in the Cold War era. More than 6,000 F-86s were manufactured by North American's Los Angeles, Calif., and Columbus, Ohio, divisions. The first swept-wing airplane in the U.S. fighter inventory, the F-86 scored consistent victories over Russian-built MiG fighters during the Korean War, accounting for a final ratio of 10-to-1. All 39 United Nations jet aces won their laurels in Sabres. Forerunner of the operational Sabre was the XF-86, first flown Oct. 1, 1947, by North American test pilot George Welch. A few months later Welch became the first pilot to fly the plane at Mach 1 (the speed of sound) in routine flight. Although technically rated as subsonic, the Sabre is no stranger to supersonic speeds. In September 1948, an F-86A set the Sabre's first official world speed record of 570 mph. This mark was bettered in 1952 by an F-86D that flew at 698 mph. The "D" became the first model of a fighter to better its own record, in 1953, with a run of 715 mph. To print this page, tell your browser to turn off the "Background" first. You will get all the graphics and the page will print exactly as you see it here, except with a WHITE background. You can contact Jerry at.... wvskyguyATaol.com This page Copyright by J.Waters, other than the Charleston Gazette and Daily Mail articles. Nothing is to be used without permission. For more history on the F-86 aircraft, click here
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