SYRACUSE, N.Y., SATURDAY, JULY 8, 1944

AIRPLANE DIVES INTO ONEIDA LAKE

ARMY OFFICERS AND TROOPERS FIND WRECKAGE

CONSTANTIA FOLKS HEAR BLAST, SEE STREAK OF FLAME

Wreckage of a crashed airplane was located under 5 to 10 feet of water less than one mile off Constantia in Oneida lake early today by state police and army search parties after lake shore residents reported an explosion and fire in the area at 11 p.m. Lt. harry A. Dunn, at the Syracuse air base, said at 1 a.m. that it was impossible to identify the plane. He added that no planes from the base were listed as overdue, altho the search party and an ambulance were sent to check the situation.

NEAR ISLANDS

State police and eye-witness accounts places the explosion among several islands in the channel about half a mile from Constantia. Both Frenchman's and Dunn's islands were mentioned in early reports. G. L. Shoemaker, New York Central Railroad employee who lives in Lake rd., Constantia, saw the flames as he was driving to work at 11 p.m. He reported to North Syracuse state police substation that the fire might be on one of the islands in the channel. A great explosion was seen by Mrs. Fred Peck, Constantia, who added that she and her son thought it appeared to be near Frenchman's island. Mrs. Peck declared that the burst seemed to be above the water when she saw it, and that a streak of flame raced across the lake seconds later.

Planes flying over the lake both before and after the detonation were noted by residents. With lake residents aiding state police, the air base party and Capt. harry Best, state conservation officer, in the operations last night, persons on shore reported that activity was apparent in the area.

THE POST-STANDARD

SYRACUSE, N.Y., SUNDAY, JULY 9, 1944

BODIES OF 3 FLIERS FOUND IN LAKE

NO IDENTIFICATION MADE OF MEN FROM AIR BASE

PARTS OF PLANE ARE SALVAGED OFF CONSTANTIA

Bodies of three Syracuse army air base officers, killed instantly late Friday night when their twin-engined cargo transport plane crashed in Oneida lake, were recovered yesterday from the plane wreckage, strewn in an area of a half acre of the lake off Constantia.

BODIES AT MORGUE

Altho it was not established until after midnight that the plane was from the base, a medical officer, intelligence officer, ambulance and guards were dispatched from the base upon first notification at 11.15 p.m. At daybreak a search for the bodies among the sunken and floating wreckage of the plane was begun by base personnel, state police from the North Syracuse substation, and guides and fishermen. At about 6 a.m. Capt. Harry A. Best, veteran game warden, recovered the body of one of the fliers. While Best took this body ashore to place it in the boathouse of the state fish hatchery, a second body was found by a fisherman. These bodies were brought to the county morgue at 11 a.m. Recovery of a torso was made at 2 p.m., and it was brought to the morgue at 3 p.m., under the charge of Lt. Col L.E. Goodwin, base quartermaster. The bodies will remain at the morgue until positive identification has been made.

Remains of wreckage at Oneida Lake 1944

NAMES NOT RELEASED

Lt. Harry A. Dunn, public relations officer at the base indicated that the identification may not be released for several days. The plane crashed at about 10:30 p.m. Friday when witnesses near the lake reported that the ship exploded in the air, struck the lake and exploded again. The plane, on a routine training flight from the air base, struck on what is called the sand bar, a mile west of Constantia and a half mile off shore from Doris park. Depth of the water on the bar is from five to 10 feet.

Wreckage from the plane, which at first covered a large area of the lake, was collected by army personnel and brought to shore, to be placed in trucks and taken back to the air base. Yesterday afternoon most of the fragments of the dismembered plane had been removed from the water, except for the nose and engines of the planes which are embedded in the sand bar.

AWAIT DERRICK

Salvage operations to raise the sunken nose will be undertaken as soon as a derrick and other equipment, provided by the state department of public works, can be brought to the scene. Late yesterday afternoon only army personnel remained as guards at the bar, site of the third plane accident to happen to planes from the Mattydale base since the base reactivated in May. Observers at the lake reported that after the noise from the exploding plane was heard flames shot up from the water, causing lakeside dwellers to thing that one of the islands in the lake was on fire.

For some time before air base flights were checked to find that an air base plane was missing, it was believed that the plane might be one on a cross-country flight, or a navy ship.

THREE KILLED SUNDAY

When a transport made a forced landing on Lake Ontario off Green Point, June 24, the two men in the ship escaped injury, but the crew of three was killed when a plane of similar type exploded and crashed at Gere's lock near the municipal airport. A board of inquiry composed of army officers went to the lake yesterday morning to find a cause for the accident and also to find out, if possible, if the big transport exploded in the air or when it struck the water. Investigation will be thoro, Lt. Col. Harry P. Galligher, commandant of the base promised yesterday.

WAR DEPARTMENT

U.S. ARMY AIR FORCES

SYRACUSE ARMY AIR BASE, SYRACUSE NEW YORK

REPORT OF ACCIDENT

DUTY NAME: RATING: SERIAL NO. RANK.
P BALSER, ROBERT A. P 0-709734 2ND LT
CP MEYER, GENE N. P 0-709604 2ND LT
CP KELLEY, GEORGE W. P 0-779723 2ND LT

Weather at time of accident: Syracuse AAB broken clouds 8000', visibility 2 mi light smoke. Wind SSE 2 mph. Municipal Airport broken clouds 5000', Visibility 3 mi haze, wind SSW 2 mph, Rome AAB clear, visibility 4 mi base, wind SSE 5 mph.

Was pilot flying on instruments at the time of accident? No.

Cleared from AAB, Syracuse, NY To: Local Flight Kind of Clearance: C.F.R.

Pilots Mission: Transition flying training.

Nature of accident: Plane crashed in Lake Oneida and exploded.

Brief narrative of accident: The aircraft was completely destroyed and all aboard instantly killed. The aircraft a C-47, No. 43-15767, with 2nd Lt. Robert A. Balser pilot and 2nd Lt. Gene N. Meyer and 2nd Lt. George W. Kelley acting as part time co-pilots, departed the Syracuse Army Air Base at 2039 7 July 1944, on a local night training flight with a cruising altitude of 5000 ft. and crashed in Lake Oneida approximately one mile southwest of Constantia, N.Y. at 2245.

... the aircraft approaching the Lake over the trees along the north shore in a southerly direction and descending. The aircraft struck the water about one half mile from the shore and exploded on impact.

CRASH PICTURES AT THE SCENE

THE POST-STANDARD

SYRACUSE, N.Y., MONDAY, JULY 10, 1944

SEARCH CONTINUES FOR BODIES OF SYRACUSE ARMY AIR BASE FLIERS

POSSIBLY FOUR KILLED IN CRASH IN ONEIDA LAKE

LT. G. W. KELLY OF ROCHESTER IS IDENTIFIED

Second Lt. George W. Kelley, 24, of Rochester, was one of three, possibly four, officers killed in the crash of a twin engined C-47 transport plane from Syracuse army air base Friday night in the waters of Oneida lake off Constantia, according to a dispatch from Rochester last night. Next of kin were notified late yesterday afternoon. Almost 72 hours after the crash, officers of the air transport command said last night they were still uncertain as to the identity of those killed

NUMBER UNSURE

It is not determined whether the bodies of three or four officers were being recovered from the wreckage, Capt. Jerome Entis, adjutant of Syracuse Army air base said yesterday. Details of an investigation being carried on yesterday by army officials were not revealed to the press. According to Capt. Entis, the report of the fatal crash would be released thru the war department after all details were known.

Military guards banned all civilians from the area near the Constantia state dock yesterday, where army officials were carrying on their on the scene investigation. About 10 small boats manned by the military were searching the area of the crash, but all fishing craft and other privately owned boats were forbidden to approach the sand bar where the nose of the ship is buried. The village of Constantia hummed with activity, according to Deputy Sheriff Caroll Best of Oswego county. The rumored fourth body from the wrecked plane had not been located late yesterday afternoon, Best reported. Missing also were parts of the other bodies, and search was intensified under the hot sun as the afternoon waned.

LESS LOW FLYING

Residents of the Syracuse area noticed a marked dropping off in the number of low flying planes over the city since Friday's fatal crash. Only stray planes crossed above residential areas where previously the roaring transports had passed at an average of one a minute. A report that high military officials from washington had been summoned to conduct an investigation was denied by Capt. Entis. The adjutant also denied that the air transport training program had been curtailed in any way due to a series of accidents. Capt. Edwin Stein district public relations officer stationed at Rome, could not be reached.

TO RAISE NOSE

At the request of army officials, a derrick boat owned by the state department of public works will begin this morning the work of raising the nose of the wrecked plane from Oneida Lake, where it is buried in a sand bar about half a mile offshore. The engines also will be salvaged by the derrick boat, and taken ashore. Friday's fatal crash was the third accident in two weeks among planes of the air transport command stationed at Syracuse army airbase. On June 24 two lieutenants were rescued by a private power boat after being forced to "ditch" their plane in Lake Ontario near Sandy Pond. The second accident occurred Sunday, July 2, when a transport crashed in a field near Gere's lock, Solvay, and brought instant death to its crew of three.

NO EXPLOSION IN AIR, BASE OFFICER EXPLAINS

Maj. Allan G. Carson, combat intelligence officer of a troop carrier group stationed at the Syracuse army air base, one of whose planes crashed into Lake Oneida late Friday night, yesterday made the following statement: "Contrary to some statements neither the plane which crashed Friday night, nor the one which struck near Gere's Lock late Sunday night, exploded in the air. The established facts conclusively indicate that, in the Oneida accident, the explosion occurred after the plane had struck the surface of the lake, and that, in the Gere's Lock crash, if there was any explosion whatever, it was minor in nature and, again, occurred after the plane had struck.

THE POST-STANDARD

SYRACUSE, N.Y., TUESDAY, JULY 11, 1944

NAMES OF CREW IN PLANE CRASH ARE ANNOUNCED

Names of the crew of the ill fated twin engine transport plane which crashed into Oneida Lake about 10:30 p.m. Friday near Constantia were released yesterday by Lt. Col. harry F. Galligher, commanding officer of the Syracuse army air base. Next of kin of the three fliers were notified Sunday. The dead are:

The three officers, members of a troop carrier command group training at the Syracuse army air base, were on a routine training flight at the time of the accident.

Cause of the crash is unknown and is being investigated by a board of air corps officers at the scene of the accident. The bodies of the crash victims will be shipped to their homes for funeral services and burial as soon as possible according to the air base officials. Rumor that a fourth flier had been in the plane and killed was denied by army officials yesterday.

Yesterday morning a state department of public works derrick arrived at the scene of the crash to salvage the bi-motored plane in pieces. Operation of the derrick in the area is being hampered since the plane crashed in water from five to seven feet deep, more than three feet too shallow for the equipment. The area where the salvage operations are being conducted is being guarded by the army and the public is prohibited.