THE POST-STANDARD
THE POST-STANDARD
SYRACUSE, N.Y., FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 12, 1952
PARACHUTE JUMP FIRST FOR 5 ABANDONING PLANE WHICH FELL IN ONTARIO.
ROME - Five men who had never parachuted before told a tale of abandoning a crippled C-45 transport near Utica Wednesday night. Meanwhile, a military search party combed the Oswego area Thursday hunting for the still-missing plane.
NO OTHER PLANE
The search was being concentrated in the Oswego area, 65 miles northwest of here, after persons in the region reported that an unidentified two-engined craft plunged into lake Ontario about 11 p.m. , an hour after the five parachuted to earth at Schuyler Corners near Utica. However, Griffiss Air Force Base said it had no reports of any crash elsewhere.
The plane was en route to Griffiss Air Force Base on a routine training flight from Bedford, Mass., when it developed engine trouble and lost altitude. The pilot, Lt. Col. Charles A. Callahan of Monticello, Miss., ordered the two officers and civilians with him to bale out. He set the ship on automatic control.
PLANE AT 2,500 FEET
"The Good Lord was looking after us," Col. Callahan said. He added that none of the five had ever parachuted before. The plane was at about 2,500 feet when the men began to jump. None was injured. The public information office at Griffiss Air Force Base said it was "quite sure that the plane is in the lake."
Other crew members were Lt. Col. Joseph S. Lambert, Newport News, Va., First Lt. Samuel A. Scharff, New York City, William P. Bethke, 1030 W. Dominick St., and Joseph M. Eannarino, 900 Croton st. The last two are civilian electronics engineers with the Rome Air Development Center and were aboard as part of the training and observation procedure.
The 32 year old Callahan said the plane started to lose altitude about 40 miles southeast of Utica. Callahan said when he was ready to leave the plane it was about 800 feet above the ground - "just level with the radio and television towers." He said he was "sweating it out." and thought he was "too close to the ground for my parachute to open." "I pulled the rip cord," he added. "It seemed to take a long time to come out. I felt a jolt and my head snapped back. Then my feet hit the ground and I rolled over into a barbed wire fence."
Jack Mulcahey and Rudy Gadsalia, operators of Lakeside refreshment stands in Route 104-A, said they saw the plane crash into the lake. Mulcahey said it appeared to be a twin-engined ship and came from the east.
CIRCLED, THEN DIVED 
He said it circled the area, then dived into the water about a mile off shore and three miles west of Oswego. Officials said they were convinced the plane was the same as that from which the airmen jumped. The time element checked and no other planes were reported missing in the vicinity. The missing plane had about sufficient fuel left to reach the lake, air force officials said. If the plane did circle over the water as reported, officials said, it could be caused by one motor going dead before the other. A flash, reported by witnesses, probably occurred as the ship hit water. The lake is 80 to 100 feet deep at the point of impact.
MISSING AIRCRAFT REPORT
DESCRIPTION OF ACCIDENT
The descent at 120 MPH was made at about 1,000 feet per minute at first then slowed to about 500 feet per minute. Radio contact could not be established with any ground station. ... All the passengers bailed out without unusual incident. The rate of descent of the aircraft slowed down then to about 200-300 feet per minute but since the aircraft was still 8 nautical miles from Griffiss and still descending, the pilot elected to abandon the aircraft.
The auto pilot was turned on to keep the aircraft on a 130º heading. Immediately after his parachute opened the pilot struck the ground, however no injury was sustained. Pilot bailed out in the vicinity of a television tower on Smith Hill about 6 nautical miles from Griffiss AFB, on the right side inbound, on the S.E. leg of Utica Radio. With the pilot out of the aircraft the weight was reduced sufficiently for the aircraft to maintain altitude and ... crash into Lake Ontario.
Coast Guard personnel were summoned to the scene by a tug boat crewman who reported an aircraft circling low over the water about 1 mile west of Oswego, N.Y. Upon reaching the scene, the search light on the Coast Guard picket boat picked up ... the empennage of an aircraft, however, it sank from view before the boat arrived at the aircraft.
The following morning, this area was searched by the Coast Guard and base aircraft, however, there was no evidence of oil debris in the water. The distance to the scene of the reported crash and Starkville Intersection, ... is 85 nautical miles. The aircraft was reported in the Oswego, N.Y. area about 50 min. after the bail-out was accomplished. The time element checks close enough, the heading to Lake Ontario with the left engine out is also fairly accurate; the amount of fuel would also be expended in about this time (50 minutes) with the right engine at the full power setting. The lake area, where the Coast Guard and the tug boat crewman places the aircraft, is in more that 70 feet of water.
THE
OSWEGO PALLADIUM-TIMES
THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 11, 1952
FIND NO TRACE OF AIRPLANE WHICH PLUMMETED INTO LAKE WEST OF OSWEGO LAST NIGHT.
THOUGHT TO HAVE BEEN CRIPPLED AIRPLANE FROM WHICH FIVE MEN "BAILED OUT" EAST OF ROME; SEVERAL PERSONS ALONG WASHINGTON BOULEVARD SEE CRAFT PLUNGE INTO WATER.
Coast Guardsmen this morning abandoned without success their search for an airplane reported to have crashed into Lake Ontario a mile north and three miles west of here shortly before 11:00 p.m. yesterday. It was believed that the plane was a crippled Air Force C-45 from which five persons jumped to safety at 9:50 p.m. yesterday east of Rome, near Stittville.
"Sweeps last night and this morning by three Coast Guard cutters, two from Oswego and one from Galloo Island at the eastern end of the lake, failed to discover wreckage or oil slick," W -O Kenneth Outten, commander of the Oswego Coast Guard Station, reported today. The ships searched from 11:15 p.m. yesterday to 4:00 a.m. today and from 9:00 to 9:30 a.m. today, when a 20 mile-an-hour southwest wind disturbed the surface of the lake enough to end chances of noting evidence.
Eyewitness accounts of seeing flares at the scene puzzled authorities, but officials of the Civil Aeronautics Authority and the Coast Guard appeared satisfied that the craft which plunged into the lake was the two-engine plane which was set under automatic controls and abandoned when it developed engine trouble and began to lose altitude.
According to an Associated Press report, the plane was en route to Griffiss Air Force Base near Rome from Bedford, Mass., near Boston, when it was abandoned by its pilot and four passengers. The plane was headed northwest when abandoned, officials said. Residents here said the plane attracted attention when it was noted heading west over the city at a low altitude. Rome is southeast of here.
Identified as those who parachuted from the plane were: Lt. Col. Charles A. Callahan, the pilot; Lt. Sam Sharff, 31, of New York City; Lt. Col. G.S. Lambert of Newport News, Va; William Pl Bethke, a civilian technician who lives near Rome; and Joseph M. Eannarino, a civilian observer from Rome. Callahan, 32 is from Monticello, Miss.
SAW FLARES
Rudy Gadziala, owner or Rudy's refreshment stand, three miles west of here on the Loop, reported "that he saw flares on the lake surface about a mile while the plane was circling over the area. The plane was carrying navigational lights and sounded as if only one motor was operating," he said. "After the craft circled two or three times, the lights went out and the motor apparently shut off," he added. "Then the plane plunged into the lake. A powerful light, like that of a searchlight, appeared for several seconds after the crash, "Gadziala said.
Mr. Gadziala reported seeing a buoy about three-quarters of a mile offshore this morning, but Coast Guardsmen said they found nothing. jack Mulcahey, about 18, employee of Mulcahey's stand on the Loop, also reported seeing the flares, crash and light. Two other residents, Richard Smith of Franklin Ave. and John Shetland of the Lake road, reported the crash to city police at 11:02 p.m. yesterday. It was also witnessed by Ange Vona and others. Police notified the Oswego County Sheriff's Department and the Coast Guard. Mr. Smith heard the plane crash but did not see the wreck, he said.
Officials presume the downed plane and the abandoned craft are the same because no others have been reported missing in the area, Mr. Outten said. State Police said they had been informed the C-45 had enough fuel to reach the lake. All those aboard the seven-passenger trainer escaped without injury, according to Maj. Wilton Hodges, air adjutant general at Griffiss AFB. The civilians were aboard to test equipment, he added. An Air Force transport plane took up the search here this afternoon.
OSWEGO
PALLADIUM-TIMES
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 12, 1952.
PILOT LESS PLANE FLIGHT LABELED FREAK HAPPENING
CRAFT LOST IN LAKE NEAR HERE EXPECTED TO CRASH WHEN CREW "BAILED OUT"
Air force officials today characterized the 65-mile pilot less flight of a C-45 twin-engine training plane as a "freak situation which will not happen again for a long, long time." Meanwhile, Air Force planes hovered over Lake Ontario northwest of Oswego in an endeavor to find traces of the plane which plunged into the water there shortly before 11:00 p.m. Wednesday, more than an hour after it was abandoned by its pilot and four passengers east of Rome.
Lt. Col. C.A. Callahan, pilot, ordered his passengers to parachute and then followed them in momentary expectation that the plane would crash after one engine was disabled, according to Capt. Lawrence L. Browne, jr., public information officer at Griffis Air Force Base in Rome. The plane was en route to Rome from Bedford, Mass. "Co. Callahan set the automatic pilot of the plane on a heading which would take it clear of inhabited areas in the vicinity before he jumped, "Capt. Browne said. This is the standard operating procedure, he added.
"All five persons reached the ground without injury, although none had used a parachute before, " officials said. They described as "miraculous" the safe landings of the three Air Force officers and two civilians, who started jumping from an altitude of 2,500 feet. Col. Callahan was within a few hundred feet of the ground when he jumped, and felt his feet touch ground as his chute opened, he added.
HEADS TOWARD GROUND 
The plane was headed toward the ground with the left engine dead and a loosely whirling propeller when he ordered abandonment, the pilot said. He landed, expecting the plane to follow him down, but the removal of about 1,000 pounds of weight apparently was enough to send it back into the air, held on its course by the automatic pilot.
Wind pressure or the weight of the dead engine turned the plane from its northwest direction to west, and it continued its flight until it buzzed low over Oswego to splash into Lake Ontario a mile off shore at the Loop three miles west of here. Eyewitness reports of flares on the water before the plane dropped puzzled officials. Capt. Browne said the spectators may have seen pieces of the hot engine striking the water or flaming bits of carbon thrown from the plane's exhaust pipe.
C-45 trainers, C-47 transports and B-25 bombers combed the crash area yesterday and today. No sight of the plane or wreckage had been found by this afternoon. A nightlong search by Coast Guard vessels Wednesday was called off Thursday morning. The pilot said the left engine had started acting imperfectly over Starkville, about 40 miles southeast of Utica.
OSWEGO PALLADIUM-TIMES
SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 13, 1952
ABANDON ACTIVE SEARCH FOR PLANE IN LAKE ONTARIO
AIR FORCE OFFICERS INTERVIEW OSWEGO WITNESSES OF CRASH FRIDAY
Active search for the plane which splashed into Lake Ontario northwest of here Wednesday night appeared ended today with no sign of the craft having been found. Authorities seem to have decided, since no evidence to the contrary has been unearthed, that the plane was the C-45 two-engine Air Force trainer abandoned by its pilot and four passengers near Rome the same night after one engine failed.
Coast Guard cutters and Air Force planes were unable to find a trace of the plane after two days of search. Format investigation appeared ended after the interviewing of witnesses yesterday by Maj. E.W. Hostetter and Capt. J.P. McCartan of the Griffis Air Force Base in Rome. The report of the two officers has not been made public.
Unofficially, earlier explanations of the 65 mile flight of the plane after its abandonment were accepted. Lt. Col. C.A. Callahan, its pilot, said that the loss of the 1,000 pound weight of the five men aboard it was enough to send the ship back into the air after it appeared headed for a crash. The pilot said that he had fixed the automatic pilot to send the plane in a northwest direction away from inhabited areas. The weight of the dead engine of winds shifted the craft until it was headed almost due west. It crashed into the lake about a mile off shore opposite the Loop after circling the city several times. No trace of it has been seen since.
Statements of Witnesses
1) Kenneth T. Outten
I, Kenneth T. Outten, Bos'n U.S.C.G. after being sworn do state the following facts pertaining to the aircraft accident under investigation.
On the evening of 10 September 1952 I stopped at Mulcahey Fish stand about 2310 and was informed by the proprietor that an aircraft had crashed about two miles north off shore. I returned to the station and departed for the crash area in C.G. 38 598 picket boat at 2312 hrs. Made contact with tug Edna Madden. I asked the skipper to shine his search light in the direction that aircraft was last seen. I followed light towards shore but did not see any traces of a crashed aircraft. Made a turn around and proceeded in a heading of true north at which time I saw an object that looked like the tail and wing of an aircraft. I headed for the object but it disappeared before positive identification could be made.
2) William J. Gleeson
I, William J. Gleeson 2nd mate of the Tug Edna Matton towing the barge Dwyer 104 in ballast bound from Hamilton Ontario to Oswego when about six miles west of Oswego I sighted a large plane ahead which was circling to the south. A short while later we sighted the same plane at a lower altitude directly ahead circling to the south. As the plane was heading about south we lost sight of the plane when it was north of a flashing amber light ashore. As we had our barge on a long hawser we did not go in to investigate but notified the Oswego Coast Guard and stood by until they arrived.
This plane was at a bank of about 70 degrees the green light above the red light.
I did not hear any sound from the engines.
There was no evidence of fire.
I did not identify the type of plane.
I did not see the aircraft hit the water.
After losing sight of the plane I did not hear any crash and I could not pick it up with our search light.
The aircraft was last seen 1/2 mile to 1 mile east of Ford Shoal Gas Buoy and about north of a flashing amber light ashore. This amber light was about one half mile west of the Niagara Hudson Power Plant.
3) Jack Mulcohey
At approximately 11:05 PM on Wednesday evening, I heard a faint engine noise of an aircraft that appeared to be coming from the Lake toward the shore. I was standing on the shore and the airplane began to circle to the left approximately 1 - 1/2 miles from shore. The aircraft circled for approximately 5 minutes making about 5 circles. There were to very bright red lights on during the circles. The aircraft crashed going away from shore. The aircraft hit once and bounced, making a noise as if a gun went off. The second time it hit, it made a noise like two railroad cars coming together. There were no explosions or fire accompanying the crash. At the point of impact, there appeared a dull orange light that lasted for 15 to 30 seconds. The orange light didn't appear however until approximately 3 minutes after impact.
I saw no physical characteristics of the aircraft except the two red lights. A tug was approximately 1 1/2 miles on the other side of the crash.
Water at the point of the crash is approximately 90 feet deep. The aircraft was approximately 75 feet when it was first detected. It continued in the circles flying low on one side and high on the other. The red lights were seen when the aircraft was flying toward shore. The aircraft seemed about the same size as the one that flew over yesterday, (Thursday 11 Sept 52) and the engines sounded the same.
The above is true and to the best of my knowledge.
4) Rudolph Gadziala
I, Rudolph Gadziala, after being sworn, do state the following facts pertaining to the aircraft accident under investigation:
On the evening of 10 Sept 1952 while operating my restaurant at Oswego Beach New York, at approximately 2300 hours heard a plane. I went outside and looking in a northerly direction saw two lights 1 red and one green, lights appeared to be rotating in circles, 3 circles in all. Aircraft engine sounds seemed to fade away then I heard a crash. I went into my restaurant and called the Coast Guard station to report my observations. They told me the crash had all ready been reported. Two minutes had elapsed when I returned outside and saw a search light in the general area of the crash. The light stayed on about 30 seconds.
I did not at any time see the outline of the plane only the lights and sound of the engines informed me that a plane was in the vicinity.
OFFICERS REPORT
John J. Reed
Chief of Police, Oswego, N.Y.
In the matter of Unidentified Plane being seen over Oswego, N.Y. at about 11 PM.
I was watching the fight on television and at I believe the 10th round a plane passed over my home flying very low and the picture went off my television and then came back on, this was very close to 11 PM, when the fight ended I went out the front porch of my home and could hear the plane flying north towards the Niagara Mohawk Steam Plant. I listened to this plane for maybe a minute or two and it seemed to be circling west of the steam plant. I was unable to see the plane at any time and knew there was a plane over Oswego by the sound only.
11:02 PM received a call from Dick Smith Franklyn Ave and John Shetland route 104A Lake road that a plane was down in Lake Ontario off Mongeon's Stand. Coast Guard and Sheriff's Dept. notified.
STATEMENT
Joseph M Eannarino
Prior to entering aircraft at Rome and Bedford, the pilot gave us complete instructions on parachute. He also checked fit.
We departed Bedford AFB at approximately 2030 DST, Engines and metering were checked prior to take-off.
Trouble occurred near Herkimer. The alarm buzzer went on. At this time the aircraft appeared to pull to one side. It sounded as though left engine speed had increased to a much greater RPM that the right. The pilot began to feather the engine. He informed passengers to be alerted for an emergency jump. At this time he informed Mr. Bethke to kick open the escape door. A red button lit up at this time. The interior of the aircraft was getting hotter by the minute. We seemed to be losing altitude fast. Aircraft speed slowed up considerably - about 90 statute MPH. Engine began to act irregular and extremely noisy. Lt. Co. Callahan said engine temperature was extremely hot and we couldn't take a chance at landing because of this factor and low altitude. Lt. Col Callahan told us to bail out immediately in proper order. I was first to leave the aircraft. I looked down before jumping to estimate the altitude. It seemed to be about 1,000 feet or less. Because of this, I decided to clear aircraft when jumping and use a short count of about 3 or 4. My parachute opened immediately. As soon as it was fully opened, I hit the ground. My chute was blown against a tree, partially absorbed the shock of my fall.
My overall estimate of the situation was that the engine was getting so hot and hear the point of exploding, plus the fact that we were so low (1,000 feet or less) that a jump was necessary. I believe we would have crashed if we remained on 2 or 3 more minutes.