Mccreary County KyArchives News.....Mrs. Eliza Clark Locates Body Monday; Says She Watched It Fall February 11 1943
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Mary Lou Hudson http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00005.html#0001143 May 12, 2004, 12:54 pm

The McCreary County Record, Feb. 11, 1943

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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