Mccreary County KyArchives News.....Mrs. Eliza Clark Locates Body Monday; Says She Watched It Fall February 11 1943 ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/ky/kyfiles.html ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: 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. This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/kyfiles/