Lower Paxton Township near Paxtonia in Dauphin County, Pennsylvania — The American Northeast (Mid-Atlantic)
A/B-26 Plane Crash on Blue Mountain
In Memorium
Photographed by William Fischer, Jr., November 12, 2024
1. A/B-26 Plane Crash on Blue Mountain Marker
Hits Mountain In Fog Near Linglestown
B-26 Explodes, Burns, 3 Die Instantly
Three Ohio Air National Guardsmen were killed yesterday afternoon when a twin-engine Air Force plane crashed and exploded into fog shrouded Blue Mountain two miles north of Linglestown.
The plane, a B-26 bomber was on a routine training flight from Lockbourne Air Force Base, near Columbus, Ohio, to New Castle Field. Del. All of the airmen died instantly.
NO RADIO CONTACT
An Air Force spokesman said no radio contact had been made by the plane either with Olmsted Field at Middletown or Harrisburg Airport where the 53rd Wing of the Pennsylvania Air National Guard is headquartered. However, it was believed the pilot intended to land at one of the air strips.
The pilot apparently was unfamiliar with the rugged mountainous terrain which was almost totally obscured by heavy fog and a steady downpour of rain. The crash occurred about 3 p.m.
The crash was witnessed by Harry Ewing, a photographer for the Patriot-News, and three of his children. Ewing lives at the base of the mountain along the Linglestown road about a mile and a half from the crash
this page online
FLYING LOW HE SAYS
"I was on the porch working when I heard the plane coming in from the south. What made me look was that the plane was only about 500 feet from the ground and going at full speed," he said. Ewing said the plane started into a left turn as though the crew was trying to establish bearings. "I watched as it headed out of sight into the clouds that blotted out most of the mountain. About three [s]econds later I caught a glimpse of it as though the pilot was trying, to gain altitude fast."
"Then we saw a flash and the flames seemed to shoot down the mountains and then up in the air followed by smoke." "I rushed into the house, grabbed Tiny camera and took off for the scene." The picture of the crash appearing in today's paper was shot by Ewing.
The falling plane cut a swath about a hundred yards wide through the heavily wooded region, shearing trees and plowing a deep furrow in the heavy underbrush before it exploded and burned. Pieces of the wreckage housing gasoline tanks was still burning three hours after the crash. Chances of a forest fire were reduced because of the wetted down timber.
STREWN OVER WIDE AREA
The
Photographed by William Fischer, Jr., November 12, 2024
2. A/B-26 Plane Crash on Blue Mountain Marker
in background
TRIO THROWN CLEAR
Bodies of the airmen were thrown clear of the wreckage. All three were dismembered by the force which apparently threw two them head-first through the cockpit. They were lying face down near the engines. The other body was tossed to the side about 25 yards up the mountain from the other two. The bodies were mangled so badly that identification of individuals will have to be from personal effect and from Air Force flying equipment.
ONE STRAPPED IN SEAT
One body, possibly that of the pilot, was will strapped to a seat. His parachute-which
Photographed by William Fischer, Jr., November 12, 2024
3. A/B-26 Plane Crash on Blue Mountain Marker
The airman were members of the 202 Tow Target Flight Station at Lockbourne, which is to be inducted into active federal service May 16. All members of the unit are from Columbus, according to Col. George W. Humbrecht, base commander. The unit was alerted for induction April 5.
TRAIL BURNING TANK
First on the scene were Dauphin County Prothonotary Miles Zimmer Jr, and Robert George, both of Linglestown. Zimmerman and George accompanied the Linglestown fire company up the steep slope but led the way into the crash area. A burning gasoline tank set their direction. George quickly spotted two of the bodies and Zimmerman saw the third.
The fireman combed the wreckage and surrounding terrain to determine if there were other bodies under the twisted metal. Firem[e]n stood guard around the wreckage until relieved by State Trooper James J. Regan who was dispatched to the scene shortly after State Police were notified by Mrs. Ewing.
BLOCK OFF AREA
Regan was followed later by other State Policemen who blocked off the area by about 30 of the curious hearty enough to brave the blinding rain and slippery, rocky terrain. Air inspectors from Olmsted probed the wreckage before darkness fell. They will make a return trip today and determine if mechanical failure may have caused the crash. A reclamation crew from the air base will remove most of the larger pieces later this week.
On June 19, 1950 three members of the Air Force Reserves from Ohio and a regular Air Force enlisted man were killed when a C-45 crashed and burned on Reeser's Summit in the Mountains behind New Cumberland. The trio was on a routine flight from Cleveland airport to Olmsted Field when the crash occurred. The fourth was on furlough en route to his hope in Pittston.
From The Patriot News
April 22nd, 1951:
On a rainy and very foggy Sunday afternoon at 3:10 pm, an Ohio Air National Guard military plane crashed on the south side of Blue Mountain, just north of Linglestown, killing all three crewmembers. Witnesses reported seeing the B-26 twin engine bomber flying at a very low altitude as it passed over Linglestown, heading north towards the mountain. An eyewitness who lived on a farm just north of town thought that the plane might hit his barn and then heard a crash and an explosion on the steep face of the mountain. The crewmembers were: Lt. William F. Phelan (Pilot), Staff Sargent [sic] Robert Howman, and Corporal Thomas E. Wilcox, all hailed from Ohio.
Local residents arriving first at the scene came upon a site of absolute death and destruction. The plane sheared off tree tops as it struck the steep, rocky terrain in an east-to-west direction approximately halfway up the mountain. The majority of the plane was completely shredded as it flew through the dense trees and hit the rocky ground. The remains of the flight crew were recovered by an emergency squad from Olmstead [sic] Air Field in Middletown. The largest intact section of the plane - the tail section- and both engines were also removed from the site by the Air Force. Local witnesses reported that smaller debris was gathered and buried on the mountainside.
The plane and crew were from the newly-formed 202nd Tow Target Unit of the 1st Air Force, 55th [W]ing, based at the Lockbourne Air Base near Columbus, Ohio. They were on a routine training flight to New Castle Field in New Castle, Delaware. The plane was the second of two planes making the same flight, only twenty minutes apart. The official Air Force investigation identified several factors contributing to the crash: rainy and foggy weather, flying at too low of an altitude without landing, and perhaps the most interesting - the main radio had an outdated crystal set, which prohibited normal air-to-ground communications on the desired "A” channel. The crystals affected the radio frequency on which the radios functioned. The Air Force had recently changed the crystals that were to be used in their radios, but for unknown reasons this plane's equipment was not updated. This resulted in the plane and crew having no communication with any control towers along their flight path, including nearby Olmstead [sic] Air Field.
This memorial is dedicated to the three airmen that died that day and was made possible by a generous donation from the Linglestown American Legion, Robert H. Hoke Post 272.
[Center panel]
Lt. William F. Phelan [photo]
The funeral of Lt. William F. Phelan, 114 Neal Avenue, who met death Sunday afternoon in an airplane crash near Harrisburg, Pa., will be held at 10 a.m. Thursday with a requiem mass in St. Francis de Sales Church. Burial in Cedar Hill Cemetery with full military rites, will be under the auspices of a group from the 202nd Tow Target Flight from Lockbourne Air Base, south of Columbus. The body accompanied by Lt. Rodney E. Callander of Newark, was received at the Bounds-Van Wey funeral home Wednesday morning and will not be viewed.
The Newark Advocate · Newark, Ohio. 25 Apr 1951
Tech Sgt Robert William Howman [headstone photo]
Brother Of Local Man Killed In Plane
Services Held Wednesday At Ashland For T/Sgt. Robert W. Howman, 23, Brother Of Lyndon.
Funeral services were held Wednesday afternoon at Ashland for T/Sgt. Robert W. Howman, 23, a brother of Lyndon Howman, S. Hayes av, Sandusky, and one of three Ohio National Guard members killed last Sunday in the crash of a twin-engined training bomber into a rugged mountainside near Harrisburg, Pa.
The plane was a part of the first mission of the 202 [T]ow [T]arget unit recently activated on a flight from Lockbourne Air Base near Columbus to Newcastle, Del.
Sandusky Register · Sandusky, Ohio. 26 Apr 1951
Sgt. Thomas E. Wilcox [photo]
Funeral services for Sgt. Thomas E. Wilcox, 24, of 102 West Great Miami boulevard, Ohio Air National guardsman who was among the three men killed Sunday in the crash of a twin-engined B-26 near Harrisburg, Pa., will be conducted at 1:30 p.m. tomorrow at the Whitmer Bros. funeral home, 239 North Ludlow street. Rev. Ernest H. Harrold will officiate. Burial will be in Glen Haven Memorial Gardens. Friends may call at the funeral home from 4 to 9 p.m. today.
The Journal Herald · Dayton, Ohio. 25 Apr 1951
Three Died Here
Wreckage of the B-26 bomber in which three Ohio National Guardsmen died in a crash Sunday, is jammed among trees in the rugged mountain area eight miles northeast of Harrisburg. The plane was on a routine training flight from Lockbourne [A]ir [B]ase, near Columbus, to Newcastle, Del. Names of the dead were withheld pending notification of next of kin.
Evening News · Harriburg, Pennsylvania. 23 Apr 1951
Certificate of Authenticity [photo]
This flag was flown over the Ohio statehouse on April 22, 2018 in honor of Lt. Phelan, Sgt. Howman, & Corp. Wilcox.
Thank you to Lower Paxton Township Parks and Recreation for all of their help with this project.
Erected on May 4, 2019
Erected 2019 by Lower Paxton Township Historical Commission & Parks and Recreation, Robert H. Hoke American Legion Post 272, A•BK•Carl Graphic Design.
Topics. This memorial is listed in these topic lists: Air & Space • Disasters • War, Cold. A significant historical date for this entry is April 22, 1951.
Location. 40° 18.676′ N, 76° 48.43′ W. Memorial is near Paxtonia, Pennsylvania, in Dauphin County. It is in Lower Paxton Township. It is on Commons Drive. Marker is in Brightbill Park, near the entrance to the Dauphin County Heroes Grove Amphitheater. Touch for map. Memorial is at or near this postal address: 5084 Jonestown Road, Harrisburg PA 17112, United States of America. Touch for directions.
Regionally, this memorial is in South-Central Pennsylvania, specifically in Pennsylvania Dutch Country, in the Susquehanna Valley, and in Greater Harrisburg. It is also in the American Northeast and in the Mid-Atlantic. Globally, it is in North America, the Western Hemisphere, the Western World, and the Anglosphere. Historically, it finds itself in what was once the Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) Confederacy and also one of the original Thirteen Colonies.
Other nearby markers. At least 8 other markers are within 3 miles of this marker, measured as the crow flies: Dauphin County Heroes Grove (here, next to this marker); Paxton Riflemen (approx. 1.7 miles away); Patton's Fort (approx. 1.9 miles away); World War Memorial (approx. 2.1 miles away); Civil War Memorial (approx. 2.2 miles away); Linglestown (approx. 2.2 miles away); The Fire House, Forts, and Cemetery (approx. 2.3 miles away); The Harness & Saddle Shop (approx. 2.3 miles away). Touch for a list and map of all markers in Paxtonia.
Credits. This page was last revised on November 19, 2024. It was originally submitted on November 19, 2024, by William Fischer, Jr. of Reynoldsburg, Ohio. This page has been viewed 696 times since then and 165 times this year. Photos: 1, 2, 3. submitted on November 19, 2024, by William Fischer, Jr. of Reynoldsburg, Ohio.
