1944 — March 15, USAAF B-24E flies into Bull Mountain at night, 5M NE of Stuart, VA-11
Compiled by Wayne Blanchard; last edit 4-12-2024 for upload to: http://www.usdeadlyevents.com/
–12 The Bee, Danville, VA. “12 Die in Patrick Air Crash…Bull Mountain.” 3-16-1944, p. 1.
–11 Gastonia Daily Gazette, NC. “Names of Crash Victims Listed.” 3-17-1944, p. 2.
–11 Mireles. Fatal Army Air Forces Aviation Accidents…US, 1941-1945 (Vol. 2) 2006, 725.
–11 Morning Herald, Hagerstown, MD. “Eleven Die in Bomber Crash.” 3-17-1944, p. 1.
–11 The Bee, Danville, VA. “Did Manganese Deposits in Bull Mountain Cause…” 3-21-1944, 1
–11 The Bee, Danville, VA. “Where Eleven Died in Crash.” 3-20-1944, p. 1.
Narrative Information
Baugher: “Ford B-24E-25-FO Liberator…7417 crashed into Bull Mountain, VA 3/15/1944. All crew killed.” (Baugher, Joe F. 1942 USAAF Serial Numbers (42-001 to 42-30031). 10-28-2011 revision.)
Mireles: “Stuart, Virginia. At 2230 EWT, a Consolidated B-24E crashed into rising terrain five miles northeast of Stuart, Virginia,[1] killing 11 crewmembers. The airplane had taken off from the Army Air Field at Charleston, South Carolina, on a routine navigation mission to Mt. Airy, North Carolina, to Madison, North Carolina, to Florence, South Carolina, and return to Charleston Army Air Field. Civilians stated that the airplane was flying low over Stuart at 2145 and 2200 EWE. The airplane circled the area a few times before flying into the mountain and exploding into flames. Investigators speculated that the pilots were lost and were trying to ascertain their position when the accident occurred. Killed in the crash were:
2Lt. Gilbert Felts, pilot;
2Lt. John R. Gipson, co-pilot;
F/O Howard A. Jennet, navigator;
2Lt. Aubrey E. Brown, navigator instructor;
2Lt. Wayne R. Alber, bombardier;
Cpl. Charlie B. Herrins, engineer;
Cpl. Joseph L. Fountaine, assistant engineer;
Cpl. Carl E. Pierce, radio operator;
Sgt. Neale E. Narramore, assistant radio operator;
Cpl. Charles D. Libbey, gunner;
Pfc. James J. Tiffner, gunner.”
(Mireles. Fatal Army Air Forces Aviation Accidents in…US, 1941-1945 (Vol. 2) 2006, 725)
Newspapers
March 16: “Stuart, Va., March 16. – A big Army bomber, apparently lost over the rugged Blue Ridge highlands crashed into the side of Bull Mountain near here last night at 10:40 p.m. carrying twelve crew members to their instant death. The bomber was a four engined plane out of Charleston, S.C., air base. Public relations officers at the air base this afternoon would give no details, nor were the names of the victims given out, these being customarily withheld, until the next of kin have been notified. Nor did the official statement say how many were in the plane. But mountaineers who reached the scene of the crash counted for themselves twelve bodies – bodies blackened and seared by the exploding fuel tanks as the machine crashed.
“Early this afternoon the charred bodies were being brought back to Stuart, a distance of about five miles, while highly commissioned Army men from Greensboro and Winston-Salem made notes on the disaster and heard from eyewitnesses from which the official chronicle of another wartime disaster will be built.
“Where the plane was going is not known. It may have been on a routine night flying mission.
The bodies were to be sent in hearses probably to Winston-Salem, N.C., but no authoritative statement was made by any Army official here as to identify, cause of the crash or disposition of the remains.
“The plane which was in difficulties fully half an hour before it rammed the mountain wilderness, needed only fifty feet of lift to clear the broad back of the Blue Ridge foothill for the point of impact was the crest of the mountain.
“The impact cause the gasoline tanks to explode causing a miniature forest fire which was being controlled by a large group of volunteer fire fighters this morning.
“Many from the sparsely inhabited region gathered to lend what aid they could last night but there was great difficulty in fighting a way through the crags, clefts and the underbrush to reach the blazing funeral pyre of the victims.
“Whether all of the victims were Army men or others could not be immediately determined. Those first returning from the scene said that the bodies were seared and blackened also that their identification discs had been burned off.
“Army officers came here at daylight in staff cars and were organizing to get the bodies down the side of the mountain and to make an investigation at the scene of the wreck also to take the personal eyewitness stories of farmers routed from their homes by the low-flying plane which seemed to be hunting a landing guided by a searchlight in the nose of the fuselage. First reports were that nine had been killed in the crash but when Lieutenant P. W. Crews of the state police, stationed at Roanoke, reached here from the scene of the wreck at 9:30 o’clock he said that he had counted twelve bodies personally.
“Lieutenant Crews who came here to make an official report to state headquarters said that he had left a detail of state police to guard the bodies and the wreckage “until the Army moves in and takes over.” That procedure was being followed late this morning and officers from Winston-Salem and Greensboro – (from which point the bomber is believed to have started its final journey) – were at the scene late this morning. Lieutenant Crews said that while the bodies were blackened some of them were not in bad condition. Whether any of them can be identified, however, Lieut. Crews could not say. “It was not my job to identify the bodies but to see that nothing was touched or removed until Army officers get here.” The state police officer said the bodies were strewn over about 150 feet of brush. The plane he said was reduced to small fragments. He said the could see only two motors from the plane but he was told, that the wrecked craft was a four motored Army bomber. The officer said that it was difficult to reach the scene and estimated the distance four miles from the nearest road necessitating a job of hacking a way through mountain ivy and laurel and across fallen tree trunks.
“Commonwealth’s Attorney Frank P. Burton reported here late this morning that it was possible that the plane was from Wheeling, West Va. He said he had been informed that an Army plane with eleven men from Wheeling was reported missing today. Burton who was among the first to reach the scene of the crash and who said “it was one of the worst things I ever set eyes on” added he could account only for eleven bodies. The state official who was tired and worn after a five mile walk said that the terrific impact of the plane had carved a path three hundred yards up the face of the mountain, felling some trees while the stouter timber raked the plane and tore it all to pieces.
“Only the backbone of one of the occupants could be discerned, the rest of the body being burned. The other bodies were more or less mutilated – one decapitated – but he saw no reason why the identification discs should not be found on the bodies. One of the victims is evidently from South Carolina, judging from some object found which bore his name. Another man’s name was Brown, he said.
“The plane flew so low over Stuart, Burton said, that it seemed to be only a few feet over the roof of his own house. The landing lights were on. Later over Patrick County the plane dropped two flares one green and one red, this just before the plane crashed. Burton’s opinion was that the plane became lost and was running out of fuel when it was decided to make a forced landing, the pilot evidently not knowing that he was over rugged country.
“J. W. Frances, Patrick County game warden, living at Stuart was among the first group to reach the scene of the wreck. He said that the bomber had almost cleared the broad back of the Bull Mountain massif and on striking the side of the mountain tore its way upward and down the other side. The debris was scattered over about 300 yards of virgin timber, and the plane was reduced to small fragments. The bodies, lay in different postures for about 150 yards. All of the bodies, he said, were blackened by the searing blast of flames from the gasoline tanks which had apparently exploded on impact. One body had a dog tag on it bearing the name “Brown” but the dog tags on the other bodies had all been burned off.
“The crash was about three miles from the nearest road and about five miles from Stuart. The point of impact was also about five miles from Patrick Springs Hotel, occupied by Mr. and Mrs. W. W. Hamilton.
“To reach the scene the first rescue squad had to cut its way through primeval timber. “It was tough going,” the game warden said but easy to find because the explosion had caused a forest fire which was still burning this morning.
“Stuart people knew that a plane was in trouble because it circled over the town at a low level. It had a search light in its nose and it seemed to be trying to pick a flat place where it might land.
The motors sounded as though they were not functioning properly, Frances said, causing many people to leave their homes. While the explosion was not heard here there was a great flare of light as the plane struck and it was generally conceded that the big plane had crashed on the mountain.
“It was not long before the rural telephones were ringing. People closer to the scene said that they could see the burning plane and asked that Army authorities in Greensboro, N.C., and Winston-Salem, N.C. be notified. In the meantime Frank Burton, commonwealth’s attorney and Sheriff Frank Mays, organized a relief squad and they set off up the Tudor Orchard road as far as it went, and then followed a mountain creek bed until they reached a point where they had to leave it and strike off through dense brush and timber. Frances placed the time of the crash at 10 p.m.
“Fred Williams, a merchant at Patrick Springs about three miles from Patrick Springs Hotel witnessed the whole tragedy. “I had gone to sleep when I was awakened by the roar of airplane motors. The plane seemed to be almost on the roof. I ran outside at once and hear the plane circling over Patrick Springs Hotel. The motors seemed to be working all right but made a curious sort of noise.” “I watched the plane for several minutes and then suddenly there was a loud explosion and half way up the side of Bull Mountain there was a bright flash of light and we knew that the plane had been crashed. I at once telephoned a warning to Stuart and people in the neighborhood began gathering and set off to try and reach the scene.” Williams, however did not go along. Williams said that the moment of the crash was 10:40 p.m.
“Other men who returned from the scene of the crash said that the plane hit about half a mile from the firewatcher’s tower on the summit of the mountain where lives a fire warden to spot forest fires.
“No living person came out of the wreck of the bomber.
“Early this morning Army officers began arriving here from Winston-Salem and Greensboro, N.C. and secured guides to lead them and details of soldiers up the side of the mountain to get the bodies out. It was said that efforts would be made at the spot to identify them and that the remains would be sent from here to Winston-Salem.
“Bull Mountain is a well known landmark in Patrick County. Its broad back and its lofty reaches stand out on the horizon as one approaches Stuart from Horsepasture in Henry county. The big mountain so named because it suggests the shape of a bull separates Patrick county from Floyd county and it is not only one of the most inaccessible sections in this part of the country but one of the highest points in this part of the state. It has been said that bears are still to be found their and it abounds in wildcats and other faunae. Few people live there though on the fertile slopes some land has been cleared. Much of the timber has never been touched since primeval days and there are impenetrable sections probably never yet trodden by human feet. Many years ago it was partly surveyed when the discovery was made that valuable manganese deposits are to be found there, but the difficulty of getting the material out of it led to the abandonment of the project launched by New York interests.
“Early this afternoon the forest fire started by the explosion had been controlled but a cloud of smoke still hung over that section of the mountain which could be well seen from the lowlands.
All day long big planes hovered over the spot coming in low evidently examining the scene of the wreck from the air, the pilots talking back to their bases to give a picture of the scene. One plane circled over the section long before daylight today.
“Before noon today an Army major was at the scene of the crash and it was said that steps were being taken to get the bodies back to Stuart where waiting hearses will convey them to a point to be determined by the Army authorities. It is believed that the military officers are conducting the usual investigation required by the Army of all airplane crashes involving the loss of human life.
“Although the plane has been spoken of only as an Army bomber, some of the hundred or more people at the scene said that it was a Liberator. These planes are represented as having a value of $300,000 and statisticians have held that the government’s investment in any flying officer represents an outlay of $40,000.
“The expectation is that at some later date air corps engineers will visit the scene to see if the metal debris of the plane is worth salvage – a difficult task in view of difficulties of the terrain.”
(The Bee, Danville, VA. “12 Die in Patrick Air Crash…Bull Mountain.” 3-16-1944.)
March 16, Associated Press: “Stuart, Va., March 16 (AP) – Authorities definitely established late today that 11 crew members died last night when an Army bomber crashed into the summit of Bull Mountain, located in Patrick county, in the southwestern part of Virginia.
“The plane, based at the Charleston, S. C., Army airbase, was on a routine navigational mission when the crash occurred, the public relations office at the base announced.
“Army personnel, aided by local and state officers, tonight completed the task of bringing out the
bodies of the victims of the crash. They had to be carried from the scene, high up on the mountain peak, by litters.” (Morning Herald, Hagerstown, MD. “Eleven Die in Bomber Crash.” 3-17-1944, 1.)
March 17: “Charleston, S.C., March 17. – (AP) – The Charleston army air base today made public the names and next of kin of nine of 11 officers and men killed Wednesday night when a bomber crashed into Bull Mountain in Southwest Virginia, near Stuart. Two of the victims have not been identified, the base said. Those identified are:
2nd Lt. Aubrey E. Brown, instructor-navigator, Dallas, Tex.
2nd Lt. Gilbert Morris Felts, pilot.
2nd Lt. John R. Gibson, co-pilot, Logansport, Ind.
2nd Lt. Wayne R. Albar, bombardier, Manchester, Mich.
Flight Officer Howard A. Jennett, navigator, Philadelphia.
Cpl. Charlie B. Herring…Oxford, N.C.
Sgt. Neal M. Narramare, assistant radio operator, Eirndale, Kans.
Cpl. Charles D. Libby, gunner, Waukesha, Wis.
Pfc. James J. Tiffner, Alcol, W.Va.”
(Gastonia Daily Gazette, NC. “Names of Crash Victims Listed.” 3-17-1944, p. 2.)
March 20: “[Newspaper photo] Wreckage of the Army bomber from Charleston, S. C. air base which crashed into the side of Bull Mountain in Patrick county Wednesday night. Nothing but the twisted debris is left….Fire from the exploding fuel tanks started a forest fire which burned over 25 acres.” (The Bee, Danville, VA. “Where Eleven Died in Crash.” 3-20-1944, p. 1.)
March 21: “Stuart, Va., March 21. – All of the bodies of the eleven airmen who were killed last Wednesday in the Army bomber crash on Bull mountain have been removed from here. Soldier escorts came here to accompany each casket to Martinsville, thence by train, to the several states of the Union whence came the victims. No official statement was given out about how they disposed of the two bodies which were never identified. Army officers had the list. They knew the names of the two men but since all identification marks were burned off the bodies it was impossible to say which was which.
“In the meantime, it is learned that the Army plans to retrieve the critical metals of the debris on the side of the mountain as well as the remnants of the four big motors. A detail of soldiers is expected here next week accompanied by engineers who will carve a narrow road from the Tudor Orchard road into the mountain fastness and down which will be sledded the structural remains of the bomber.
“The Army, so far as can be learned here, has offered no theory as to what caused the crash, but airmen who have been here say that the Army closes the public record of these catastrophes with the listing of the dead and explores possible causes privately with objective purpose.
“While the plane appeared to be in trouble the opinion of airmen is, that out from Charleston, S.C., it would have carried enough fuel to take it back from a flight ranging this distance. The accident may have been due to carelessness or to some other human error.
“One interesting theory which is unofficially advanced relates to the magnetic influence which the deposits of manganese, known to be deeply embedded in the summit of Bull Mountain, may have had on the critical panel instruments before the pilot, just as polar influence often cause errors in a ship’s compass. If the altimeter was made to err by these earth waves emanating from polarized deposits it is held to be possible that the pilot, thinking that he was at a safe height as indicated by his instruments, crashed headlong into the mountain not knowing that it was there.” (The Bee, Danville, VA. “Did Manganese Deposits in Bull Mountain Cause Fatal Variations in Altimeter on Doomed Bomber?” 3-21-1944, p. 1.)
Sources
Baugher, Joseph F. 1942 USAAF Serial Numbers (42-001 to 42-30031). Oct 28 2011 revision. Accessed 12-9-2011 at: http://www.joebaugher.com/usaf_serials/1942_1.html
Gastonia Daily Gazette, NC. “Names of Crash Victims Listed.” 3-17-1944, p. 2. Accessed at: http://www.newspaperarchive.com/FullPagePdfViewer.aspx?img=65013681
Mireles, Anthony J. Fatal Army Air Forces Aviation Accidents in the United States, 1941-1945 (Volume 2: July 1943 – July 1944). Jefferson, NC: McFarland and Co., 2006.
Morning Herald, Hagerstown, MD. “Eleven Die in Bomber Crash.” 3-17-1944, p. 1. Accessed at: http://www.newspaperarchive.com/FullPagePdfViewer.aspx?img=111964828
The Bee, Danville, VA. “12 Die in Patrick Air Crash…Bull Mountain.” 3-16-1944, p. 1. Accessed at: http://www.newspaperarchive.com/FullPagePdfViewer.aspx?img=108938687
The Bee, Danville, VA. “Did Manganese Deposits in Bull Mountain Cause Fatal Variations in Altimeter on Doomed Bomber?” 3-21-1944, 1. Accessed at: http://www.newspaperarchive.com/FullPagePdfViewer.aspx?img=108938714
The Bee, Danville, VA. “Where Eleven Died in Crash.” 3-20-1944, p. 1. Accessed at: http://www.newspaperarchive.com/FullPagePdfViewer.aspx?img=108938707
[1] Between Stuart and today’s Fairy Stone State Park.