1962 — Sep 4, Ashland Oil Co. plane loses right wing/crashes near Lake Milton, OH — 13

Compiled by Wayne Blanchard; last edit 6-18-2025 for upload to: http://www.usdeadlyevents.com/

–13  AP. “13 Die When Ashland Oil Plane Falls.” Portsmouth Times, OH. 9-5-1962, p. 1.

–13  Aviation Safety Network. Ashland Oil and Refining Company Lodestar, 4Sep1962.

–13  CAB. AAR. Ashland Oil Company, Lockheed Lodestar…Lake Milton, Ohio, Sep 4, 1962.

Narrative Information

Aviation Safety Network. Ashland Oil and Refining Company Lodestar, 4 September 1962:

“Date:                          Tuesday 4 September 1962

“Time:                         21:00 [9 p.m.]

“Type:                         Lockheed 18-56-24 Lodestar

“Owner/operator:        Ashland Oil and Refining Company

“Registration:              N1000F

“MSN:                         18-2463

“Year of manufacture:            1943

“Total airframe hrs:     6557

“Engine model:           Wright R-1820-87

“Fatalities:                   Fatalities: 13 / Occupants: 13

“Other fatalities:         0

“Aircraft damage:       Destroyed, written off

“Category:                   Accident

“Location:                   near Lake Milton, OH – USA

“Phase:                        En route

“Nature:                      Executive

“Departure airport:      Buffalo Airport, NY

“Destination airport:   Ashland Regional Airport, KY (DWU/KDWU)

“Investigating agency:CAB

Civil Aeronautics Board: “On September 4, 1962, at 2100 e.d.t., a Lockheed Lodestar, N 1000F, owned and operated by the Ashland Oil Company, Ashland, Kentucky, lost its right wing in flight, crashed and burned in a field near Lake Milton, Ohio, seven-tenths of a mile south of Ohio State Highway Route 18.

“The pilot and copilot of the aircraft and 11 passengers perished. The aircraft was destroyed by fire after impact.

“At approximately 1822 e.d.t., …the pilot… called Buffalo Flight Service Station and filed a flight plan in accordance with Instrument Flight Rules (IFR) from Buffalo to Ashland, Kentucky. The proposed route of flight was from Buffalo via airways to York, Ohio, then direct to Ashland

“The flight operated routinely to the vicinity of Youngstown, Ohio. It reported over Youngstown at 2051 at 8,000 feet….When the aircraft failed to report over Briggs, numerous attempts were made to establish communications with negative results.

“N 1000F had crashed and burned at 2100. The time of the accident was established by an electrical power interruption which was caused by the aircrafts flying debris….Impact damage and the fire that followed resulted in almost complete disintegration of the aircraft. Fragments were found as far as 300 feet from the crater with a concentration of pieces to the southwest….

“The Board determines that the probable cause of this accident was a malfunction of the electric elevator trim tab unit which resulted in aircraft uncontrollability and subsequent structural failure of the wing.”  (CAB. AAR. Ashland Oil Company…Lake Milton, Ohio, Sep 4, 1962.)

Newspaper

Sep 5, AP:                       “13 Die When Ashland Oil Plane Falls.

Ohio Crash Called Worst of Type in Nation’s History

“Ravena, Ohio (AP) – Thirteen men died in the crash and explosion of a two-engine private airplane on a farm southeast of here Tuesday night. It was the worst industrial aircraft accident in the nation’s history. The twin-engine Lockheed Lodestar, owned by the Ashland Oil & Refining Co., was carrying executives from subsidiary companies in Cleveland and Buffalo to Ashland, Ky., for a sales meeting today. There were no survivors.

“The death toll of 13 exceeded by one the previous high for an industrial aircraft accident – a crash near Shreveport, La., on Jan. 10, 1954. The crash of a Continental Oil Co. plane near Marion, Ohio, on July 1, 1959 took 10 lives.

“The plane had reported to the Air traffic Control Center at Oberlin, Ohio, at 8:51 p.m. (EDT) shortly before the crash that it was approaching Youngstown, flying on instruments at about 8,000 feet and was on course.

“The craft was over Lake Milton when witnesses reported sounds that indicated trouble and saw the plane go into a spin, crashing in bright orange flames that lit the sky.

“The tremendous explosion littered Glenn Sickle’s 40-acre farm field with human and mechanical wreckage. One piece of the fuselage was found a mile away. The blast dug a crater five feet deep and about 20 feet in diameter.

“Among those the Frontier Oil Co. said boarded the plane at Buffalo were Clayton G. Maxwell, 60, vice president of Frontier; Newton A Bricka, 43, transportation manager; James A Mahan Jr., 37, manager of marketing; James Whittaker, 52, assistant manager of Frontier’s oil burner division, and Joseph A. Collins, 64, manager of the oil burner division.

“An Ashland Oil Co. spokesman said four men from another subsidiary, Allied Oil of Cleveland, also were aboard. They were identified as Jay P. Alexander, 51, executive assistant to the president, Allied Oil; Robert Wulff, 37, manager of retail fuel oil sales; Wayne T. Wiggins, 37, sales manager, and W. H. Parr, fuel oil sales representatives for Allied at Ashtabula, Ohio.

“From the home company, there was John W. Drennan, administrative assistant for marketing.

“Chief pilot Blaine Berkstresser was aboard, and copilot Ronald Roberts of Ashland also was scheduled to make the trip.

“An Ashland accountant, James Goff, 34, also was in the group.

“First on the scene of the crash, 18 miles from this northeastern Ohio City was Richard McKenzie, who lives nearby. He said he heard a whistling r screaming noise, somewhat like the noise of a jet plane. He saw the red lights of the plane moving in a spinning pattern, then saw a tremendous crash. Flames shot more than 50 feet above the wreckage, he said.

“William Weimer of Youngstown, who was fishing on Lake Milton one mile to the east, estimated the plane’s lights were at 400 feet altitude when he heard what sounded like engine trouble. ‘It coughed and sputtered, then faded out,’ he said.

“Smoke of the wreckage was thrown onto nearby power lines 50 or 60 feet high, causing a short circuit that left homes in a wide area without power for several minutes.

“The plane picked up the Allied people in Cleveland, then flew to Buffalo, and was on its way back to Ashland.

“Local authorities roped off the area to keep back crowds of curious and preserve the wreckage for Civil Aeronautics Board investigators to study today.” (Associated Press. “13 Die When Ashland Oil Plane Falls.” Portsmouth Times, OH. 9-5-1962, pp. 1 and 10.)

Sources

Associated Press. “13 Die When Ashland Oil Plane Falls.” Portsmouth Times, OH. 9-5-1962, pp. 1, 10. Accessed 6-18-2025 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/portsmouth-times-sep-05-1962-p-1/

Aviation Safety Network. Ashland Oil and Refining Company Lodestar, 4 Sep 1962. Accessed 9-30-2022 at: https://aviation-safety.net/database/record.php?id=19620904-0

Civil Aeronautics Board. Aircraft Accident Report. Ashland Oil Company, Lockheed Lodestar, N 1000F, Lake Milton, Ohio, September 4, 1962. Washington, DC: CAB, June 7, 1963, 10 pp. At: http://dotlibrary1.specialcollection.net/scripts/ws.dll?file&fn=8&name=*P%3A%5CDOT%5Cairplane%20accidents%5Cwebsearch%5C090462.pdf