Jet Hits House, At Least 6 Dead
9 Injured;
5 Other
Homes Are
Set Afire
A navy jet plane crashed into a
house and set fire to five others at the north edge of Wold-Chamberlain
field at 9:30 a.m. today, killing at least six persons and injuring
nine others.
The plane left a military formation to make an emergency landing and
hit the street in front of 5804 and 5808 Forty-Sixth Avenue S., near
the main gate of the navy base.
The plane then bounced into the home of Donald and Jane Garles, 5820
Forty-sixth, and shattered with a terrific explosion and flash which
scattered the plane and its fuel over the neighborhood.
Firefighters
rushed to extinguish a fire in one of the houses hit by debris.
(Minneapolis Star photo)
Some 20 or more children were
at play in that block when the plane crashed. Some of them
were littered with debris and flaming fuel.
Five of them, taken to Veterans hospital, were reported in “very
critical” condition with burns. One other child was taken to
the same hospital with less severe injuries.
Two were taken to General hospital and three to the navy infirmary
at the airport.
The pilot of the plane, Major George Armstrong, 33, 5808 Pearson
drive, Edina, was killed. The second body identified was that
of Debora De Wolfe, 7, 5816 Forty-sixth Avenue S.
The child’s body was found on a couch in her home. Alongside
the couch was the landing gear of the plane.
The other dead were not identified immediately.
Glen Gould, chief of the veterans administration fire department,
said six bodies had been recovered.
“We made a pretty close check of the burned homes and I don’t
believe there are any more,” he said.
At a press conference at navy headquarters, Col. Frank F. Gill,
commanding officer of the naval air station, explained that
Armstrong and two other pilots had taken off on a tactical training
mission.
The other two were Maj. O.J. Miller, Isanti, Minn., and Maj. Harold
Slay, Somerset, Wis. The three are navy reservists.
Miller, according to Gill, said Armstrong reported he was having
some trouble with the plane and was breaking formation to head back
to the airport.
“He didn’t explain what the trouble was, but he didn’t seem to be
alarmed,” Gill said. “Miller followed him toward the airport.
“Miller said Armstrong appeared to have made the airport and that
he, Miller, then turned away from the airport before the crash.” …
Residents of the south
Minneapolis neighborhood gathered to watch firefighters work the
crash scene. (Minneapolis Star photo)
Children Playing When Jet Hits ‘Like a Bomb’
South Minneapolis residents who had
been working in their yards, supervising their children at play or
going about normal household tasks were shaken at 9:32 a.m. today by
an explosion that some described as a “huge bomb blast.”
It was the crash of a F9F navy jet fighter plane into a row of
houses in the 5800 block on Forty-sixth S. Here are the words
of some of the first to reach the scene:
Elmer Gustafson, 5841 Forty-fifth S., was in his back yard
when he saw the plane come in low and crash with a “terrific
explosion and flash.”
“There were lots of youngsters playing in yards just before the
crash,” he said. “I took my own youngsters a safe distance,
then went to the scene of the burning homes. I saw people
carrying injured children.
“It was so confusing, I don’t know whether the children had been in
the houses or in the yard. There was a terrible concussion
that could have knocked them over.”
Gustafson said he tried to get into one house, but flames drove him
back.
Frank Trybulec, Villa Park, Ill., and his wife had just arrived to
visit the Albin Andersons at 5759 Forty-fourth Avenue S.
“I heard a terrific explosion and I ran to the burning house where
the plane had hit,” Trybulec said. They were carrying
out children. One child had her clothing burned off.”
Mrs. Otto Mueller, 5854 Forty-sixth Avenue S., who lives at the far end
of the block, spent a frantic minute following the “terrible bang”
searching for her children, John, 5½, and Joan , 8, who were playing
down the block toward the crash scene.
The two youngsters came rushing into the house. John was scratched
by a piece of flying debris, but otherwise unhurt.
“Don’t come out, Annabelle,” Mrs. Mueller telephoned a friend across
town as thousands jammed streets, alleys and lawns within minutes
after the disaster.
“There was a ‘poof’ and then a real smell of smoke and I saw fire in
my living and bedroom.”
Mrs. Doris Kieffer, 30, sat in Veterens’ Administration Hospital
after treatment for cuts and described the impact of the jet plane
crash that wiped out six houses today.
“I had just gone into the bathroom to comb my hair,” she said.
“It is on the west side of the house and the plane hit on the east
side.
“I heard the plane and you know jets whistle. But this time it was
just a poof and I realized the smell of smoke.
“I saw fire in the living room and bedroom and there is a hall
separating it from the bathroom. I started down the hall and
realized I couldn’t make it.’ “I shut the door of the bathroom
and broke the bathroom window to get out.
“I saw my two little girls – Jennie, 2½, and Cassie, 5. I got
Jennie.
“My husband was painting the back fence and he picked up Cassie.
“We ran across the alley to my neighbor because I knew she was a
nurse.
“I said, ‘help me, please.’
“Then I saw an ambulance and we took them to it. They were crying. I
don’t remember much after that.”
Mrs. Kieffer had stitches taken in her right forearm and first aid
for other less serious cuts and bruises on her legs.
The Kieffers moved into their homes four years ago. She said
they had never worried about aircraft activity. “It is just
one of those things you never think happens,” she said.
“After all, the landing strip is over the hill and not really by us.
“You don’t worry to the point where you ever think that it would hit
you.”
Before the 1960s, numbers and arrows were sometimes added to photos
to help explain what happened. Here’s the original caption from this
Minneapolis Star photo: Jet plane struck the ground (1), bounced and
struck again (2), then crashed into house (3).
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