Knox, IN Private Planes Collide, Dec 1965

THREE KILLED AS PLANES COLLIDE OVER INDIANA.

Knox, Ind. (AP) -- Two planes collided in the air late Sunday and one of them spun into a woods two miles southwest of here, carrying three men to their deaths.
A couple in the second plane managed to land their damaged craft at the Starke County Airport and escaped harm.
The severed tail section of the crashed plane plowed into a parked station wagon, narrowly missing two young boys.
All the occupants of the downed plane, a twin-engined Apache, were killed. The bodies of the pilot, JOHN OTIS REYNOLDS, 42, Gary, and his co-pilot, GLEN T. BOVARD, 45, South Holland, Ill, were pinned in the wreckage. DONALD R. PIERCE, 37, Gary, died enroute to Starke Memorial Hospital here.
The pilot of the other plane, WAYNE SINGLETON, 45, Know, and his wife, BERTHA, 42, also a pilot, said they were preparing to land their single-engine Piper Aztec and were circling the airport when SINGLETON said he "felt something."
SINGLETON said he looked and saw the REYNOLDS plane below his aircraft.
The wingtip of the downed plane was believed to have struck the wheel of SINGLETON'S plane, punching a hole in the belly of the fuselage.
Impact of the collision, at 1,000 feet, swung, both planes around and the propeller of SINGLETON'S plane chewed off the tail section of the larger REYNOLD'S plane.
The tail section rammed a parked station wagon in front of the PATRICK PHILLIPS home. PHILLIPS, 53, rushed to the crash scene a quarter of a mile away.
Two boys, KENNETH MICHALSKI, 11, and his brother, LENN, 7, were almost struck by the tumbling tail section. The boys were visiting their grandfather, ADOLPH BLESSING, whose home is next door.
PHILLIPS said PIERCE was still alive when he reached the crash scene.
Starke County Coroner RAYMOND BRAMAN said REYNOLDS was manager of the Motor Express Inc. of Indiana and that the two other dead men also had been associated with the firm.
SINGLETON, a pilot of 20 years experience, said he radioed the airport immediately after the accident that he had "hit someone, I don't know who."
Damage to his plane was about $500.

Kokomo Tribune Indiana 1965-12-20
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Researched and Transcribed by Stu Beitler. Thank you, Stu!