Patuxent, MD Navy Transport Plane Crash, Jan 1958

NINE DEAD IN PLANE CRASH.

Patuxent, Md., Jan. 14 (AP) -- A big Navy transport plane, waved off as it tried to make an instrument landing at murky Patuxent Naval Air Station, crashed into a wooded area and exploded today. All nine crew members aboard were killed.
The R7V four-engine Super Constellation was making practice instrument landings. It had tried to land once before but was waved off because its approach to the end of the runway was too low.
Visibility was reduced to about a half mile by fog and mist.
On the second run, the plane also came in too low and to the left. The tower again waved it off.
The pilot gunned his ship as it started over the "Cinder Block," the station's name for a housing area for married enlisted personnel.
MRS. HOWARD SNYDER, is one of the one-story, two family buildings, said, "I looked out the window and all I saw was wings."
The plane cleared the housing area, but clipped treetops as the engines roared. The impact with the trees threw the plane out of control, and it seared a strip through the thin woods a quarter-mile long. Then it struck the ground and erupted into a huge ball of fire.
Eight bodies were thrown clear of the wreckage by the exploding gasoline. A ninth was pulled out of the mangled cockpit section while it still smouldered.
Of the nine killed, three were officers and six were seamen. A Patuxent spokesman said CDR. WILLIAM W. LAMER, JR., of Charleston, S. C., was the plane commander, while CDR. RICHARD H. HART of Natchitaches, La., and LT. (j.g.) HARRY G. MORGAN, JR., of Little Ferry, N.J., were pilots in training.
The spokesman said it was not known which man was at the controls at the time of the crash.

Victims Listed.
Washington, Jan. 14 (AP) -- The Navy tonight identified nine officers and men who were killed in the crash of a four-engine constellation this morning at Patuxent, Md., Naval Air Test Station.
Victims included:
CMDR. WILLIAM W. LAMAR, JR., husband of Mrs. Eva C. Lamar, now living at Patuxent, and son of Capt. and Mrs. William W. Lamar, Charleston, S.C.
CMDR. RICHARD H. HART, husband of Mrs. Thelma E. Hart, now living at Patuxent, and son of Simon M. Hart, Natchifoches, La.
Seaman FLOYD O. TAYLOR, husband of Mrs. Kathleen Henrickson Taylor, Lexington, Md., and son of Mrs. Velma Dowdy, Los Angeles.
Seaman WILLIAM C. THURAU, husband of Mrs. Mary Lee Seward Thurau, South Hill, Va., and son of Mrs. William S. Thurau, Flint, Mich.

Morning Herald Hagerstown Maryland 1958-01-15
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Researched and Transcribed by Stu Beitler. Thank you, Stu!