Newton, NJ Air Force Transport Collision, Aug 1948

9 SOLDIERS DIE WHEN PLANES CRASH IN AIR.

Newton, N.J., Aug. 25 (AP) -- Six U.S. Air Force enlisted men, en route to a religious conference, and three crew members of a C-47 transport were killed yesterday after the big plane swooped out of a cloud bank and collided with a B-25.
The disabled C-47 plummeted to the ground near this northwest New Jersey community, crashed and burned. The B-25, a wing-tip sheared and its three-man crew unaware of the disaster, returned safely to its Stewart Field, N.Y. airbase.
Crewmen of the B-25 said they had been cruising at an altitude of about 7,000 feet when the transport zoomed out of a cloud. They reported a "not too severe jolt."
Eyewitnesses said the C-47, in apparent trouble, flew over the farmland area at about 400 to 500 feet before going into a tailspin and crashing in a "ball of smoke."
Wreckage and the charred, mangled bodies of the victims were strewn over several hundred yards.
"Pieces of the plane like silver flew in all directions," said MRS. ELIZABETH SNOVER who saw the crash from the porch of her home.
The plane was on its way from Bolling Field, Washington, D.C., to Danbury, Conn. Air Force officials described the six enlisted men as lay leaders of religious thought in their respective units. They were going to a religious meeting at West Redding, Connecticut.
Bolling Field identified four of the six as:
Pfc. FRED ANDERSON, 18, of Duluth, Minn.
Pfc. JAMES E. FORD, 24, DeVails Bluff, Ark.
Pfc. M. GREATE, 20, Council Bluffs, Ia.
Pfc. BERNARD E. MAHONEY, 18, of Binghamton, N. Y., whose mother is Mrs. Elizabeth Mahoney of Binghamton.
The two men picked up at Olmsted Field, Middletown, Pa., were:
Staff Sgt. ALBERT H. DOUGLAS, 25, son of Mrs. Irma Douglas, of Darby, Pa.
Corp. DONALD L. RAUM, 21, son of Mr. and Mrs. Harry E. Raum, of Lancaster, the air force base reported.
DOUGLAS was an administrative clerk and worked in the orderly room at Olmsted. He also did some work for the base chaplain and was selected to represent the base at the Connecticut religious conference. RAUM was an assistant to the base chaplain.
A board of inquiry already has been sent to the crash scene, Bolling Field reported.

Gettysburg Times Pennsylvania 1948-08-25
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Researched and Transcribed by Stu Beitler. Thank you, Stu!