Sweetwater, TX Transport Crash Kills 25, Apr 1945

TRANSPORT CRASH AT SWEETWATER KILLS 25.

PLANE ENROUTE FROM MIDLAND TO N. J. FIELD.

Sweetwater, April 20 -- (AP) -- Twenty-five officers and men were killed when an army transport plane, headed from Midland, Tex., Army Airfield to Paterson, N. J., crashed and burned three miles southeast of Sweetwater today.
Eleven officers and 14 enlisted men lost their lives. Midland Army Airfield reported at least eight combat officers returned from overseas werer among the victims. Names were temporarily withheld.
Col. HARRY WEDDINGTON, commanding officer of both Avenger Field, Sweetwater, and Abilene Army Airfield, said the watches of the men were stopped at 6:40 a.m.
Wreckage was scattered over an area of a square mile.
Capt. EDWIN SCHUMACHER, Avenger Field medical officer, one of the first to arrive at the scene said: "Bodies were all over the place. It was terrible."
Deputy Fire Chief RAY STEVENSON of the Avenger Field fire department said the victims "didn't have a chance."
The ship, a C-47, took off from Midland Army Airfield at 6:05 a.m. It fell about three-quarters of a mile east of the Sweetwater-San Angelo highway.
Col. JOHN W. WHITE commanding officer of Midland Army Airfield left for Sweetwater to assist in an investigation.
The plane was a twin engine craft. Officers aboard included the pilot and co-pilot, and the enlisted men including the plane's crew chief.

Big Spring Daily Herald Texas 1945-04-20
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Researched and Transcribed by Stu Beitler. Thank you, Stu!