Big Spring, TX T33 jet crash, May 1953

Pilot Believed Dead In T-33 Jet Crash

A T-33 jet trainer from Webb Air Force Base crashed and then disintegrated in a blinding flash eight miles west of Big Spring at about 10 p.m. Monday. The pilot is believed to have perished.

Webb officials said Louis rosser notified the base at 11:45 p.m. that a jet-type plane had crashed in a dry lake flat a mile and a half south of U. S. 80.

Emergency crews from Web were at the scene this morning. They said it probably would be Wednesday before the pilot of plane could be identified.

The huge flash of fire was visible over a wide area.

Webb officials said that a jet trainer plane was overdue at the base since 11:30 p.m. Monday. The missing plane was flown by a student pilot who left Webb on a night cross-country training flight. However, they could not definitely identify the wreckage of the crashed plane this morning as that of the missing jet.

Meanwhile, Webb AFB Aviation Cadet James A. Halliday of Ft. Montgomery, N. Y., was reported under treatment in a Seminole hospital for minor injuries suffered when he made a forced landing in a T-28, propellor driven, plane from Webb.

A Dr. Coleberg reported that he was treating Halliday in the Seminole hospital for minor lacerations. Cause of the accident and extent of damage to the plane was not known at noon. Webb officers said the plane apparently made a forced landing with its wheels retracted.

The Big Spring Daily Herald, Big Spring, TX 12 May 1953
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Transcribed by Tim Taugher. Thanks, Tim!