October - December 2016

The afternoon light was fading as Lt. Thompson began his descent southerly onto the new north-south runway when trouble appeared. The young pilot “undershot” the runway as he brought his ship down for a landing. The right landing gear collapsed, and the B-18 ground looped, flopped around like a fish out of water, and skidded off the runway across the safety strip, coming to rest at the edge of the grass. Base officials witnessing this mishap from their primitive control tower near the steel hangar sent the “crash wagon,” housed in the new central fire station, rushing to the scene.