9/11/1942 ~ Tragedy at Curtiss-Wright | Business

September 11, 1942 - Tragedy At Curtiss-Wright

Couirer Express September 12, 1942

Pilotless P-40 Plunging From High Altitude, Goes Nose First Into Factory - Blazing Gasoline From Pursuits Fuel Tanks Sprays Victims; Pilot Is Burned Before Taking To Parachute

Ambulances Called From All Hospitals To Remove Injured

  Six workers were killed and 43 others were injured shortly after 5 p.m. when an airplane, crippled at a  high altitude by fire, fell nose first through the roof of the Curtiss-Wright Corporation Airplane division plant at the Municipal Airport.....

THEY MADE THE SUPREME SACRIFICE DEFENDING THEIR COUNTRY

• The Dead: 

  Frank Warda, 748 Lasalle Ave. died in Emergency Hospital at 12:22 a.m. today. Martin Till, 18 French Street, died in Millard Fillmore Hospital at 12:05 a.m. Carlson Rauh, 2520 Elmwood Ave., died in Meyer Memorial Hospital at 12:15 a.m. Lester Glenn, 129 Stockbridge Street, an Army inspector, died in Sisters Hospital at 10:25 p.m. last night. Frank A. Ryan, 149 Wellington Ave., Kenmore, killed instantly at the plant. Another man, burned beyond recognition; identity to be established by fingerprints.  Some of the injured, a list of which is carried in another column, were reported in serious condition in various hospitals.  The plane, a P-40, was being flown by test pilot J. Bertrand Purnell, when it took fire. William Davey, General Manager of the Curtiss-Wright Buffalo plants, said the cause was unknown.

• Pilot Burned Seriously

   Pilot Purnell remained with his ship until flames drove him out.  He parachuted to earth, some two miles away at Union Road and Walden Ave. near the Cheektowaga Town Hall. "I'm trying to figure out just what happened," he said at Meyer Memorial Hospital, where he was taken with severe burns, after he had parachuted to earth. "The engine caught on fire, I tried to  put out the flames before I jumped. The flames kept coming up and hitting me in the face. I couldn't stand the heat. I had to jump...."  

•  "It came nearer and nearer to where I was standing at the auto entrance for the airport building.  For a while I thought it was going to hit the airport building.  I wanted to run, but I couldn't.  I was scared stiff and couldn't move." Then the plane swept over the Curtiss roof and crashed....
• "When the plane hit, we could feel the heat on our backs. Then someone yelled  "FIRE" and men rushed from all directions grabbing the fire hoses off the wall and heading to the scene...."
• "Dandrew said the scene of human agony all around him after the explosion was most indescribable...."

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• “The men who gave their lives in this tragic accident were soldiers of production. They wore no uniforms, carried no deadly arms, met no enemy on the battlefield, but they made the supreme sacrifice defending their country. They were fighting on the production line and there they met death as bravely as did the defenders of Bataan, Corregidor, Wake, and Midway...”  William Davey - General Manager Curtiss-Wright Corporation Airplane Division, Buffalo Plants

Those Who Died In This Tragedy..............

Jack H. Boyer, Paul Chase, Cecil Clark, James E. Collins, Lester F. Glenn, Salvatore Palmeri, Carlson M. Rauh, Francis Ryan, Norman Savage, Joseph J. Sciolino, Samuel Shalala, Martin Till, Laverne Voelker, Frank Warda

Those Who Were Injured............................

Edward Buehler, Winston Danarow, James Doucette, Andrew Fiorella, Edward Harrison, Raymond Hartwig, Frank Head, James Herdic, Louis Jakubowski, William Kenny, George Kitta, Steve Kovach, Newton Kranso, Michael Kuzara, Frank Laber, Louis Malinowski, Grace Marlotte, Harry Mills, Clarence Moorhouse, Sager Nebral, Merwin Nellis, Rocco Orioli, Lawrence Preischel, Jack Purnell, Joseph Rosolowski, Geraldine Scott, Thomas Sheppard, Edward Shoemaker, Chester Stubensz, Roman Swiniuch, Truman Taggert, Leon Thompson, Dominic Visone, Raymond Yager

• For the Complete story go to:  It Happened Today - September 11, 1942 - Tragedy At Curtiss-Wright in The Buffalo History Gazette