Part I
A mid air collision by two C-119
aircraft near Clinton County A.F.B. took the lives of 17. Two survive
Nine C-119s
with their Green Berets and other passengers were returning to [Clinton County
Air Force Base] base in close formation at 8:53 p.m. when things went wrong.
Seventeen men were killed and two C-119 transport planes
destroyed near the Warren [Clinton] County hamlet of Melvin, 10 miles from the
Wilmington base.
Among the
dead was Lt. Donald B. Becker, brother of Mrs. Robert B. Smith of Miracle Mile
in Springfield.
The news
reports said that S.Sgt. Zugelder, then 37, was in fair condition at Clinton
Memorial Hospital “with two broken shoulder blades, a broken nose, fractured
clavicle, along with cuts and bruises.”
The other
survivor, Sgt. 1st Class William Kremer, “a 32-year-old Columbus fireman in
civilian life, was found wandering about a plowed field in a dazed condition,”
a story added. Kremer “later reported that he was sitting on the left side of
the plane near the exit door when ‘all at once, I was sitting outside in the
darkness with the feeling of falling, the wind going past my ears.’”
Zugelder
recalled that as it entered clouds, his plane was in a three-plane formation.
Once inside the clouds, the plane in front “lost reference,”
went to instrument flight and leveled off, he said. “That took us right into
their wing. From that point on, for the next minute, maybe, I don’t remember
what happened.”
In the accident report, Zugelder learned the windshield of his
plane struck the outboard flap of the plane in front, peeling off the top of
his aircraft.
That apparently catapulted Zugelder and Kremer into thin air, as
Kremer described in the newspaper story.
“The next thing I knew,” Zugelder said, “I could feel pressure
from my legs from the parachute, and I could see my parachute collapse on the
ground.”
Just as he has forgotten everything else in those moments, he
doesn’t remember pulling the D-ring to open his parachute. His survival
suggests he must have.
Grunting pigs
“From where I
was on the ground, I could see the other wreckage burning,” Zugelder said. He
also could hear pigs “rooting in their feeders” nearby.
A field
ambulance took Zugelder to a civilian ambulance parked on a nearby road, and he
was whisked to the hospital. There followed a 12-week recovery. http://www.springfieldnewssun.com/news/lifestyles/looking-back-man-survived-plane-crash-he-cant-reme/nNqsn/
Part II
UFO Story
On 07 January 1948 newspapers across the
U.S. carried headlines similar to theLouisville Courier: "F-51 and Capt. Mantell Destroyed Chasing Flying
Saucer." The "Mantell Incident" was the most thoroughly
investigated sighting of that time. Captain Thomas Mantell died trying to reach
a Skyhook balloon, launched from Clinton County AFB. He didn't know that he was
chasing a balloon because he had never heard of the huge, 100-foot-diameter
skyhook balloons, let alone seen one. Mantell's death was ultimately caused by
the hype over UFOs, which no doubt caused him to chase after it at all costs.
Researched & edited by Paul Hunter (contact at paulhunter45177@gmail.com
.
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