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Ed Talbott | all galleries >> Galleries >> P-51 Mustang Crash Site - Beartown Wilderness Area, Virginia > March 23, 1954 Article
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23-MAR-1954

March 23, 1954 Article

‘Copter Lifts Flier’s Body
Bristol Herald Courier
Tuesday, March 23, 1954

Tazewell, Virginia: An Air Force team from Langley Air Base went into rugged Burke’s Garden section by helicopter today to investigate the crash of an F-51 fighter plane in which a Lansing, Michigan, pilot died.

The body of pilot, Lt. R. B. Smith of the Michigan Air National Guard, was placed on an Air Force plane which left for Michigan this afternoon, a Tazewell funeral home spokesman said.

But Air Force personnel conducting the investigation said any information turned up would have to be cleared through Langley AFB before release.

A state policeman said the battered remains of the speedy fighter were being painted yellow to distinguish the wreckage in any future search of the area for another downed plane.


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david sluss 30-Sep-2012 19:30
i think my grandfather was also there he was the captian fo the civil air patrol paul puckett was his name i can remember him talking about it
Jim 05-Oct-2011 14:37
I was at the crash site in 1954. The mountain was rugged and no trails. The pilot had just been taken out. The big Rolls Royce engine was laying in a ravine with a hole in the side. We brought a machine gun and aleron down. The barrel was bent and would never fire again. The aleron laid in the garage for years and I don't know what happened to it.
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