Corsair Crash in New York (Pics)
Thu Feb 03, 2005 3:14 pm
I stumbled across this today. Does anyone know what became of the wreckage of this Corsair (BuNo. 52927).
more pictures can be found here along with explanations
http://www.postcardpost.com/f4u.htm
Oct. 29, 1946
BOARD PROBES PLANE CRASH,
DEATH OF PILOT
A four man inquiry board left the Rome Army Air Field for the scene of the discovery of a wrecked Corsair Navy plane and the body of its pilot, Lt. Robert L. Hollis, Oneida, a Marine Corps flier who had been missing since Sept. 24, 1945.
The group, consisting of an intelligence officer, Air Corps photographer, aircraft investigation officer and medical officer, headed into the almost inaccessible area in the town of Ohio, Herkimer County, about 5½ miles east of the North Lake road where a party of hunters came upon the wreckage Sunday.
Air field officials said a complete report based on the findings of the investigation group would be turned over to the Marine Corps which has charge of the disposition of the pilot’s body.
The hunters were Herbert Manning, Walter Shulsky, Ronny Boris of Utica, and Joseph Robenaki and William Plete of Hinkley. They estimate that the wreckage was about two miles from Twin Lakes.
Identification of the body was made yesterday, according to word received by his parents, Mr. And Mrs. Charles A. Hollis, 321 Carpenter St., Oneida.
Last month the pilot’s parents mailed circulars throughout the north country asking residents to search the wooded sections of farms and resorts for a blue Navy plane with the lettering FG 92527, which had been missing since Sept. 24, 1945, on a flight from Cherry Point, N.C., to Rome.
Intensive search was made over the Catskill Mountains for the plane in which Lt. Hollis, a Marine fighter pilot, had left Cherry Point en route to surprise his parents on the occasion of their 32nd wedding anniversary last year.
Lieut. Hollis and another Marine flyer, a Lieut. White took off together from Cherry Point, and White was to leave his buddy over the Catskills. White completed his trip to Buffalo and returned as scheduled to the Marine base. Then he was assigned to New York to direct the search.
Hollis was reported at the time to have radioed at 1:45 PM on Sept. 24, 1945, over the Catskills that he was having engine trouble and had only enough gasoline to remain in the air for four hours. Then his fate became a mystery until Sunday.
The hunters went afield from Hinkley about 7 AM Sunday and discovered the plane about two miles from Twin Lakes, usually reached by the way of North Lake road out of Forestport. They said it was late Sunday afternoon when they found the plane and a suitcase. They said the suitcase contained a pilot's license, issued to 2nd Lieut. Robert L. Hollis together with four $1 bills and a check made out to Hollis in September of 1945. After their return home Sunday night, they notified the State Police and the search began yesterday moning.
Lieut. Hollis enlisted in the Marines in June of 1942. He was accepted for the Navy's V-5 course. Further training was received at Middletown Conn., Chapel Hill, N.C., and Peru, Ind. He was commissioned in Pensacola, Fla. in March of 1945. On May 2, 1945, he married Jean Rankin of Port Washington, L.I. He was then assigned to Cherry Point.
(the last paragraph of this article was illegible in the archive)
Thanks
Shay
more pictures can be found here along with explanations
http://www.postcardpost.com/f4u.htm
Oct. 29, 1946
BOARD PROBES PLANE CRASH,
DEATH OF PILOT
A four man inquiry board left the Rome Army Air Field for the scene of the discovery of a wrecked Corsair Navy plane and the body of its pilot, Lt. Robert L. Hollis, Oneida, a Marine Corps flier who had been missing since Sept. 24, 1945.
The group, consisting of an intelligence officer, Air Corps photographer, aircraft investigation officer and medical officer, headed into the almost inaccessible area in the town of Ohio, Herkimer County, about 5½ miles east of the North Lake road where a party of hunters came upon the wreckage Sunday.
Air field officials said a complete report based on the findings of the investigation group would be turned over to the Marine Corps which has charge of the disposition of the pilot’s body.
The hunters were Herbert Manning, Walter Shulsky, Ronny Boris of Utica, and Joseph Robenaki and William Plete of Hinkley. They estimate that the wreckage was about two miles from Twin Lakes.
Identification of the body was made yesterday, according to word received by his parents, Mr. And Mrs. Charles A. Hollis, 321 Carpenter St., Oneida.
Last month the pilot’s parents mailed circulars throughout the north country asking residents to search the wooded sections of farms and resorts for a blue Navy plane with the lettering FG 92527, which had been missing since Sept. 24, 1945, on a flight from Cherry Point, N.C., to Rome.
Intensive search was made over the Catskill Mountains for the plane in which Lt. Hollis, a Marine fighter pilot, had left Cherry Point en route to surprise his parents on the occasion of their 32nd wedding anniversary last year.
Lieut. Hollis and another Marine flyer, a Lieut. White took off together from Cherry Point, and White was to leave his buddy over the Catskills. White completed his trip to Buffalo and returned as scheduled to the Marine base. Then he was assigned to New York to direct the search.
Hollis was reported at the time to have radioed at 1:45 PM on Sept. 24, 1945, over the Catskills that he was having engine trouble and had only enough gasoline to remain in the air for four hours. Then his fate became a mystery until Sunday.
The hunters went afield from Hinkley about 7 AM Sunday and discovered the plane about two miles from Twin Lakes, usually reached by the way of North Lake road out of Forestport. They said it was late Sunday afternoon when they found the plane and a suitcase. They said the suitcase contained a pilot's license, issued to 2nd Lieut. Robert L. Hollis together with four $1 bills and a check made out to Hollis in September of 1945. After their return home Sunday night, they notified the State Police and the search began yesterday moning.
Lieut. Hollis enlisted in the Marines in June of 1942. He was accepted for the Navy's V-5 course. Further training was received at Middletown Conn., Chapel Hill, N.C., and Peru, Ind. He was commissioned in Pensacola, Fla. in March of 1945. On May 2, 1945, he married Jean Rankin of Port Washington, L.I. He was then assigned to Cherry Point.
(the last paragraph of this article was illegible in the archive)
Thanks
Shay
Thu Feb 03, 2005 4:18 pm
Excellent post! 
Bureau Number for the plae appears to be 92527 which would be an FG-1D. I don't have a complete account of stateside crash reports, but I'll take a look at its history card and see if there are any notes.
Bureau Number for the plae appears to be 92527 which would be an FG-1D. I don't have a complete account of stateside crash reports, but I'll take a look at its history card and see if there are any notes.
Thu Feb 03, 2005 4:22 pm
Why would the NYSP want Corsair parts? or is it like other people who grab them and in 6 month toss them out because they don't want the parts anymore?
Does the NHC know the NYSP stole parts of their treasure?
Does the NHC know the NYSP stole parts of their treasure?
Thu Feb 03, 2005 8:56 pm
Don't know who found that one. Have you all looked at Ron Miller's website? He shows a crashed Corsair in Wyoming that evidently the FAA removed! It crashed in the late 40's after buzzing a friend's house. It must've been a reservist.
Chris
Chris
Thu Feb 03, 2005 10:01 pm
can somebody give a more pin point location?? i'm roughly an hour from hinckley (BUZZARD COUNTRY) ohio wrecks are virtually non existent considering the territory, thus i'm very intrigued by this!! in fact i'm going to vegas on a business next week, & was considering doing a wreck chase w/ robb hill in my spare time. maybe i'll save my money!!
Thu Feb 03, 2005 11:16 pm
Rob:
I say post to your heart's content, don't give out names. They can't barge into anyone's house w/o a warrant If NHC wants to do a witch hunt, tell them to go for it. Maybe they will drive themselves insane and quit their job.
I say post to your heart's content, don't give out names. They can't barge into anyone's house w/o a warrant If NHC wants to do a witch hunt, tell them to go for it. Maybe they will drive themselves insane and quit their job.
Fri Feb 04, 2005 12:03 am
No, this is a free country, and I exercise my freedom of speech. If they think they are above the law, tell them to come to my house.
Fri Feb 04, 2005 12:12 am
Ha, Ha!! 
Fri Feb 04, 2005 2:13 am
All I can say is that if the NHC wants to keep sticking their foot in their mouth over a bunch of junk metal that they found and willingly turned their backs on without effecting a recovery some 60 years ago, then they're just asking for yet another Congressman to publically 'out' them for what they really are.
If the NHC wants their junk, ESPECIALLY junk that they have documented and know still exists in small shards somewhere in no man's land, I suggest they redirect the infinitesimally small amount of budget required to organize field trips for their new recruits to pick the stuff up as an educational exercise. Fact is they have no clue and no care about the stuff until some poor hunter brings home the damaged remains of an aileron...then its lawsuit time.
Our Senator from North Carolina had it right. The NHC's self-righteous witch hunts are a blatant waste of tax money and resources, and serve nothing other than to rebuff the NHC's perception of its own ability to control everything within its reach..."government waste run amuck" I believe was the quote. Put the facts in front of ANY legitimate jury and that's all they are ever going to see. If there's no human remains or unsolved case involved, then what you have is little more than a tug of war over a broken toy that someone effectively discarded six decades ago.
The NHC would do better to assemble core groups of experienced civilian volunteers to locate, document, and properly recover these sites as they are found. In the end, civilians seem to be the only one's interested in doing such things just for the experience. Its far too idealistic to think sites like these are going to miraculously be forgotten about the next day just because some flimsy law has been enacted to "protect" the site. Once they are found it's only a matter of time before they are picked clean, and the NHC truthfully does not have the will nor the resorces to stop it unless they diliberately allow the civilian recoverers to do the job for them, THEN levy a lawsuit from behind their desks to claim the prize.
The big rub in the whole matter comes down to the nature of the civilian market which allows these historical items to be recognized as the ultra valuable historical treasures that they are, versus the military market, of which there is none. Just take a look at any cross section of civilian warbirds versus those still in military inventory and you know what I mean. FREE market value is a natural preservative for objects that demand high regard. The absence of market breeds indifference. Why else would the NAVY HISTORICAL CENTER willfully allow its heritage to rot at the depths of oceans, lakes, and jungles in the name of preservation?!? Because it doesn't require one ounce of real effort to make haughty claims; the supposed righteous qualities of which require no action!
How many historic minded people would jump at the chance to recover the substantial remains of a bona fide VF-17 Corsair from the Solomons if the NHC wasn't symbolically camped out next to the crash site waiting to behead anyone who dare disturb its slow return to the elements? We're talking about the only documented combat relic from the US Navy's highest scoring fighter squadron of all time. Knowing that the Navy will continue to have ZERO interest in such things unless someone else finds an interest in them first is all I need to see to understand exactly what the true outlook of the organization is.
I pray for the day when the NHC lays claim to the one thing it truly deserves - the will to actively pursue the TRUE preservation of all the relics still scattered around the world that are otherwise already doomed to destruction. Action like that sure beats the hell out of plotting ways to reclaim our restored and airworthy warbirds through devious loopholes such as the "lineage of ownership" nonsense recently put before Congress.
I'd love nothing more than to know every warbird now at the bottom of Lake Michigan had been squeezed wingtip to wingtip into a preservation hangar somewhere at NAS Pensacola. Hell, I'd pay just to cast my eyes on such a sight! If the NHC needs a stronger budget, then join forces with the civilians who already sink millions into preservation and have them tap their congressmen to direct more money expressly into NHC's recovery / restoration efforts. It beats sueing to reclaim what IS NOT YOURS, which will earn you nothing but overt ridicule, public shame, and empty pockets in the end.
If the NHC wants their junk, ESPECIALLY junk that they have documented and know still exists in small shards somewhere in no man's land, I suggest they redirect the infinitesimally small amount of budget required to organize field trips for their new recruits to pick the stuff up as an educational exercise. Fact is they have no clue and no care about the stuff until some poor hunter brings home the damaged remains of an aileron...then its lawsuit time.
Our Senator from North Carolina had it right. The NHC's self-righteous witch hunts are a blatant waste of tax money and resources, and serve nothing other than to rebuff the NHC's perception of its own ability to control everything within its reach..."government waste run amuck" I believe was the quote. Put the facts in front of ANY legitimate jury and that's all they are ever going to see. If there's no human remains or unsolved case involved, then what you have is little more than a tug of war over a broken toy that someone effectively discarded six decades ago.
The NHC would do better to assemble core groups of experienced civilian volunteers to locate, document, and properly recover these sites as they are found. In the end, civilians seem to be the only one's interested in doing such things just for the experience. Its far too idealistic to think sites like these are going to miraculously be forgotten about the next day just because some flimsy law has been enacted to "protect" the site. Once they are found it's only a matter of time before they are picked clean, and the NHC truthfully does not have the will nor the resorces to stop it unless they diliberately allow the civilian recoverers to do the job for them, THEN levy a lawsuit from behind their desks to claim the prize.
The big rub in the whole matter comes down to the nature of the civilian market which allows these historical items to be recognized as the ultra valuable historical treasures that they are, versus the military market, of which there is none. Just take a look at any cross section of civilian warbirds versus those still in military inventory and you know what I mean. FREE market value is a natural preservative for objects that demand high regard. The absence of market breeds indifference. Why else would the NAVY HISTORICAL CENTER willfully allow its heritage to rot at the depths of oceans, lakes, and jungles in the name of preservation?!? Because it doesn't require one ounce of real effort to make haughty claims; the supposed righteous qualities of which require no action!
How many historic minded people would jump at the chance to recover the substantial remains of a bona fide VF-17 Corsair from the Solomons if the NHC wasn't symbolically camped out next to the crash site waiting to behead anyone who dare disturb its slow return to the elements? We're talking about the only documented combat relic from the US Navy's highest scoring fighter squadron of all time. Knowing that the Navy will continue to have ZERO interest in such things unless someone else finds an interest in them first is all I need to see to understand exactly what the true outlook of the organization is.
I pray for the day when the NHC lays claim to the one thing it truly deserves - the will to actively pursue the TRUE preservation of all the relics still scattered around the world that are otherwise already doomed to destruction. Action like that sure beats the hell out of plotting ways to reclaim our restored and airworthy warbirds through devious loopholes such as the "lineage of ownership" nonsense recently put before Congress.
I'd love nothing more than to know every warbird now at the bottom of Lake Michigan had been squeezed wingtip to wingtip into a preservation hangar somewhere at NAS Pensacola. Hell, I'd pay just to cast my eyes on such a sight! If the NHC needs a stronger budget, then join forces with the civilians who already sink millions into preservation and have them tap their congressmen to direct more money expressly into NHC's recovery / restoration efforts. It beats sueing to reclaim what IS NOT YOURS, which will earn you nothing but overt ridicule, public shame, and empty pockets in the end.
Fri Feb 04, 2005 2:59 am
Rob
Extremely well put . Just one thing.....can you tell us what you really think?
Dave
Extremely well put . Just one thing.....can you tell us what you really think?
Dave
Remember, The Village People didn't write....
Fri Feb 04, 2005 3:21 am
..."In the Army," or "In the Air Force," or "In the Marines..."
They performed "In the Navy!"
How prescient of them....
They performed "In the Navy!"
How prescient of them....
Fri Feb 04, 2005 11:34 am
They performed "In the Navy!"
Ha Ha, Village People?
Fri Feb 04, 2005 2:57 pm
rob you are on target 100 %. very well thought reply
Fri Feb 04, 2005 4:34 pm
tom d. friedman wrote:can somebody give a more pin point location?? i'm roughly an hour from hinckley (BUZZARD COUNTRY) ohio
Tom,
I must not be too far from you (I'm in Akron) but I see nothing about Hinckley in the article. I see town of Ohio in New York state.
Confused as always,
Jim
Fri Feb 04, 2005 4:37 pm
Yes, it is referring to a town in NY State.