Charles Dodson of Blain RR 1 is a retired Air Force lieutenant colonel. So it isn’t surprising he has a keen interest in aviation, including airplane crashes and the people who perished.
Dodson, 84, recently assisted Wendel Smith of Stony Point, Loysville, in erecting a monument to remember a fatal military plane crash on the Conococheague Mountain in 1941.
Another fatal crash involving a military plane occurred closer to Dodson’s home on Back Hollow Road on Oct. 26, 1956, after the Korean War. “I learned about it from local people,” said Dodson. “They knew I had been in the Air Force and was interested in aviation.”
John McKeehan of Blain RR 1 (who died in 2005) had two photos dated Nov. 4, 1956. One shot was of the plane’s fuselage and the other of the site on the north side of the Blue Mountain in the region of Three Square Hollow in Toboyne Twp.
The photo of the fuselage was published in “Footprints,” Blain’s commemorative book celebrating the town’s bicentennial in 1963.
The crash site is in the Tuscarora State Forest, and it was Bureau of Forestry personnel who located where the plane went down, Dodson said.
The following was taken from the Air Force’s narrative description of the flight and subsequent crash.
“Air Force aircraft number 51-8026 departed Sewart Air Force Base, Tenn. at [9:17 a.m.] on Oct. 26, 1956 via airways to Olmsted Air Force Base, [Middletown] Penn. on a cargo airlift mission.
“The gross weight on takeoff was 63,152 lbs. with a C.G. position of 26.8% MAC which is within authorized limits.
“After a routine flight, the aircraft reported over Altoona, Penn. at 9,000 feet with an estimate of [1:30 p.m.] at Harrisburg. The pilot was cleared to descend en route and was cleared for approach at [1:48 p.m.]
The weather at Olmsted Air Force Base at [1 p.m.] was reported as 1,300 scattered with 2,200 overcast and a visibility of 14 miles. This weather was fluctuating rapidly in rain and fog and, at the time the aircraft passed over the field, was below minimum with one-half mile visibility in fog.
“At [2 p.m.] the pilot reported a missed approach and was cleared to the Lancaster beacon. He was further cleared to climb to 5,000 feet and gave an estimate at Lancaster of [2:14 p.m.].
“Olmsted Air Force Base was reported to be then above minimums and the pilot requested another approach. He was cleared to the Harrisburg omni at 6,000 feet and left Lancaster at [2:26 p.m.], estimating Harrisburg at [2:40 p.m.] His clearance was changed en route to hold west of the New Kingston Fan Marker and he arrived, over the New Kingston Fan Marker at [2:38 p.m.] at 4,000 feet.
“After holding he was cleared to descend to 3,000 feet and left 4,000 feet at [2:40 p.m.] At [3:06 p.m.] he was cleared for a straight-in approach from New Kingston Fan Marker to the Olmsted airport. At [3:09 p.m.] he reported leaving the New Kingston Fan Marker inbound and at [3:11 p.m.] he reported leaving 3,000 feet.
“The aircraft crashed in mountainous terrain 22.5 nautical mile west of the Kingston Fan Marker at approximately [3:15 p.m.]”
Visibility at the time of the crash was 0, according to the Air Force’s report. The C-119G carrier had four crew members aboard. They were: 1st Lt. Robert Siegfried Hantsch, the pilot; 2nd Lt. Walter Beverly Gordon Jr., co-pilot; Tech. Sgt. Marvin W. Seigler, crew chief and flight engineer; and 1st Lt. Gracye E. Young, flight nurse.
It took Dodson about a year to complete the project. He corresponded with the National Personnel Center in St. Louis, Mo. and other government agencies and made trips to the State Library in Harrisburg, which he said was very helpful. He has amassed a notebook full of documentation.
A plaque was mounted on a large mountain stone along Three Square Hollow Road, not far from the crash site. The Bureau of Forestry installed steps leading the monument. Information etched on the plaque includes the names of the flight crew, date and site of crash, mission and flight plan, a picture of the plane and a map of the area.
Dodson has not closed the book on his project. He has yet to locate relatives of the victims.
“They lost their lives in the duty to their country,” he said in explaining his effort to never forget them or what happened a half-century ago in a remote, mountainous area of Tuscarora State Forest.