9-10-1943 Training Accident - Bowman Field

Mike:

I will give you hereinafter a complete rundown on my aircraft accident at Bowman Field and the part that your dad played.

On Friday, 10 September 1943, 30 light aircraft took off in trail from Bowman Field, Louisville, Kentucky, on
a round robin flight to Lexington, Kentucky. It was to simulate a glider mission, but wasn't all that realistic in my opinion. We flew both legs of the round robin at 1,500 feet. The flight to Lexington was uneventful.
However on the return leg disaster struck. Two glider pilots flying ahead of me collided during a left turn, doing major damage to both aircraft and they spun towards earth. The two pilots, Flights Officers Harold Roth and Robert Sutherlin, managed to exit their airplanes, but we too close to the ground for the parachutes to open. Only the pilot chutes popped out. Both Roth and Sutherlin died from blunt force trauma on impact with the ground.

I was flying in the second aircraft behind the two and saw the whole event unfold. As the two planes were
spinning to earth I peeled off and followed them down hoping to see them recover and land. I saw both Roth and Sutherlin bail out but in the excitement I didn't see whether the chutes opened or not. As I buzzed the field about 20 feet above the ground hoping to see that both pilots were okay, I reached up and grabbed what I thought was the throttle, but instead I grabbed the elevator trim tab. As I showed it forward the aircraft plowed into the ground at 120 mph.

I was flying and aircraft type that I hated. It was the new Taylorcraft L-2A with the recently introduced push-pull elevator trim tab mounted just above the throttle. The knob on it looked exactly like the throttle knob. I
had complained previously that the aircraft was dangerous. If you pushed forward on the trim tab the nose
dropped sharply and if you pulled back on it the nose of the aircraft rose. It was the only light aircraft that used that system which was eventually scrapped in favor of the crank type elevator trim tab after a rash of crashes.
Of course, the accident was classified as pilot error. I told you erroneously that I hit a power line which was incorrect. I went back and reviewed my records and I guess I was thinking about the aircraft accident your dad and James McNally were involved in.

When you dad saw my aircraft crash he peeled and landed in a nearby field, as did two other guys. Your
dad rushed over to my aircraft to see if I was alive. The impact had pushed the hot engine into my lap and both overhead gas tanks had ruptured and soaked me with aviation fuel. For reasons known only to God the plane
didn't catch fire. Of course, I was unconscious, and remained so for two days from a concussion when me head hit the instrument panel. The landing gear was wiped out and the tail section was bent upward and ended up on top of the fuselage just aft of the cockpit. The aircraft was totaled.

When your dad and the other two glider pilots arrived they found people standing near the aircraft smoking.
We all were armed with Colt .45 caliber M1911A automatics. Chuck drew his weapon so I was told and ordered
the crowd that had gathered out of the immediate area. Two farmers had been trying to extract me from the cockpit unsuccessfully. The engine had me pinned down. It took your dad and his helpers about half an hour to get me out of the aircraft. They laid me on the ground away from the aircraft. Someone had phoned Bowman Field and requested an ambulance. When the ambulance arrived the doctor that accompanied the ambulance
Examined me and started an IV to prevent shock. He stabilized me and I was then placed in the ambulance. Your dad accompanied me to the hospital in the ambulance. I was covered with cuts and abrasions and some deep penetrating wounds in my legs. I had amnesia for six months. I couldn't remember a thing about the accident.

Just a week or so later my squadron in which your dad was also a member was transferred to Laurinburg-
Maxton Army Air Base for tactical training in gliders. I remained in the station hospital at Bowman for three
months flat of my back, and was then transferred to Nichols General Hospital in Louisville. I remained there
for six months while they tried to reconstruct my crushed right foot with additional surgery. After Nichols General Hospital I was transferred to a rehabilitation hospital in Nashville, Tennessee, for two months. All total I was in the hospital for 11 months. I walked with a limp for five years, but I was returned to flying status in September 1944, but I still had to go through tactical training at Laurinburg-Maxton AAB before going overseas. I completed tactical training in February 1945, but by that time the war was essentially over. The
last glider mission was in March 1945. From LMAAB I was sent to Sedalia, Missouri, and Blytheville, Arkansas where I instructed C-47 and C-46 pilot to fly the Waco CG-4A. I finally got overseas in late 1945
And ended up flying copilot on B-17s photographing Europe and Africa.

And so ends my tale.


Leon Spencer

June 14, 2007