By Jaymie Bricker
A dedication ceremony was held on Monday at Mabry’s Mill in Meadows of Dan to the mark Oct. 1 1944 crash of a B-17 bomber flight.
The plane circled Mabry’s Mill twice before it crashed, officials said.
Sandra Warren, of Michigan and author of “We Bought a WWII Bomber,” attended the ceremony. She said the pilot told her there were eight other stateside crashes on the same day, some 74 years ago.
The pilot of the B-17 in Meadows of Dan, Capt. Streadbeck, ordered his men to bail, Warren said. She added that his men were the only ones to survive.
First called a “flying fortress,” the plane had 15 caliber guns and the standard crew was 10, John Reynolds, of the Patrick County Historical Society, said. This crew included six men, due to the lack of need for gunmen, according to Reynolds.
Four of the six survivors landed about 14 miles away in nearby Willis.
One of the men, Maj. Michael Hogan, told Warren that he “never saw the ground until he hit it.”
Another, a first lieutenant, walked an hour and a half until he found a home to stop by. The home is now believed to be that of Jesse and Una Slaughter, of Willis, Warren said.
The Slaughters gathered people together to go out and search for the remaining three survivors, she added.
Warren said the historical plane crash is unique because it “is the symbolism of patriotism that permeated WWII.”
The airmen in the craft were extremely supported by the community and people went out of their way to help them, Warren said.
Although it was a time of rationing, a lot of different people came together at the time, she added.
Students at South High School in Michigan were among those to participate in a ‘Buy a Bomber’ program, Warren said.
She added the students “raised over $300,000 in two weeks time,” which is the “equivalent to $4 million today” to buy the plane.
The students named the Bomber “The Spirit of South High,” and dedicated it on April 6, 1943. After takeoff, the students didn’t know the fate of the craft.
Some artifacts also were on display at the ceremony.
Aaron Alexander was 7- years- old when he found an old fuel pump at the crash site.
He “stuffed it under his coat” and used it as a “paper weight,” Warren said, adding that he kept the item for 70 years until donating it to the Patrick County Historical Society after Warren’s book was released.
Reynolds said that fewer than 15 B-17 bombers that have been restored and are still flying.
