Missionary Ridge Plane Crash

1 was 5 years old when i seen the b25 coming from the north 1 engine was on fire.

sorry i said25 it was a 24 but i seen it go over my house i was outside playing

buds was on main and archie williams owned it

Yes I remember Bud's after it moved to Main just off of Dodds. But in the early 50s it was up by Smith Bros drug store--and was a much smaller place. I think I might have a pic somewhere

misschatta wrote:

Yes I remember Bud's after it moved to Main just off of Dodds. But in the early 50s it was up by Smith Bros drug store--and was a much smaller place. I think I might have a pic somewhere

Buds was owned by Bud Phillips, and his son Mike was in my class at Central (1959) He also had a daughter named Lynn and she was about 4 or 5 years younger. I bought the bumper pool table that was in Buds when it was on Main St. from Mikes mom after Bud passed away and still have it. Smith Bros. was at the corner of 14th and Dodds and was owned by Don (Hoot) and John Smith. John passed away years ago, and I still see Hoot occasionally. Johnny Williams had a restaurant down passed the old firehall, and it was called the MadeRite restaurant. Later the MadeRite Sandwich Co. opened across the street, but Johnny didn't have anything to do with it. Leon Payne bought Buds when it was still on Main St. and he was married to Lynn Phillips, Buds daughter. I can remember much more about the people and places of these times as I was right there every day.

biggbear44 wrote:

buds was on main and archie williams owned it

Archie Williams son Johnny (Cowart) Williams never owned Buds but he did build the building on Main St. and moved his restaurant (The Maderite) from Dodds Ave. to Main St. After a short stay there he closed and Buds moved in. Archie may have owned the building but he never owned Buds.

Does anyone know if it was the Ahern's old house that was hit by the plane?

Robert Richey wrote:

<quoted text>.
Buds was owned by Bud Phillips, and his son Mike was in my class at Central (1959) He also had a daughter named Lynn and she was about 4 or 5 years younger. I bought the bumper pool table that was in Buds when it was on Main St. from Mikes mom after Bud passed away and still have it. Smith Bros. was at the corner of 14th and Dodds and was owned by Don (Hoot) and John Smith. John passed away years ago, and I still see Hoot occasionally. Johnny Williams had a restaurant down passed the old firehall, and it was called the MadeRite restaurant. Later the MadeRite Sandwich Co. opened across the street, but Johnny didn't have anything to do with it. Leon Payne bought Buds when it was still on Main St. and he was married to Lynn Phillips, Buds daughter. I can remember much more about the people and places of these times as I was right there every day.

!!Thanks for the memories! My first husband was a friend of Bud's and we knew him also at the VFW house in Ft Wood. some good times there too in the 50's

I read some interesting data in a book I'm now reading (Unbroken, by Laura Hillenbrand) involving WWII aircraft. In WWII 35,933 aircraft were lost in combat and accidents. In the air corps, 35,946 personnel died in nonbattle situations, the vast majority of them in accidental crashes. In 1943 in the Pacific Ocean Areas theater of one of the crews in this book , for every plane lost in combat, some six planes were lost in accidents. A report issued by the AAF suggests that in the 15th Air Force, between Nov. 1, 1943 and May 25, 1945, 70% of men listed as killed in action died in operational aircraft accidents, not as a result of enemy action. I personally had two older first cousins, brothers, in the AAF during WWII one of who was killed in a non combat accident and the other shot down and captured and was held in a POW camp until wars end. I can remember having a big picnic at one of our uncles farm when he returned. That was a long time ago but one thing I know for sure is that they were definitely America's greatest generation.

That is interesting. Casualty figures for the 8th Air Force (the most heavily engaged) are all over the lot, from 26,000 to 80,000, depending on sources. So I guess it depends on hosw they are accounted for.

Back then they had very few navigation aids; bad weather could fefinitely be deadly.

Walt

I live in the house on North Crest Road where the B-24 Liberator crashed. I have the newspaper photo and story. It did not take off the portico, which is on the other end of the house. The right wing hit the columns of the front porch and knocked them down. The porch roof was then removed and not replaced, something I plan to do. The third floor was a ballroom but after the crash became an attic. There is still some chared wood there. No one bailed out of the plane and three of it's four occupants were killed.
The second crash was the William E. Blair crash and I think all of the crew did get out. Not sure how many made it. The first crash, January 1944, was weather related.

The Blair crash was the one where one guy landed in the yard at Ridgedale Elementary School. Blair was considered a hero in that he stayed on the plane and got it farther away from the city. Since you live on the Ridge you are probably aware that the VFW post in East Ridge is named for him and there is a marker with that information on it. I was in high school in Chattanooga when this one happened and we climbed the ridge to the crash site

@J Pat Williams, I have some pictures of the attic and the charred rafters. I was called to do some remodeling a few yrs ago and heard the story for the first time. That's when I started this topic. Nice to finally meet someone who knows the house and story personally.

That marker at the VFW used to stand in front of Ridgedale Elementary school. I attended 1st and 2nd grade there in 1961-2. We all heard about Captain Blair.

We lived at 1313 Lyerly St.

Walt