wingedone

The fatal plane crash of a US Army Air Corps Consolidated PT-1 Trusty (Air Corps Serial No. AC 27-157) at Montpelier, Vermont, on November 14, 1927. The aircraft, piloted by Lt. Franklin C. Wolfe (USAAC), was carrying civil engineer Reuben B. Sleight (June 30, 1889 - November 14, 1927), an assistant to (then) Secretary of Commerce, Herbert Hoover, as a passenger. Sleight was dispatched to the Montpelier area to investigate flood conditions in the area. The aircraft flying in low-visibility, foggy conditions, attempted to land at Montpelier Field when it flew into terrain, flipping over, killing Sleight and seriously injuring Lt. Wolfe. Source: "He Didn't Know of His Greatest Achievement," University of Michigan, The Michigan Alumnus, Vol. 36, No. 35 (August 16, 1930), p. 718. See also: www.findagrave.com/memorial/6071518/reuben-benjamin-sleight Franklin C. Wolfe (October 4, 1902 - July 21, 1965) would recover and go on to have a distinguished career as an aviator and officer, (serving as the assistant chief and then chief of the Armament Laboratory of the Army Air Forces Materiel Command at Wright Field, from 1939-1944), and industrialist, founding the Franklin C. Wolfe Company (a maker of aircraft components, which was acquired in 1957, by what would become Parker Hannifin Corporation). The Daedalian Foundation's Daedalian Weapon System Award, The Col. Franklin C. Wolfe Memorial Trophy, is named in his honor. See: www.findagrave.com/memorial/49337577/franklin-calhoun-wolfe valor.militarytimes.com/hero/5919 www.daedalians.org/programs/national-and-service-level-aw...

Curtiss O-1?