Aviation History: I'll see you in hell! Traditional Cache
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Aviation History: I'll see you in hell!
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The location of the cache is as geographically near to the actual crash site as I could locate. Newspaper articles at the time put the location of the crash about a half mile east of the intersection of the Palouse Highway and Regal Street. Before Shopko came to Spokane the intersection referenced here was just slightly southwest of this location.
Aviation History: I'll see you in hell!
Ford Tri-Motor Aircraft. Photographed at Felts Field.
On November 23, 1928 a Ford Tri-Motor airplane, owned by Spokane Airways, crashed on a return trip from Colfax, WA, killing five of the 6 people on board. The following quote is from the only survivor, Rex Heath, as recorded in the afternoon newspaper, the Spokane Daily Chronicle, printed just hours after the crash. “Swede Enarson,” who is always joking, leaned over to me and said “Well, Rex boy, it looks a little bad. I’ll see you in hell.” Moments later the plane crashed into the ground. The broken bits of the plane and the mangled passengers were scattered over a several acre area.
Dead: (1) Pilot Lt. William H Williams (age 34), pilot for Spokane Airways and a Lieutenant in the National Guard. (2) Co-pilot Louis Norwell DeBurger, Ford Factory Aircraft Mechanic, from Detroit, Michigan and Indiana. (3) Arthur G. “Swede” Enarson, Business Manager for Mamer Flying Service. (4) Kenneth I. Dunlop (age 24), bank bookkeeper and Sergeant in the 116th observation squadron of the National Guard. (5) David R. Mitchell, Standard Oil Gas employee of Spokane. Surviving: Rex Heath, Business Manager for Spokane Airways, Inc.
In the hospital Rex Heath expressed his respect and admiration for his friend Lt. Williams. “Oh, if it could only have been me instead of Bill,” Heath said several times. “It seems that all the good men have to get bumped off. No one will ever say that Bill Williams wasn’t a good pilot, but good pilots can’t do anything in that kind of fog."
The Ford Tri-Motor was piloted by Lieutenant William H. Williams, one of two pilots employed at Spokane Airways. During the previous month Williams participated in flight training for the Tri-Motor at the Ford manufacturing facility in Dearborn, Michigan. Upon completion of his training he took delivery of the newly manufactured $45,000 plane on November 9, 1928 and flew it with 11 passengers, including mechanic Louis DeBurger, from Michigan to Spokane.
The new aircraft flew to Colfax the day before the accident to help in the celebration and dedication of the new Colfax airfield. That 60 mile trip was the first flight out of Spokane for the Tri-Motor aircraft. On Friday, the next morning, Williams piloted the aircraft down the new air strip and took off into a clear blue sky for the return trip to Spokane. One at a time, the other five planes visiting from Spokane also lifted off into the beautiful autumn sky. As the big Tri-Motor passed Steptoe Butte and then the small town of Oaksdale the fog started to cover the ground. Confident that they would be able to find Felts Field, Spokane’s only airport at that time, they continued on their way. Residents of Moran Prairie, a farming area at the time, said they had never seen fog as thick as it was that morning. They could hear the plane circling around and around trying to find a clearing in the sky allowing them to fly down into the Spokane River Valley where the air field was located. One of the returning planes eventually reached Felts Field safely. Four other planes turned around and returned to Colfax. Williams, not a pilot to give up easily, was determined to find that elusive hole in the fog. Unfortunately, he did not. The brand new Ford Tri-Motor found its final resting place in a potato field on the Prairie. Williams was killed instantly as he was thrown through the windshield when the big plane struck the ground. DeBurger, Enarson and Dunlop died at the emergency room or shortly thereafter at St Luke’s Hospital. Mitchell died within a day or so at Sacred Heart Hospital after having his lower leg amputated. Rex Heath was the sole survivor.
Williams had a record of over 5,000 hours in the air and earlier in the week he remarked to a friend that he had already spent more hours in the air than the average flyer survived. Whether he had a premonition of disaster is not known, but he was a fearless flyer, had been shot down in France, and was credited with shooting down several enemy aircraft during the World War I. Although he was a careful flyer he was never one to turn back when he felt his judgment warranted continuing. Lieutenant William was 34 years old and a native of Wales. He joined the British forces during the war and was attached to the Royal Air Force as pilot. He had a notable service record and was considered an exceptionally able aviator. In Spokane he was a pilot in the Washington National Guard and he was employed as pilot for the Spokane Airways, the company that purchased the Ford Tri-motor aircraft.
In his profound grief Rex Heath still had praise for Williams: “I begged him not to try it and asked him to turn back to Colfax but Williams, a splendid flyer, felt he would find a hole in the murk all right......”
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
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