On 4 December 1953, in bad weather, a small plane carrying four New Jerseyans, crashed into the mountain south of Williamstown, Dauphin County, Pennsylvania, killing all aboard. Following an investigation by the Civil Aeronautics Board in Washington, D.C., it was concluded that the right wing of the plane fell off in mid-air causing the plane to go out of control and crash into the mountain.
The accident was widely reported in press.
_________________________________
From the Lebanon Daily News, 7 December 1953, the caption for the photo (above):
Coroner’s aides are shown removing parts of charred bodies and other debris from the wreckage of the plane which crashed Friday morning northwest of the Lebanon County line, claiming four lives. The investigation into the cause of the crash was halted by the excessive rains in the area yesterday, but is due to be continued today by Civil Aeronautics authorities. The tree occupants of the plane, and the pilot, were returning to New Jersey from a meeting in Columbus, Ohio, when the plane crash occurred. Cadets of Civil Air Patrol Squadron 807 of Pine Grove, assisted in the search for the plane and in guarding the wreckage and bodies until investigators were on the scene.
_________________________________
From the Lebanon Daily News, 7 December 1953:
Rain Halts Probe Into Plane Crash Fatal To Four
Rain on Sunday halted investigation of the plane crash which took the lives of four persons four miles west of Tower City on Stony Mountain in Upper Dauphin County Friday afternoon. Cpl. Earl S. Moore of the Lykens sub-station, and Eugene Searle, special investigator for the Safety Bureau of the the Civil Aeronautics Board from Idlewild Airport, New York, are expected to continue the investigation today. A representative of the Beech Aircraft Corporation, of Wichita, Kansas, manufacturers of the plane, is also expected to arrive today to aid.
Those killed in the crash were Frederick S. Gross, 28, Cedar Knolls, New Jersey, whose body was found about 65 feet from the plane; Leonard J. Cleminshaw, 49, Short Hills, New Jersey; his brother, James M. Cleminshaw, of Farmington, Connecticut, and their sister, Mrs. Evelyn C. Archer, 45, of Hokokus, New Jersey. The bodies of the Cleminshaw brothers and sister were burned almost beyond recognition.
On duty for hours at a time during the search for the plane, after first reports of the crash came Friday afternoon from hunters, were boys from the Civil Air Patrol Squadron No. 807 of Pine Grove. Daniel Swisher was in charge of cadets going up the mountain, and other groups of cadets stood guard over the wreckage and the bodies of the crash victim. Kemper’s Tavern, located on a road about two miles from the crash site, was praised by Lt. Edward Strouphour, commanding officer of the Squadron, for furnishing approximately 300 cups of coffee and foods for the cadets on duty.
Ranger teams from Pine Grove, Ashland, and Allentown also aided in the search parties.
According to police the Cleminshaw brothers were partners in the J. M. Cleminshaw Company, of Cleveland, Ohio, and did tax revaluation work in New Jersey, New York, and Connecticut. The party was reported returning to Hartford, Connecticut, from an auditors convention in Columbus, Ohio.
Following reports Friday afternoon from several hunters that they hears a plane in trouble, and an explosion, brought scores of searchers to the scene. Led by State Police and the Civil Air Patrol cadets, the party included newspapermen, doctors and nurses.
Following an all-night search in the mountains the searching party reached the plane at noon Saturday. The bodies were brought down the mountain and taken to a funeral home in Elizabethville.
___________________________________
From the Pottsville Republican, 7 December 1953:
Probe Plane Crash In Which 4 Died
WILLIAMSTOWN, Pennsylvania – The Civil Aeronautics Administration opened an investigation today into the cause of the plane crash in Dauphin County which killed three men and a woman.
CAA investigators searched through the mountain area for clues that might determine why the private plane crashed with death to all aboard.
Parts of the private plane and charred bodies of the victims were found Saturday on Peters Mountain after an overnight search.
Cpl. Earl Moore, aviation expert of the Pennsylvania State Police, said that while the bodies were badly charred the identity of the victims was established as Leonard J. Cleminshaw, 49, Short Hills, New Jersey; his brother, James M. Cleminshaw, 56, of Farmington, Connecticut; their sister, Mrs. Evelyn C. Archer, 45, Hohokus, New Jersey; and Frederick S. Gross, 28, Cedar Knolls, New Jersey. The latter was the pilot of the plane.
The party was returning to Hartford, Connecticut, via Morristown, New Jersey, from an auditors’ convention in Columbus, Ohio.
Officers of the Pinegrove Civil Air Patrol were alerted and they detailed a guard to keep watch over the parts of the plane until CAA investigation is completed.
It was the first assignment of this kind since the Pinegrove unit was organized.
___________________________________
From the Elizabethville Echo, 10 December 1953:
Four Die In Plane Crash On Mountain
Four persons died when their plane crashed into the side of Stony Mountain, south of Tower City, during rain and fog, Friday afternoon.
The victims were identified as James M. Cleminshaw, Farmington, Connecticut; his brother, Leonard J. Cleminshaw of Short Hills, New Jersey; their sister, Mrs. Evelyn C. Archer of Hokokus, New Jersey; and Frederick C. Gross of Cedar Knolls, New Jersey, pilot of the plane.
Police stated the Cleminshaw brothers were members of the J. M. Cleminshaw Company, Cleveland, Ohio, a tax appraisal and revaluation firm. Members of the group, it was stated, were returning to Hartford, Connecticut, after attending an auditors’ convention in Columbus, Ohio.
A search was started Friday when deer hunters in the Clarks Valley area reported they heard the sound of a crashing plane on Stony Mountain about 4:00 p.m.
Police were joined by hunters and residents of the area in the search.
First evidence of the crash, a piece of the plane’s tail section, was found Saturday morning by Rober Moyer of Reinterton. Shortly before noon, Arthur Bixler and John Bixler of Muir, reported they had discovered the wrecked plane and several bodies. The scene was near the top of the mountain about two miles from where a piece of the tail section had been found.
Members of the rescue party found additional pieces of the plane as they ascended the wooded mountain slope, and Mrs. Archer’s purse was discovered about a half mile from the scene of the crash.
Bodies of the victims were carried down the mountainside to the Clarks Valley Highway, and were removed to the Buffington Funeral Home, Elizabethville.
On Sunday, the body of Gross, the pilot, was taken to a funeral home in Morristown, New Jersey, and the bodies of the Cleminshaw brothers and their sister, Mrs. Archer, were taken to a funeral home in Ridgewood, New Jersey.
_________________________________
From the Lykens Standard, 11 December 1953:
Plane Crashes on Stony Mountain Last Friday; Report Ready
A report on the investigation of the plane crash, which claimed four lives last Friday on Stony Mountain in Upper Dauphin County, is not expected to be submitted by the investigators for the next week or 10 days.
Although the men conducting the probe completed their work in the vicinity of the crash above Clarks Valley Tuesday, the findings will not be revealed until more study is given to them at the Montoursville State Police barracks, where the official report will be submitted to the State Aeronautics Board.
Cpl. Earl Moore, aeronautics specialist at Montoursville, came to Harrisburg Tuesday with Eugene Searle, special investigator for the Safety Bureau of the Civil Aeronautics Board, with headquarters at Idlewild Airport in New York, but both men will review the case further at Montoursville before giving their decision.
Killed in the crash were Frederick S. Gross, 28, Cedar Knolls, New Jersey, the pilot; Leonard J. Clemenshaw, 49, Short Hills, New Jersey; his brother, James M. Cleminshaw, of Farmington, Connecticut; their sister, Mrs. Evelyn C. Archer, 45, of Hobokus, New Jersey.
The Cleminshaw brothers, police said, were partners in the J. M. Cleminshaw Company, of Cleveland, Ohio, and did tax revaluation work in New Jersey, New York and Connecticut. The party was returning to Hartford, Connecticut, from an auditors’ convention in Columbus, Ohio.
Cpl. Moore, aviation expert of the State Police said that three of the bodies were burned beyond recognition. The body of the pilot had been thrown clear of the plane as it ploughed thru the trees in crashing.
Hunters Find Wreck
The first reports of the crash came Friday afternoon from hunters who said they heard an explosion in the vicinity of Williamstown. A search through the mountain land was led by State Police, and the party included newspapermen, doctors and nurses.
The searching party met two hunters at 11 a.m. Saturday after an all night search and were told the men, John Bixler and Arthur Bixler, of Muir, had been to the wreckage of the plane and that the passengers were dead.
The searching party continued on to the scene, reaching the plane at noon, after covering heavily wooded areas. The bodies were brought down the mountain to the funeral home in Elizabethville.
Monday morning the body of Gross, the pilot was taken to the Lanterman Funeral Home…. Bodies of the Cleminshaw brothers and Mrs. Archer were taken to the C. C. VanImburgh Funeral Home in Ridgewood, New Jersey.
________________________________
From the Pottsville Republican, 24 March 1954:
Blame Wing Failure In Plane Deaths of 3
WASHINGTON (AP) – A small plane in which three New Jerseyans were killed in Pennsylvania last December 4 crashed after a wing fell off in the air, an official report revealed.
The Civil Aeronauics Board accident report issued yesterday said the right wing came off, probably because the craft was out of control in turbulent air.
It blamed “structural failure in flight” with weather a contributing factor in the crash at Stone Mountain, three miles south of Tower City, Pennsylvania.
Killed in the crash were two brothers and a sister, Leonard Cleminshaw, 48, of Short Hills, New Jersey, owner of the plane; James M. Cleminshaw, 52, Farmington, Connecticut; and Mrs. Evelyn Archer, 44, Hohokus, New Jersey,; and pilot Frederick Stanley Gross, 29, Cedar Knoll, New Jersey.
The plane was en route from Columbus, Ohio, to Hartford, Connecticut, and Morristown, New Jersey. The party went to Ohio to attend an auditors’ convention.
Reports from the Pennsylvania State Highway Department and Beech Aircraft Corporation, builder of the plane, also indicated the pilot was nervous before starting the flight.
____________________________________
News articles from Newspapers.com.
Corrections and additional information should be added as comments to this post.
the party was returning to Hartford, Connecticut, from an auditors’ convention in Columbus, Ohio.