DB-7B AL-485 Crash in Bridgeport, Maryland

Date: 21 Feb 1942 to 21 Feb 1942
Location: Bridgeport, Frederick, Maryland, United States

On February 21, 1942, a Douglas DB-7B Boston III (A-20 Havoc) departed Middletown Depot (now Harrisburg International AIrport). This particular aircraft was bound for England for us by the RAF. The purpose of the flight appears to have been to test the radios in preparation for it being sent overseas. It encountered mechanical troubles shortly into the flight and the pilot headed south east in an attempt to get the doomed aircraft away from populated areas. There were high winds and the pilot was unable to make it to the mountainous area he was aiming for. He told his radio operator to bail out between York and Gettysburg PA. The pilot continued with the plane until it seemed it would no longer hold together. He bailed out over Bridgeport MD and was blown several miles while under parachute. The plane managed to crash without hitting anything or anyone. It's wreckage nearly hit barns and cars as it crossed a highway. The pilot was saved by a nearby farmer and his sons as they raced to stay in visual contact with him as he was parachuting away from the plane.

• People involved with the crash:
  1. Andre Jacques DeChaene Pilot
  2. Andrew Donald Stephenson Radio Operator
  3. N O Terpening the farmer who's pasture the plane crashed into
  4. James Shane 13 year old boy witness living at the farm where the plane crashed.
  5. Ellis Ray Glass Local farmer who followed troubled aircraft and then pilot by automobile
  6. Eugene Glass son of Ellis that helped rescue pilot
  7. Donald Glass son of Ellis that helped rescue pilot
  8. Russell Eckard where the Glass's took the pilot
  9. Wilbur Stull the farmer who was in the barn the out of control plane passed within 50 feet of and crashed 100 ft from
  10. Emma Stover farmer who's house had thing knocked off shelves by the crash
  11. Carl B Haines farmer who's field the pilot landed in

• Douglas A-20/DB-7B specs and story^[1]
• serial number listed^[2]
• More from Wikipedia^[3]
• https://aviation-safety.net/wikibase/105748
• https://www.aviationarchaeology.com/rptAF55.asp?RecID=91231

Sources

1. ↑ http://www.joebaugher.com/usattack/a20_5.html
2. ↑ http://www.joebaugher.com/usattack/a20_6.html
3. ↑ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Douglas_A-20_Havoc

• https://www.newspapers.com/clip/29096774/db7b_crash_taneytown_ellis_glass/
• https://www.newspapers.com/clip/29096901/db-7b-crash-ellis-glass-part-2/
• https://www.newspapers.com/clip/27404755/db-7-crash-near-taneytown/
• https://www.newspapers.com/clip/106351327/bomber-crashes-near-bridgeport-pt1/
• https://www.newspapers.com/clip/106351213/bomber-crashes-near-bridgeport-pt-2/
• https://www.newspapers.com/clip/106358840/2-middletown-officers-jump-as-bomber/