1954 Marine plane crash becomes part of Everglades lore
MIAMI -- The call came in that there was a possible plane crash deep in the Everglades National Park. For sure there was scattered wreckage. News helicopters scrambled. A check with the folks at Everglades National Park quickly determined that there was no emergency.
The park's public information spokesperson Allyson Gantt told CBS4, "The report came in as a recent plane crash. But the debris out there is pretty obvious it is rusting." Gantt added, "It was two Marine Corps planes that were on a training mission in 1954 and there was a mid-air collision."
Plane crashes in the Everglades — there have been plenty of them large and small — have left debris fields scattered in the park. They are occasionally visited and documented by groups of plane crash archeologists. Over the years, with changes in foliage and water levels, the old wreaks become visible.
Stationed at Marine Corps Air Station were a fleet of Douglas AD-5 sky raiders. The AD-5 is a multiple-seat variant of the single-seat Skyraider fighter bomber.
Few folks remember that in the 1950s, there was a Marine Corps Air Station in Miami, Opa-Locka to be exact, located on what today is the Coast Guard air facility at Miami-Opa-Locka Executive Airport.
The two AD-5s took off June 3, 1954 on an instrument flying training mission. Four on board the two aircraft. Three died in the mid-air collision. The fourth Marine involved survived.
Allyson Gantt says, "I think it was pretty amazing he was able to survive. Just being ejected from the plane…."
Pfc. William G. Collier, 20-years-old at the time, told his hometown newspaper, he "just went along for the ride." He said he was blown clear by an explosion when the planes hit at 4,000 feet.
"I was thrown out with the seat," he said. "I then pulled the parachute rip cord. It was the first time I had ever parachuted."
There are no plans to remove the crash debris after all these years.
Allyson Gantt told CBS4, "It is way out there. It is difficult to find. And, you know, now it is preserved as a cultural resource. One of the things the national parks do, and certainly in the Everglades, we think of protecting the natural resources. But we are also tasked to be preserving our cultural resources."
