Finding a crash report with only a pilot's name?

p51 · **Posted:** Fri Oct 30, 2015 11:13 am

I was wondering about the death of my Uncle, a AAF vet who died in a plane crash somewhere in the South. The story I've heard is that he was flying either a former military plane or small corporate multi-engined plane, coming back from dropping some folks off and them flew into the top of a mountain. He'd survived numerous trips over the "Hump" just to go out that way.
The accident was in 1951 and the pilot's name was Albert Bishop. I don't want to bug my parents about it as I think my Dad still mourns his loss as he and his brother were apparently really close.
The accident was probably somewhere in the Atlanta or Charlotte, NC area...
Sorry but that's all I know for sure. Anyone have a clue where'd I'd look?

mike furline · **Joined:** Wed May 05, 2004 3:45 pm **Posts:** 2629

If this was him, the accident was in Oct. 1951. http://www.ancientfaces.com/person/albe ... p/82683354

JohnB · **Posted:** Fri Oct 30, 2015 6:59 pm

Once you have a date, the NTSB might have something...but their records on the internet don't go back that far.
Anything before the 60s is pushing it unless it was a major disaster.

You'd have to write them....

Chris Brame · **Posted:** Fri Oct 30, 2015 7:02 pm

Quote:

Born April 20, 1927
Died October 1951 at 24 years old.

Might be a bit close on the age - would someone be flying the Hump at age 17-18 in 1944-45?

JohnB · **Posted:** Sat Oct 31, 2015 2:08 pm

Chris Brame wrote:

Might be a bit close on the age - would someone be flying the Hump at age 17-18 in 1944-45?

Not as a pilot.

p51 · **Posted:** Mon Nov 02, 2015 2:26 pm

My parents are on a trip right now, I'll ask mom when they get back for more details on the accident. Uncle Albert was a pilot, I have his wallet and his rating/driver license cards from WW2 as well as his (sterling silver) wings and DFC/AM ribbons. He was born in 1923.

Chris Brame · **Posted:** Tue Nov 03, 2015 9:38 pm

The version of the Chicago Tribune Archives at my library has a more advanced search function; I'll give it a try when I'm up there in the next day or two.

p51 · **Posted:** Wed Nov 18, 2015 4:25 pm

FYI, I forgot that the 'theater made' knife he carried in WW2 is on display at the Dover AFB museum and as I understand is currently on display there: http://amcmuseum.org/collections/knife/

Chris Brame · **Posted:** Wed Nov 18, 2015 7:21 pm

I did check the Tribune index under "Albert Bishop" and didn't find any mentions; but next time I hit the library I'll try again using "Albert J. Bishop" now that your link gave me his middle initial. Sometimes a small plane crash outside Chicago or some such item would be in the paper as column filler.

p51 · **Posted:** Thu Nov 19, 2015 9:36 pm

Just got a little more info from Mom:
The pane was owned by Johnson Aircraft Company in Atlanta, a charter airline
Crash was near Hartwell, Georgia.
March 19, 1951
That's all they know. His was an open coffin funeral, so I doubt the plane blew itself to pieces on impact...

p51 · **Posted:** Mon Aug 17, 2020 5:48 pm

I know it's been a while since I posted this, but every now and then I search online trying to find something. I even tried looking through newspapers but can't find anything.
More than anything, I've love to go try to find the impact site from the crash and see if I could find just a small fragment from the airplane, or at the very least know more about what happened (I know it's what they call "controlled flight into terrain") or details about the plane itself.
As I understand it, Uncle Albert was alone, though I'm not 100% sure about that...

eagle0025 · **Posted:** Mon Aug 17, 2020 10:27 pm

Dupe post

eagle0025 · **Posted:** Mon Aug 17, 2020 10:27 pm

Found this on Find-a-Grave. He was born 5 Jan 1923.
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/170 ... eph-bishop

p51 · **Posted:** Mon Aug 17, 2020 11:16 pm

Yep, the 'cemetery' is in the woods on top of the ridge behind the house where my Dad grew up. He's buried next to my WW1 vet grandfather. It's just a spot on tope of a hill, nobody else is buried there (not even my grandmother, who was buried elsewhere when she passed in the 90s).
Seen that grave many times as a kid. The family has talked about moving the remains a few times but likely never will.

quemerford · **Joined:** Tue Jun 17, 2014 4:19 pm **Posts:** 1576

It was a Cessna 170, 6 miles south of Hartwell. The Thomasville Times-Enterprise on the day carried this short piece:

"Albert Joseph Bishop, 28, of Atlanta, was killed early today when his plane crashed into trees six miles south of here. Hart County deputy sheriff C.I. Whitaker reported.

The Civil Aeronautics authority said Bishop departed from Columbia, S. C., at 11:04 p. m. and was due to arrive in Atlanta at 12:34 p. m. Whitaker said the plane, a four-passenger Cessna 170, cracked up after two a.m. - "about 2:20" [2.20pm, not a.m.].

Whitaker said the plane was "absolutely torn up - demolished"

Bishop was a flight instructor for the Johnston Aircraft Corp. He was returning from a charter flight to Columbia at the time of the crash."

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Finding a crash report with only a pilot's name?

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