From the Reading Eagle News, Reading, PA, Sept. 24, 1962:
“A 20-year-old Mohnton, PA soldier was among the 76 passengers aboard the US airliner which ditched last night in high seas 500 miles off of Ireland. His fate is unknown.
“Mrs. Anna Tumminello, Mohnton, received a telegram from the department of defense that her paratrooper son, Pvt. Dominic Tumminello, was aboard the downed craft. Continue reading
They both made it to the raft. Separated by only six feet, the raft was so packed that they could not see each. When enough people were pulled out of the raft, he found her. By then she was already dead.
Lt. Col. George H. Dent of Fredericksburg, Virginia was playing cribbage with his wife, Elizabeth, in one of the rear isles of Flying Tiger 923. “I was winning the Championship of the North Atlantic,” he recalls. Continue reading
A Memorial Poem For the “Big Bird” Flying Tiger Flight 923
By Garret Ahern, Dublin, Ireland
‘Big Bird’
Out from New Jersey,
Big bird spreading wings,
Trundling east-ward, in
War-cold nineteen-sixty-two.
Three-score souls and ten-
And more aboard,
Service by the
Rhine in mind.
Far beneath lies rolling
Equinoctial ocean,
Unfriendly to the stricken
Super-Constellation.
Big bird descending,
Inevitable ditching.
Frantic prayers implore –
Then impact, devastation.
Plucked from the inverted,
Overcrowded, life-raft,
The lucky greet new
Friends and shipmates.
In time, diverted,
The good ship “Celerina”
Nears its rendezvous.
Green fields plain to see.
By Galley Head, the
Helicopter’s clatter
Stampedes a flock of sheep,
Away west, wave-battered
Big bird settles,
Low in the briny deep.
© 2012, Garry Ahern
Garret Ahern, presently of Dublin, Ireland, was a member of the first Emergency Rescue Team at the brand new Cork, Ireland Airport in 1962. His team participated in the evacuation process which delivered 17 of the most seriously injured from the Swiss rescue ship, The Celerina, to Cork’s Hospitals.
Many years after the tragedy while taking an adult education course on writing he became very interested in the details of that day. He had to write a story. He remembered the incident and the name of the ship, the “Celerina,” but he couldn’t remember the name of the airline. His research unearthed a treasure of information from Irish newspapers, all of which he has made available to this website. The photo to the left was taken recently at a Memorial Pre-meeting at Cork Airport. Attending that meeting was the present head of the Cork Airport Emergency Rescue Team, all three members of the first emergency team which included Mr. Ahern, a fisherman who was contracted that day to escort a group of reports to a vantage point near the ship and helicopters, a passenger-survivor and a member of the Celerina crew that day, in 1962. In total, six persons who were present that day a full half century ago participated in the meeting.
“The engine was vibrating so severely
I was afraid something might loosen in the connections
of the fuel lines.”
The following story was taken from an Associated Press newspaper report on the Civil Aeronautics Board inquiry in New York City in October 1962:
New York AP – A retired Air Force major has told federal investigators that he noticed a severe vibration in one engine of the Flying Tiger plane before it started on a flight that ended with a ditching in the Atlantic that cost 28 lives.
The retired major, Harry O. Benson of Brockton, Mass., testified at a Civil Aeronautics Board inquiry into the accident on September 23. It was more than a month after the incident. He was the 13th witness in a 15-hour session. Continue reading
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Captain’s pride in the discipline of “green soldiers” helps mask
his own terrible, painful tragedy.
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News Story By John Krueger
Stars and Stripes London Bureau (September 26, 1962)
CORK, Ireland (S&S) – A retired Army captain embraced a private that he called “one of the green troops” aboard an ill-fated Flying Tiger Airliner that ditched in the Atlantic and said:
“He made me, an old soldier for 20 years, feel proud.”
“Robert C. Eldred, 47, retired Army captain from East Dennis, Mississippi, was one of the 17 survivors brought here by Royal Air Force helicopter airlift from the Swiss freighter Celerina. Continue reading
Movie Review By Fred Caruso (aka Irish O’Caruso)
If you have time for a movie
that will bring up visions of Flying Tiger 923, look into this one: Passengers (2008), with Anne Hathaway, Patrick Wilson, and David Morse (as the Pilot of the doomed aircraft).
I borrowed a DVD of the movie from my local library. It may be available at your library as well. If not, it is available Continue reading
Pvt. Koltack, 5 days after rescue 50 years ago.
A secret elopement . . .
a mom and dad to be . . . and a free ticket
to Germany on Flying Tiger 923 !
Thomas Koltak and his wife, Judy, have just celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary! That happens to be some three or four months shy of the 50th anniversary of the ditching of Flying Tiger 923. They married while he was home on leave after basic training, not knowing he would be getting a free ticket to Germany.
Judy had just graduated from college, having studied teaching and was living at home. Her parents were having a graduation party for her to celebrate while her boyfriend Tom was home on leave. Tom and Judy had a secret. Continue reading
Galley Head
Present-day southwest Ireland was the scene of an historic first on April 17. The “first” was the beginning of the public announcement of the 50-year Memorial to Flying Tiger Flight 923, that crashed 500 miles off of the Irish west coast of Ireland in September 1962, taking the lives of 28 persons. Continue reading
Carol Gould at Antwerp
Former Flying Tiger flight attendant Carol Ann Gould will attend the 2012 Flying Tiger Pilots Association annual convention at Monterey, California on May 10 through 12. She has attended their annual convention a number of times in the past and has been a speaker with reference to her experience with Flying Tiger 923. This time she will be passing out cards to remind everyone of the 50th Anniversary and our memorial web site Many of those attending Continue reading
Our friend and fellow Flying Tiger survivor, Sammy Vasquez of Phoenix, Arizona, sent us two group photos taken aboard the Celerina on the final leg of the journey, following the airlift of 17 to Ireland. We have been able to identify a number of those in the photos but are seeking help in identifying others. Here is the first photo:
At Antwerp, Belgium
Continue to read this post for a closer view of the photo and see who we have identified. Continue reading
Flying Tiger 923 