Two Airmen from Middleboro killed in radar plane crash

On Veterans Day, November 11, 1966, an Air Force Constellation radar plane with 19 crewmen aboard crashed into the Attantic Ocean. The'plane out of Otis AFB on Cape Cod with 19 crewmen was seen crashing into the ocean by fishing trawlers off Nantucket lsland. No survivors or bodies were recovered.

Among those killed were two Alrmen from Middleboro, Second Class Larry Lee Stoner, 20, of 54 Everett Street and Roger P. Kay,21, of 73 Everett Street. The Middleboro  airmen were married to two Middleboro cousins. Widowed by the crash were Loretta (Vaughn Stoner and Beverly (Hudon) Kay, both expectant mothers.

The lost plane was part of the country's early warning system assigned to the 551st Airborne Reconnaissance Wing at Otis Air Force Base. Known in military parlance as a "Connie," the Otis plane, described as an EC-121H No. 55-5262, with the 19 crew members was loaded with electronic surveillance equipment. An account about the last minutes of the flight revealed in part, "At around 1:17 a.m., EC'l2XH No. 55-5262 took off-...at around l:22 a.m., a radar tracking station determined the operations of the aircraft were normal-

Minutes later, the crew of the New Bedford based fishing boat, Stephen B, saw an aircraft roar overhead at altitude of 200 feet. It was level, navigation lights off, and emitting a smoke or vapor trail," Continuing, the report stated, "Two minutes on, the EC-121H passed over another fishing boat, Terra Nova, whose crew noted the airplane's engines sounded as they were backfiring. One mile later, at 1:27 a,m., the airplane struck the water and exploded. There were no survivors.

It was the second aircraft of this type to have been lost out of Otis. The first crashed on July 11, 1965 with the loss of 16 airmen. The following year on April 25, 1967 a third Connie radar plane crashed off the coast of Nantucket with the loss of fifteen crew members. A total of 5O airmsn were killed in the three orashes.

An article in *Air Force Magazine" stated that the 551st was part of the cold war effort ",...as a top priority for the Air force in the pre-ballistic missile age." ln addition, the magazine wrote ".". by the early 1950's, the Pentagon was attempting to surround the nation with a belt of protective coverage." The EC-121 "Connie" was one of those national measures."

Larry Lee Stoner was originally from Enola, Pennsylvania, while Roger P. Kay was from Niagara Falls, New York. A dual memorial service was conducted for the two men at Middleboro's Central Baptist Church with Pastor Paul J. West officiating with Reverend John A. Steuens of Rock Village Church.

Rev. West had conducted the wedding of the Stoners, while Rev. Stevens had pronounced the wedding of the Kays. Larry Lee Stoner, besides his wife, was survived by his parents Mr. and Mrs. Harry C. Stoner of Enola, and two sisters, Mrs. Barbara Stauffer of Linglestown and Mrs. Audrey McPherson of West Fairview all in Pennrylvania" AIC Roger P. Kay was suryived by his wife and his mother Mrs. Lucille E. Kay of Niagara Falls; a brother Howard Kay of Youngstown; and anothrer brother, James Kay of Highland Park, N.Y; and a sister, Mrs. Karen Smith of Niagara Falls. Also, his two grandmothers, Mrs. Edith Hanson and Mrs. Ethel Kay.

At Otis Air Force base, a memorial service was held for the 19 men killed in the Veterans Day crash. Later, a memorial of a large stone was dedicated to the crewmen at Otis Memorial Park on the base. There also is a fountain and boulders with plaques honoring the names of the three crews lost in the crashes.

A book, "Fifty Fallen Stars", was published in 1998 by A. J. Northrup, a retired Air Force Senior Master Sergeant. He investigated the three separate crashes of early warning aircraft, which had originated out of Otis AFB during the "cold war,  The book's extensive reports about the crash of the Lockheed Super Constellation 55-5262 on Veterans Day Novemb er l!, 1966,which carried 19 men to their deaths, include Airmen Stone and Kay.