Collection Title: War Plane (Boeing B-29 Superfortress) Crash
Series Number: MS23-05
Processed and Cataloged by: Sarah Owens
Date Listed: May 11, 2023
Date Span: 1945
Size of Collection: 0.45 linear feet
Number of Boxes: 1 box
Type of Material: Metal, airplane part
Condition of Material: Fair to poor.
Arrangement: Physical size.
Biographical / Historical Information: In 1945 at three years old, Sharon Stubblefield discovered the airplane piece while viewing the aftermath of a plane crash with her parents and grandparents near Benton, Marshall County, Kentucky. Around 1 a.m. on July 1, 1945, a B-29 Superfortress Bomber belonging to the United States Army Air Corps. was on a training flight from New Mexico and entered a thunderstorm. During the storm, the plane was struck and split apart by lightening. Of the ten service members onboard only Cpl. Irving A. Elias survived. Having been thrown from the plane after it was split apart, he deployed his parachute and made it safely to the ground 8,000 feet below. He spent the rainy night in some bushes for protection and went in search of help at dawn. The Bohannon family lived on a farm near the crash and when he arrived at their door during their breakfast meal, they drove him to the Mayfield hospital.
Scope and Content: The collection consists of one small piece of metal measuring about 2"x6" and appears a green-gray color. The plane piece was one of many which littered miles of Ky. 80 after the B-29 Superfortress Bomber crash on July 1, 1945 in Marshall County, Kentucky. Included are printed documents from newspapers pertaining to various parts of the story as well as a photo of Sharon Stubblefield and a scan of the artifact.
Subject Headings / Descriptors:
Aircraft accidents--United States
B-29 (Bomber)
United States. Army. Air Corps
World War, 1939-1945
Additional Sources: See Hidden History of Kentucky Soldiers by Berry Craig.
Box List:
Box 1 of 1
Scrap metal piece
File 1 of 1
1. Copies of news articles
2. Photo- Sharon Stubblefield
3. "Thank you" card
