A Little Bethesda History
from William Offutt's Bethesda - A Social History
"In 1943, during World War II, "the
sultry, overcast evening of July 8 was one some Bethesdans
remembered for a long time. Shortly after dark, while the
children were still chasing lightning bugs, a single-engine
airplane started circling over the town. The silvery BT-12
went away but then returned to fly low over the tree tops
with its landing lights on and then rise and circle again.
Some people thought the pilot was trying to land at the high
school (B-CC) or the Rec Center; most concluded that he was
lost. He was."
"Ashby Chamberlain recalled hearing the
plane low over his Kenwood house and wondered if the
(Japanese) had finally come. On Leland Street, Leroy Allison
could see the plane's landing lights and thought the pilot
was trying to land on the golf course at the Chevy Chase
Club."
"Both the pilot and his passenger
finally bailed out safely and "the abandoned airplane
spiraled down....fluttered past the new apartments on
Hillandale, zoomed down toward the big, old bungalows and
Stock's nursery on Bradley and then turned struck a tree,
began to fold up and smashed into the bank of Willett Creek
on the edge of the Victory Gardens between Kenwood and the
Rec Center."
"The plane was part of a group from the
86th Basic Flying Training Squadron based at Gunter Field in
Alabama...."
