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Lucille Ball's fame and accomplishments are a true source of pride for Jamestown. But there was another Lucile, whose accomplishments, career, and legacy are important for everyone interested in aviation. Lucile M. Wright was a 20th century aviation pioneer in Jamestown. The museum that bears her name was created to cultivate an interest in aviation among young people as well as preserve our local aviation history.
When the museum's board president, Ellen Maternowski, called and invited me to join the board, I was thrilled. I've been interested in anything and everything about aviation since that day in 1963 when American Airlines pinned those silver wings on my chest and put me in the cabins of their Electras and Boeing 707s. Joining the Wright Museum board has been motivating and informative, but nothing has been as important as the new exhibit we introduced last weekend.
Saturday was opening day for the museum's special exhibit commemorating the 75th anniversary of Continental Charter's Flight 44-2 that crashed on December 29, 1951. On that black wintry night, off-course and flying much too low, the flight plowed into Bucktooth Ridge in Cattaraugus County, killing 26 and leaving 14 survivors. The survivors braved two nights and three days in the heavily snow-laden woods before being found by one of the largest rescue operations ever in Western New York. It remains the longest stranding of airline crash survivors in the history of North American commercial aviation.
Tim Lake, a writer and broadcast journalist, brought the plane crash story to the museum board. A dedicated researcher, he dug into the history of that tragic night. The aircraft involved was one of thousands of Curtiss-built C-46 airplanes manufactured in Buffalo for WWII. Originally a cargo carrier, it had recently been converted to a passenger plane with a no-frills interior. Continental Charters was a non-scheduled airline, which at the time served budget-minded travelers who couldn't afford seats on Delta, American, or United.
After eight years of research, Tim wrote his account of that fateful evening, "Hang on and Fly." I am still immersed in the book's fascinating 400 pages, but I heard most of the story first-hand last Saturday. Incredibly, Tim was also able to coordinate the donation of over 150 pieces of the destroyed aircraft.
Saturday's dedication included memorializing the victims of the crash and honoring the bravery of both the survivors and the rescuers. There were descendants of many of those people in the invited audience, including an elderly few who had actually been there in 1951. Many hadn't seen each other in years. A display features a ‘Salute to Rescuers’ with photographs of the police officers, firefighters, farmers, and local citizens who participated in the historic effort to bring survivors and casualties off the ridge. For the first time, the uniquely gathered audience members were touched by how important that night's realities were in their life stories.
The exhibit includes a sculpture of the ill-fated airplane, commissioned by the museum. I was able to interview the metal sculptor, Stacey Mrva, who confided in me that she fell in love with the medium when she welded for the first time. You can see her dedication to her craft in the 1/16 replica of the C-46 aircraft that was destroyed that night. With a wingspan of six feet, the sculpture is framed in stainless steel. The rest of the body is comprised of pieces cut from the actual aircraft debris. The center of the exhibit, her sculpture "flies" on a floor stand four to five feet high. Nearby, a large piece of the actual C-46 wing is displayed.
The exhibit features maps and the timeline of the flight. It was scheduled from Miami to Pittsburgh and Buffalo before meeting its tragic end in the small town of Napoli. The exhibit also includes photographs, interviews, and artifacts from the crash.
I sat watching a video of a very elderly woman recall how the crash changed her life. She was Pearl Moon, the surviving stewardess, age 24 on that fateful night. She recalled being thrown from the crash, and then described the agony of holding a surviving infant until it died in her arms.
Tim had donated many copies of his book, available for a donation to the museum. At the end of the program, he signed numerous copies with touching dedications.
It was not my usual carefree Saturday. I met an incredibly interesting author and sculptor, both now deeply connected in a heartrending story I had never heard. I chatted with many of the invited guests - farmers, retirees, and neighbors whose lives were forever changed. I drove home, proud to be a witness to Lucile Wright's active legacy. With this exhibit, her museum has allowed our little corner of the world to tell one of its important stories at last.
Marcy O'Brien can be reached at moby.32@hotmail.com.