Quote:
Originally Posted by Winter Harbor Native
I remember when I was maybe a teenager or younger, a plane in the trees by Frankum's area. Anyone remember any other crashes?
I know a lot of Wolfeboro's folks never would have the experience to fly, if it was not for Merwin. A friend a mine, did barter with him
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When the "
Lakes Region Airpark" was being built, there wasn't much money around. Merwin funded the airport's operations by selling his lakefront lots on both sides of Wolfeboro Neck. "Barter" was a big part of Merwin's early ventures, but my family had to spend $3000 for one acre of lakefront.
Even then, Merwin hosted "$10 rides" in behalf of the American Cancer Society. Several local pilots offered their aircraft in support of ACS rides, which ended about 1994.
One local builder built several of the homes in the 40s and 50s, and those same homes—
unmodified—are still around.
• If you'd been anchored in Johnson's Cove, that particular aircraft would have been flying directly overhead!
Until the developer's "terraforming" of 2006, you would have seen fragments of windshield from that crash. The crash-scene debris was extensive, as the plane was supported high in the trees. Gasoline was leaking down from the plane while rescuers dislodged the pilot's feet from the pedals.
(I'm not sure if that aircraft was a
Beechcraft Sundowner, but it was definitely a low-wing aircraft).
• There were other crashes—one of which I witnessed myself.
By the time I'd arrived, the
Navion aircraft had settled into a small growth of young birch trees, and the unhurt occupants merely exited by stepping out onto the wings—as they normally would have.
This is a pair of
Navions:
Of course, there was still six feet left to reach solid earth! There's
much more to this
Navion crash story.
• A cold air mass was blamed for the end of Merwin's own Taylorcraft (on floats) which crashed into a pine tree—flown by a pilot-instructor!
BTW: Merwin had a cottage industry in modifications of floats of aircraft.
From
this site:
"Your" crash scene would have been about ¼-mile from the east end of the runway. (At the bottom of the picture).
More...
Quote:
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"The earliest aeronautical chart depiction which has been located of Lakes Region Airport was on the 1965 Boston Sectional Chart (courtesy of John Voss). It depicted Lakes Region Airport as having a 1,500' unpaved runway & an adjacent seaplane base."
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"
Lakes Region Airpark" details: