Plane crashed on house
The illustrious career of a Second World War flying ace ends tragically in Outer Cove
Mary Roche tells of the day she witnessed the crash of a plane into a home in Outer Cove resulting in the death of pilot Col. Carl Payne. Second part of a two-part series.
On Monday, Jan. 9, 1956, 26year-old Mary Roche was a wife and mother living in a small house just yards from the twostorey wood frame home of Richard and Kitty Stark and their family. Stark was her uncle, her mother’s step-brother. She recalls the day vividly, nearly six decades later.
“My two sons were out in the yard, playing, and I heard a bang, and I said, ‘What is that?’ and the two of them were running around. I said, ‘The two of you are going to be killed. You’re after throwing rocks at the horse and it’s gone mad.’ They said, ‘ Mom, that’s not us. Look down there at the big fire!’”
That was Mary’s first inkling that something was terribly wrong.
“My father-in-law came out and looked down and said, ‘ Oh good Christ, a plane is after crashing on Richie’s house!’”
Accounts of what happened next vary. Some reports had four people in the house at the time of the impact, others more, but a photo in the following day’s Evening Telegram showed six shaken but unharmed survivors looking uncomfortably into the camera. Newspaper reports had Stark at work at the time of the crash but Mary said he’d gotten home a short time before.
“He used to work security at Buckmaster’s Circle and he used to walk back and forth from Outer Cove. … He was on night shift and he wasn’t long home, and he was in bed when some of the youngsters made a racket downstairs. He just got down over the stairs when the plane hit the house,” Mary recalled.
In addition to her father-in-law, Mary’s husband and brother also witnessed the crash.
Mary said she didn’t believe the men at first when they said a plane had crashed into the Stack home and set it on fire. But she changed her mind quickly when she saw the men running to the scene and black smoke billowing into the heavy fog.
Soon people from all over the area were rushing with buckets to fight the fire, there being no fire department nearby. The fire was quenched before it could consume the house but contemporary photos show much of the upper storey collapsed into the lower floor. Fortunately, the occupants were in the kitchen on the opposite side of the house from the impact — the only room to escape serious damage — and they emerged uninjured.
The plane, meanwhile, crashed into the frigid waters of Outer Cove.
In an attempt to save the pilot, Col. Carl Payne, a rescue effort was quickly put together:
“My brother and Jack Hickey and Mike Stack beat it down to the beach and grabbed a dory … and went out and found (the pilot) and towed him in,” Mary Roche recalled.
Payne’s body was recovered within minutes.
Leaving to mourn
Thus ended the life and career of a decorated airman, ironically, on his 35th birthday. Payne left behind his wife and two sons, Gregory, 9, and Michael, 6. The family had been living in St. John’s since Payne had been posted to Fort Pepperrell. They later returned to the U.S. and the author was unable to make contact with any of them.
In the aftermath of the accident, the U.S. Air Force conducted a crash investigation in an effort to determine the cause. What was left of the plane had crashed into the water and sunk quickly from sight. A plan to salvage the wreckage never came to pass. There were indications of strong currents in the area.
The only physical evidence recovered, in addition to the pilot’s body, was pieces of the plane that had come off as it hit the house and then skidded toward the cliff. Records showed that Payne had passed a full physical just three days previously and was found in good health. He was held in high regard as both a pilot and as a leader of men. The official cause of death is unknown as the autopsy report was completely redacted from the report supplied to the author, as were all civilian witness statements gathered at the time.
A careful examination of what wreckage could be recovered showed no sign of mechanical trouble although, as the engine, cockpit instruments and controls were not recovered, it could not be determined if these components had played any role in the tragedy. The aircraft was virtually new, with no record of major problems. The plane had been properly maintained and fuelled for Payne’s flight. And so the cause of the accident came down to two possibilities: inclement weather or engine failure.
At the time of takeoff from Torbay, the weather was foul, even by Newfoundland standards. With the temperature hovering just above freezing, the sky was completely obscured by thick fog, with poor visibility. Any takeoff in such conditions would be essentially blind, exposing the pilot to the danger of becoming disoriented. Payne had waited more than seven hours for the weather to clear and undoubtedly felt pressured to make his meeting in Quebec.
‘Poor judgment’
Ordinarily, permission to take off in such conditions would not be given, but Payne was persistent and petitioned his superior of- ficer to grant him an exemption. The report criticized both men as showing “poor judgment” in requesting and granting the exemption. The single caveat offered in the report was that engine or mechanical trouble could also have been a contributing, even major, factor. Failure to recover the engine, cockpit instruments and controls precluded any proof being found.
T-Bird 53-5143 lifted off the runway shortly after three o’clock in the afternoon and was to have climbed as it overflew Outer Cove and set course for Stephenville. Shortly after takeoff, Payne was advised by the tower that radar showed him one mile out on a heading of 080 degrees. He acknowledged the message, his last communication.
At a distance of 3.5 miles from the airport, the airplane was lost to radar contact in “ground clutter,” indicating the plane was not gaining altitude at the expected rate. In fact, the plane was airborne for two minutes or less before crashing into the Stack home, having failed for an unknown reason to gain sufficient altitude.
Upon striking the house, the left leading edge wing fuel tank exploded. The plane plunged to the ground and began shedding bits and pieces as it skidded uncontrollably towards the shore. After plowing through some bushes and a fence, the disintegrating aircraft plunged over the 200-foot cliff bordering the cove and struck the water, exploding on contact. The base was notified about 15 minutes later.
The inquiry showed that Payne’s life-jacket remained uninflated, his parachute packed. There was no indication he had attempted to activate the ejection seat that could have propelled him from the disintegrating aircraft and lowered him safely to the ground or the waters of the cove.
The fact that Payne apparently didn’t try to abandon his jet when it hit the house suggests he was either incapacitated by the impact or had insufficient time to react before the plane hit the water.
House replaced
The Stack family came out of the ordeal in much better shape. The air force quickly accepted full responsibility for the destruction of their house and within months had it replaced with a modern bungalow, although Richard Stack declined an offer to erect power poles so that electricity could be provided.
“He wanted the wood stove and the oil lamp,” Mary Roche said.
That comfortable home still stands in Outer Cove, today inhabited by a cousin of the Stack family and supplied with all the modern amenities, including electricity. Mary Roche lives in a cosy little house just behind it, the same one she lived in back in 1956. No signs of the tragedy remain, except perhaps in the memories of a few of the senior citizens of Outer Cove.
Occasionally a couple of greyhaired men can be found chatting near the cliff that saw flaming wreckage plunge into the cold waters below 59 years ago, taking with it the life of a family man, an outstanding officer and genuine hero of the Second World War. If you approach them respectfully and ask them quietly if they remember the Stack family and their near date with destiny that day, you might get one to admit, “Yes, b’y, I remember it well.”
“My father-in-law came out and looked down and said, ‘Oh good Christ, a plane is after crashing on Richie’s house!” Mary Roche