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Remember...Drexel Elmo Crites
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Drexel Elmo Crites, known to friends and family as "Rex," was born in Ripley, Jackson County, West Virginia, on October 20, 1920. His parents were Harry Howard Crites and Effie Gladys Ballard Crites. Rex was the second child born to this union; his older brother Ardith Estas Crites was born in 1918 and died in 1942. Rex's younger siblings were Iris Anne Crites (married name: Lambdin; 1923-1963) and David Harry Crites (1937-2009). Although Second Lieutenant Ardith Crites died non-battle, his demise was also a military casualty; he died on September 29, 1942, in a plane crash while in service at Eglin Air Force Base in Florida. (Source[s] of family information: Crites Family Extended Tree on Ancestry.com, 1940 and 1950 Federal Census listings, and the posting for Drexel Elmo Crites on Find A Grave.)
Although he was born in Ripley, by 1935, the family was living in Charleston. The 1939 Charleston High School yearbook pictures "Rex Elmo Crites" as a "graduate." While most young men registered for the draft when they turned 18, Rex did not register until 1942. At that time, he stated he was employed by the C. & P. Telephone Company in Charleston. He did apparently spend some time in the European Theater; A Trans World Airlines passenger list shows him departing Prestwick, Scotland, for New York on October 10, 1944. In 1945, Rex married Marguerite A. Faulkner.
| With the Korean War looming, many young men who expected to be drafted again entered the military via the National Guard; in Rex’s case, he became a member of the West Virginia Air National Guard. In 1951, his unit, the 167th Fighter Squadron, 123rd Fighter Bomber Wing, was training at Godman Air Force Base in Kentucky, waiting to be deployed to Korea. On April 8, two planes carrying Guard members left Godman for Charleston to attend the funeral of Major Woodford Sutherland, who had been killed in a plane crash in Florida three days prior. One of those two dispatched planes did not make it to its destination; the C-47 carrying 21 doomed souls to the Kanawha [Charleston] Airport crashed. The other did not land but instead turned around and headed back to Godman. Drexel Crites was on the plane that went down that fateful day. |  |
Much has been written locally about the crash and its aftermath—the Charleston Gazette and Daily Mail offered timely coverage of the event and its aftermath, and other newspapers around the state followed suit. In a practice no longer familiar, newspapers often published an "extra," which allowed for frequent updates on breaking news. The following account, however, is excerpted from the actual accident report:
After reporting over the Charleston Radio Range at 5000 feet on an IFR flight from Godman Air Force Base, Kentucky to Charleston, West Virginia, the pilot was cleared by Charleston Approach Control to descent to 3500 feet, pending approach clearance. . . . [The pilot then indicated a turn procedure.] The procedure turn report was the last radio contact with the aircraft.The C-47 crashed into a hill approximately 1150 feet high located 4.6 miles from the approach end of runway 23 at Kanawha County Airport and 1.07 miles West Northwest of the Outer Marker beacon. Both wings of the aircraft were sheared off on impact by trees. The fuselage came to rest approximately 125 yards from the point of impact and was almost completely consumed by the fire which apparently was instantaneous with collision. . . .
One of the two survivors of the crash was a rated pilot riding as passenger who succumbed to burn injuries within less than 24 hours. The other survivor lived for approximately one week after the crash. The statements of the survivors indicate that they were positioned further aft in the plane than any of the other passengers and it is worthy of note that one of the survivors stated that to the best of his knowledge all the rest of the passengers who suffered fatal injuries had their safety belts fastened. . . .
[Here the report provides numerous technical details regarding the approach pattern and describes the condition of the aircraft on impact, concluding that the damage made the cause of the crash difficulty to determine.]
The report continues:
The fact that both survivors reported seeing the airport a short time before the crash lends credence to the belief that the pilot misread the altimeter and was actually flying at 1300 feet indicated when he reported being at 2300 outbound over the inner locator at 1132C. This altitude would put the aircraft below the 1000 foot overcast and above the 500 foot broken ceiling which would enable the passengers to get a glimpse of the airport through the broken cloud layer.The time lapse of only 2 minutes from the position over the inner located outbound until the procedure report further suggests the actions of this pilot in setting up his approach were distinctly hurried. One wrist watch found in the wreckage was stopped at 1136C, so the time of the accident is assumed as between 1135C and 1136.
While the failure of the ILS equipment might be considered as conducive to the accident, the pilot was aware of the malfunction and planned to make his approach independently of this system. It does not appear therefore that this failure should be considered as a direct cause factor. (Report of AF Aircraft Accident, West Virginia State Archives.)
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While most families held individual private services for their lost loved ones, the entire community rallied to their support when a joint service for all was held at the Charleston Municipal Auditorium on April 10. Local newspapers reported that more than 4,000 attended the joint memorial service, with standing room only for more than 500. |
First Lieutenant Crites was awarded the National Defense Service Medal. He was buried at Cunningham Memorial Park in St. Albans.
Article prepared by Patricia Richards McClure, who gratefully acknowledges the assistance of Syd Edwards, historian who has extensively written about the C-47 crash
July 2024
West Virginia Archives and History welcomes any additional information that can be provided about these veterans, including photographs, family names, letters and other relevant personal history.
