Detective Who? Watt?

Does anyone other than myself remember the fatal crash of a P38 Lightning airplane crashing north of Jefferson grade school? (Glenn Smith  on Facebook)

February 2020 was the last date of my files on Jefferson Elementary (Norman, Ok.) history before Covid. 

During Covid I made a promise to finish my Miami Ok. Golf and Country Club history story, and I did. That also meant that I could not concentrate on two aspects of history at the same time, even though I continued to collect trivia and newspaper clippings about Norman and Jefferson. This history brain doesn't forget when there is an unsolved question.

What parachute? Where did it land? Why can no one find an answer? 

That question hung in the back of my historical, sometimes hysterical, brain until January of 2025. 

Notice the treeless prairie in this 1894 original landsite of Eastside school, later renamed Jefferson in 1916 after the building mysteriously burned to the ground, and was replaced. 

It took until January 2025 before a small team of teachers could once again gather to complete a project started in 1984--to finish the history of the original landsite school in Norman, Oklahoma where I was the librarian. With the help from Sallie Kennedy and Carol Upchurch we have a plan in place to compile and publish this fascinating time in Norman, Oklahoma. 

Jefferson is the original landsite school with enough history to fill a thick book. Like other buildings of its time, 1894, the three-story structure was known to lean and wobble with spring winds of Oklahoma. The first floor of stone work came out of the Rock Creek bed north of this landsite on the corner of East Gray and Cockrell. 

It housed grades 1-12. After statehood, Norman began to grow and needed more classroom space.  In 1916 this thinly clad red brick and stone building mysteriously burned to the ground a few days after the State Fire Marshall closed it after his inspection. A sturdier structure was built and opened for classrooms in 1916. The north and south wings of that structure still stand and have been reconfigured several times over the decades. 

The view is facing West or Stewart Street. This is the only picture we have found of the structure from 1918--1958 when the middle part was torn down leaving the north and south wings. The playground would have been a large area in front and behind this building.

From research in 2019 through elicited memories on Facebook about The History of Norman, I copied this paragraph: 1944 Lee Hester--That information puts me back to 7th grade in Jefferson school where I imagined seeing a parachute coming down. 

Debbie 

My dad wad a little boy and he would tell us stories about a plane crash about 1945, but was north of Wilson school. North of Robinson. His mom let his older brother walk up to see it, but said my dad was to young. My uncle found what looked like the tongue of a boot with blood on it. We have tried to research but can never find anything.

Thomas 

If it is the one that crashed during the war where the copilot was riding piggyback and didn’t reject. I remember my mom and I were on the main street by the Palace garage and vaguely remember hearing about that at that time. Didn’t know where it crashed. I was only about three or four years old.

 Glenn Smith

At the time of the crash a parachute was seen descending so one of the pilots did eject. The reason that I said that it was a fatal accident was because a friend and I rode our bicycles out to view the crash site after the authorities had done their thing and we found Little Things like a label out of a sweater collar and actually some flesh. After a fatal crash medical people gather up the bodies and everything else as well they can but they don't get everything. Many years ago I went on a crash investigation of a B-52 in New York state. The plane was flying at low level over a landing strip when something went wrong, and it crashed into the woods and burned. Most of the crew perished but the copilot managed to survive. When we went through the debris looking for technical evidence for the cause of crash, I found a hand with a wrist watch still around the wrist. 

Thomas F.  to Glenn Smith

I think I think what I remember is correct… That a guy riding piggyback was not able to reject and died in the crash. 

Steve 

I remember talking to a retired Norman firefighter in the early 1970's. He told me that he was at the P-38 crash in 1945-46 He said that the plane had crashed nose first in to the ground at the edge of a small pond and left a big smoking hole in the ground. He told me that 2 men were killed in the crash, me being a smart 11 year old boy I let the gentleman know that the P38 was a single seat aircraft. He told me that the plane was at Tinker AFB for some work and had the radio equipment removed from behind the pilots seat. This made just enough room for the pilots buddy to hitch that final ride. I recall the plane that crashed was the F-4 version, of the P-38E in which the guns were replaced by four K17 cameras. It was not ever clear to me where the plane crash was.

Larry 

I think the P-38 crash you are talking about happened on May 4th or 5th, 1945. The crash site was on my Great Grandparent's farm on the SE corner of Tecumseh Rd. and NE 12th (Sooner Rd). The plane went into a small pond and supposedly the engines areas still buried there. My dad saw it go down from Moore.

Bill Lessly to Larry

The pond was on the south side of NE Rock Creek Road between 12th and 24th. My Dad told me about the crash. I used to swim in that pond back in the 1970’s. The crash happened 11 years before I was born. Our farm was 3 or so miles NE from the pond.

Apparently, Glenn Smith felt as frustrated over this crash info as I did. He used the Daily Oklahoma and found the story, the true story about the parachute high in the sky that the kids saw one day while they were outside playing at Jefferson. The parachute would have landed about two miles north of the school grounds. In 1944 there would not have been big neighborhoods of houses, cars, buildings to the north.

PLANE CRASH KILLS

WILL ROGERS FLIER 

January 21, 1944 the Daily Oklahoman 

Crash of a P-38 one and one-half miles northeast of Norman,  Thursday morning fatally injured Lt. Harry G. Kirk, 22 of New York City. The plane burst into flames and was destroyed. Col. B.S. Thompson, commanding officer of Will Rogers field announced.  

Capt. Vernon E. Black, Madera, Calif. parachuted to safety and sustaining only slight bruises and minor shock. Capt. Black's temporary home is at 2014 N.W. 12.Cause of the crash was being investigated Thursday night by a board of air force officers. Kirk's mother, Mrs. Frances Kirk of New York City, was notified of her son's death.

**At this point I jumped up and hollered at my husband. I know where the plane crashed in 1944. It's only a few miles from here.  

I do take breaks away from the computer and it felt good to share my mystery with my husband and then to romp with the dog outside and laugh. 

Lonnie Morris

Hey Glenn, I remember the incident. Our teachers at Jefferson took us outside so that we could see the man in the parachute still on his way down.  

Lockheed P-38 website and credit for photo 

Lee Hester, thanks for your research (Glenn Smith) and the good information. That clears up some things in my mind. The newspaper puts the date at 1944. which puts me back to 7th grade in Jefferson grade school. All the time that I have been thinking about this incident, I have imagined seeing a parachute coming down, but I thought it was my imagination. In a post by Lonnie Morris, he said that he was in Jefferson school when that happened and they took the students outside to watch the parachute coming down. That makes it possible that I really did see a parachute. 

We are the Jefferson Dragons. We symbolize "Power, Wisdom, and Chaos." Right now, we are sorting through the chaos and laughing...laughing and loving every moment of the research expedition into our history. 

Mrs. Watt, Librarian and author

 1978-95

Mind Travels

and the next time you gaze at the sky...dream dreams by Peter Spier

My mind does not travel

  like a driver on the Interstate.

It flows down old-fashion by-ways,

  through curious towns--

talking to strangers

smiling at all and

wondering what comes next. 

       Letty Watt

       

The white ring-neck dove sitting on the bird feeder this morning caught my immediate attention when I sat down to write. My movement caused a flurry of wings and explosion of energy as he flew away. Before I could could write a single word the finches arrived, three males with the rosy red heads and two brown to blanche females who seem more nervous than the male. The male finch showed off his rosy patch on his back while flitting from perch to perch. Thank you nature for this rosy distraction. 

Suddenly, the cold rains stopped the birds from feeding, so it may be a while before I am distracted by the doves, finches, Cardinals, or lively Carolina Wrens that feed and sing for us daily. 

January usually finds me thinking about resolutions and goals. In 2016 I wrote a resolution in this story Goals from the Heart.  I am still working on that resolution.

Eastside School  1894

This year after my 72nd birthday I began to count--all of the places yet to visit, all of the tasks yet unfinished, all of the new things yet to learn, all of my friends and family yet to enjoy time with, all of the projects yet to begin, and all of the books yet to read. Will I make it to 103?

From the simple word HOW I realized that it is goals I need to help me pursue tomorrow and all the days that I have left to enjoy. By definition a goal provides a direction to follow to achieve a desired outcome. Goals involve intention setting, planning, preparing, and taking action. 

Jefferson 1938

These steps are like my plans to stay strong and active, mentally and physically.  Then somewhere in the recesses of my mind I hear my mother sing to me a Frank Sinatra song called Love and Marriage. She used that song frequently when I wanted to do more things in a day than time allowed. "You can't do one things without the other." I was left to interrupt the message.

When Women's Golf made the social page of the newspaper. 1965.

Last fall the Women's Oklahoma Golf Association asked me to take on the task as historian. When I discovered a closet full of old scrapbooks that needed attention my mind began to swirl. 

One task of organizing history led to another. Since 1994 I have carried with me both on paper and in my head and heart the 100 year history of a school where I once taught, Jefferson Elementary in Norman, Oklahoma. With the help of Kathy Taber, Carol Upchurch, and Sallie Kennedy we have a team and a goal to collect the colorful history of Norman's original land site school in 1894. 

Needing help, I turned to the the University of Oklahoma's Western History Collection for guidance. Jacquelyn Reese helped me build a plan for success with both of my tasks.  Now on each notebook in bold print I keep the steps to organizing history: COLLECT, SORT, LABEL, PRESERVE, AND SHARE. It sounds so simple. 

 

Jefferson 1994 (mural by Peggy Smith)

  This month I've designated for the "sorting party" celebrations. We have begun our sorting parties at Jefferson on Thursday afternoons.  On January 28 we will be sorting women's golf history at Tulsa Country Club. Each time I think of sorting my mind always strays to Harry Potter and the 'sorting hat' that originally belonged to Godric Gryffindor, one of the founders of Hogwarts. Since our stories are old like Hogwarts I hope we will find the same magic with our sorting parties. 

Sorting at home. 

NOTE: If you would like to help with the either collection of history, please leave a comment in the section below this story. I will  reply.

Other stories pertaining to Jefferson and Women's Oklahoma Golf Association you may like to read:

Jefferson: Inspiration--A Story a Story  ( a story about stories and puppets)

Jefferson:Golf Gypsy: The Secret to Staying Young (a story about Lois Cowles)

WOGA;Letter to Dad

WOGA;  Herstory: Susan Basolo
. 

Golf Gypsy: the Secret to Staying Young

Lois Cowles' 80th birthday w/ Carol. 

To this day, I can hear Lois's light pitched voice, her giggle, and stories of life. She was the consummate teacher. Lois knew about life, love, lose, and the Secret to Staying Young.

Lois Cowles, who raised three curious energetic and productive daughters from Miami, Ok, also, taught Kindergarten at Jefferson Elementary in Norman, Ok, for two decades.  She lived by the belief, that the

Jefferson puppeteers.

secret to staying young was to surround yourself with young people. Every spring break she would take a trip to Florida to meet friends from Ohio, and come back talking about how old they seemed to her.  I've never forgotten Lois, nor her words.  Any coach or teacher will agree that children and young people are the secret to living and laughing with glee.  

In my attempt to stay young at heart, I recently played in the 100th celebration of WOGA, and on day two I met and lost to a determined "Flat Belly" (our term of endearment for youthful women golfers.) 

The look of youth.

  
Kennedy Hudson, who just completed her first year of college at Northeastern State University and will be playing on the women's golf team, impressed me with her focus and ability to pull herself together after this old

Letty and Kennedy

woman had her down at the turn (in other words I could have won the match, but for focus, youth, determination,  and ability).  She went on to win our flight the next day.  She delighted me with her skills and attitude about golf, so I asked her how she came to be a golfer.  This is her story. 

I started playing golf because my mother forced me into the sport, and our deal was if I went a full year of golf and didn't like it then I could quit.  On the first day of golf practice that January my coach, Ken Morrow, told me to grab my 7 iron, and I was totally confused.  He could see my confusion and told me that it was the club with the upside down L on it. After I took my first swing, I fell in love with the game and realized that I could be someone in this sport.  My first tournament was in March of that year, and I shot a 122.  I was crying by the third hole.  That year I was consistent in the 120's, and by my sophomore year I was consistent in the 90's.  By my Junior and Senior year I was consistently playing in the 80's. My skills were strong enough to be recruited by Northeastern State University where I redshirted my freshman year of college, so I could continue to improve on my course management and shot making. 

What I enjoy most about golf happens when I step on the course and my stress completely melts away.  All I have to do is focus on my swing.  I never realized that golf could teach life lessons, but it has taught me to leave behind whatever is in the past, and focus on what is going on right then and there. If I continue to think about a bad hole or bad shot then I'm not giving my full effort to the shot I'm about it hit.  It has taken me many years to learn that lesson, but I feel like its the most important one.  I love the feeling of competing against myself and the golf course. Sometimes when playing against someone it can bring out the bitterness in me to try a beat another person, that's why it's important to focus on the shot, the course, and the moment. 

Thank heavens for mother's who push their children into life, and for children who keep the adults young at heart.