DIY History | Transcribe | Nile Kinnick Collection | Nile Kinnick Sr. correspondence regarding his son's fatal crash, 1945-1946

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Nile Kinnick Sr. correspondence regarding his son's fatal crash, 1945-1946

1945-12-28: Page 01

117 Sanders Street
Darlington, S. C.
28 December 1945
Dear Mr.  Kinnick,
It is a privilege to have the opportunity of
answering your letter and furnishing any information that
may be of value to you. My great respect and admiration
for Nile has increased through the months, and I shall
welcome any chance to be of service to you.
In an attempt to find specific information and
facts for you, I checked the entries in my journal, out
inasmuch as generalities only were mentioned during the
shake-down cruise I shall be forced to rely entirely on
memory. Please understand that any conclusions I have
come to, or any opinions I express, are not official but
are my own, and in some cases were based on verbal accounts
of the crash as it appeared to eyewitnesses.
LOCATION, Your information that the crash occurred in the
Gulf of Paria is correct. It was the last day of scheduled
operations for training purposes. The  USS LEXINGTON was
inside the Gulf. It was the ship's practice to get underway
at dawn, proceeding in a southwesterly direction from
anchorage near Port of Spain until a sufficient distance had
been reached to allow launching of planes. The ship then
continued thirty or forty miles from land, always inside
the Gulf, and carried out ship's exercises while the air
group carried out flight operations. I do not know the
exact location of the crash, but the position was pinpointed
by observers on the carrier and the accompanying destroyer,
and the latitude and longitude will be available from the
log of the LEXINGTON.
DISTANCE FROM CARRIER. I was not flying at the time so I
do not know the type hop being flown. It was customary and
not unusual to fly as far as 100 miles or more from the
carrier on nearly all hops and the direction of the flight
was usually left to the flight leader. The crash occurred
about three miles ahead of the carrier.
WEATHER CONDITIONS. Visibility was usually estimated about
20 miles, and the day was average for the area. There was
seldom any difficulty in locating the ship. Wind velocity
was 4-6 knots. I do not know the direction.
WATER CONDITIONS. A calm surface means light winds not
exceeding eight knots. When winds are very light, wind streaks
are not always apparent on the water. A wind of 2-3 knots
will not radically affect the landing characteristics of
fighter type aircraft. A landing may be made safely either
up-wind or down-wind when this condition occurs.

Saving...

117 Sanders Street Darlington, S. C. 28 December 1945 Dear Mr. Kinnick, It is a privilege to have the opportunity of answering your letter and furnishing any information that may be of value to you. My great respect and admiration for Nile has increased through the months, and I shall welcome any chance to be of service to you. In an attempt to find specific information and facts for you, I checked the entries in my journal, out inasmuch as generalities only were mentioned during the shake-down cruise I shall be forced to rely entirely on memory. Please understand that any conclusions I have come to, or any opinions I express, are not official but are my own, and in some cases were based on verbal accounts of the crash as it appeared to eyewitnesses. LOCATION, Your information that the crash occurred in the Gulf of Paria is correct. It was the last day of scheduled operations for training purposes. The USS LEXINGTON was inside the Gulf. It was the ship's practice to get underway at dawn, proceeding in a southwesterly direction from anchorage near Port of Spain until a sufficient distance had been reached to allow launching of planes. The ship then continued thirty or forty miles from land, always inside the Gulf, and carried out ship's exercises while the air group carried out flight operations. I do not know the exact location of the crash, but the position was pinpointed by observers on the carrier and the accompanying destroyer, and the latitude and longitude will be available from the log of the LEXINGTON. DISTANCE FROM CARRIER. I was not flying at the time so I do not know the type hop being flown. It was customary and not unusual to fly as far as 100 miles or more from the carrier on nearly all hops and the direction of the flight was usually left to the flight leader. The crash occurred about three miles ahead of the carrier. WEATHER CONDITIONS. Visibility was usually estimated about 20 miles, and the day was average for the area. There was seldom any difficulty in locating the ship. Wind velocity was 4-6 knots. I do not know the direction. WATER CONDITIONS. A calm surface means light winds not exceeding eight knots. When winds are very light, wind streaks are not always apparent on the water. A wind of 2-3 knots will not radically affect the landing characteristics of fighter type aircraft. A landing may be made safely either up-wind or down-wind when this condition occurs.