Earl Sebastian Chrisawn, Jr.
1954
Mechanical Engineering
Cadet Sergeant, First Lieutenant Platoon Leader; High Honors 2, ASME; Arnold Air Society: BSU; YMCA Council secretary and Treasurer, ROTC Summer Camp, Keesler Air Force Base, Mississippi
Sumter, South Carolina
Air Force, 1Lt
B-47 unit at Homestead Air Force Base
Sep 28, 1930
Jan 24, 1957
Died in a collision of two B-47s bombers in the Bermuda Triangle.
Evergreen Memorial Park, Sumter, SC
SE
Additional Information
3 Air Force Fliers Saved, 3 Still Missing off Cuba Miami, Fla.
Jan. 25, Three US Air Force fliers were plucked from life rafts by rescuers today in good condition but three others remained unaccounted for after two intercontinental jet bombers collided in darkness and crased in flames. The three were brought to the Naval Hospital at Key West where doctors said they suffered only from bruises and exposure.
Two B47s from Homestead Air Force Base collided, exploded and fell into the water between Cuba and the Isle of Pines off Cuba’s southwest coast last night. They were on a refueling practice mission but a Homestead spokesman said the planes were not refueling at the time of the accident. The cause of the collision has not been announced. Brig. Gen. K. K. Compton, commander of the Homestead base 30 miles south of here, refused to let newsmen talk to the survivors.
They included the commanders of both planes; Maj. Winfred E. Lynn, 33, of Paducah, KY., and Maj. James McGee McFarland Jr., 37, of Watsontown, Pa., and Lt. James E. Rose Jr., 28, co-pilot in McFarland’s plane.
The missing were Capt. James H. Parker, 35, of Rock Hill, SC; Lt. Earl S. Chrisawn Jr., 26, of Sumter, SC, and Maj. W. E. Norris, 41, of Lansing, Mich.
Rescuer planes, joined by Coast Guard craft and units from the Cuban navy, were continuing to search. A spokesman for the Cuban navy said the wreckage of one plane was found four miles from the little town of Santa Barbara on the Isle of Pines northern side. – Boston Herald [Boston, MA] Jan. 261957 – https://genealogytrails.com/scar/sumter/pageOFhonor.htm