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Old 18th May 2016, 19:09
paulmcmillan paulmcmillan is offline
Alter Hase
 
Join Date: Dec 2004
Posts: 1,208
paulmcmillan
First US Navy Parachute Incident

The first occasion in which a US Naval Personnel occurred on

October 16, 1924 when a mid-air collision occurred at 1,300 feet over Coronado, Calif.

'Gunner' William Marvin Coles, USN, of VF Squadron 1 who was piloting one of the aircraft jumped from the wing of his aircraft jumped and pulled the parachute after dropping 500 feet. He was uninjured

It was reported that "two navy Vought airplanes" were involved and the crew of the other aircraft U.S. Navy Enlisted Aviation pilot Robert H. Kerr aviation chief machinist mate from NAS San Diego and passenger Ensign Merritt J Flanders from the Aircraft Tender USS Vega. The crew did not have parachutes and were killed.

Kerr and Flanders bodies were recovered from the wreckage at Coronado and Coles machine ended up on the Coronado golf links and caught fire

But I have also seen it quoted that Coles was flying a JN-4 (Curtiss Jenny) and the Vought may be a Vought VE-7 BlueBird

I was wondering if anyone could confirm any of the details

Coles died in 1980 in California
Many Thanks

Paul McMillan
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