Witness Statement (Ransey)
At about 9:30 P.M.
February 2, 1943 while reading at home I heard an
airplane pass over town. The motors sounded unusually
clear. It sounded like the motors were running perfect.
My wife was at First Aid Meeting, and when she returned
at about 9:40 P.M. she called me to the front door. She
said she saw a funny looking light over on the Peaks of
Otter Mountain. I saw a fire and a green light up the
mountain and to the right. I called Mr. Updike,
Superintendent of Utilities at the Sub-Station, and he
told me to meet him over town. We started out and tried
to find the fire. We reached the scene of the accident at
about twelve-thirty, A.M. In our party were Mr. Updike,
Lloyd Goode, Harold Goode, Henry Turner, and Berkley
Gray. On the way we passed Lem Stanley's home. Lem and
two other men led us up the mountain to the crash. We
found four other men at the scene of the crash. They had
already built a fire to keep warm. The crash was
southwest of the Fire Rangers Station, about a mile from
the top of the mountain. We left the fire and walked
toward the plane. The first thing I saw were two bodies;
both of them were burning or smoking. I went on over and
turned something over -- it said "Bomb Release" on it.
The airplane was torn all to pieces, and one of the wings
was torn up and was setting up against a tree. A twisted
mass was near the wing, and it was burning down under. It
looked like rags or something down under the plane was
burning. Part of it looked like the body or shell of the
plane. Two more bodies were near the plane. What looked
like a motor was near the plane. It was broken up, but I
could tell it was a motor. A wheel and tire were near the
plane. I imagine we started back down the mountain about
1:30 A.M.
- Glen A. Ransey
- West View Avenue
- Bedford, VA
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