Originally published in The Vidette-Messenger of Porter County on April 23, 1956.
PLANE CRASHES; COUPLE KILLED
Wrecked Found On Area Farm
Believe Mishap Occurred During Sunday Snowfall
By CHUCK ZULICH
Bodies of a 44-year-old Chicago man and his wife were found at 10:45 a.m. today lying in a field 3½ miles northwest of Valparaiso near the wreckage of their 1946 Ercoupe model airplane.
The couple was identified as Gordon Blake, 44, and his wife, Josephine, age unknown, of 5732 W. Cornelia, Chicago.
Their light plane apparently crashed during the blinding snow storm that struck Valparaiso at about 8 p.m., Sunday evening.
Mrs. H. Howard Smith, who lives near the site of the crash, stated that she heard what she thought was a plane in trouble when she arrived home at 8. She added that visibility was zero because of the wind and snow.
Sees Wreckage
Mrs. Smith said that she talked about it with her husband and they both decided that it was just the wind that made the noise.
However, this morning as she was hanging out the clothes in her yard she noticed the plane wreckage in the field. She walked to the scene to confirm that it was a wreck and then notified authorities.
Willard Rusk, operator of the Urschel field, north of Valparaiso, stated that Mr. and Mrs. Blake visited his airport on both Saturday and Sunday. They were shopping for a bigger and better plane.
Rusk said that the Blakes left the local airport shortly before dark Sunday for Chicago. He stated that the plane was based at the Sky Haven airport in Chicago.
Leave Two Children
Rusk reported that the couple had visited the airport on numerous other occasions. He also said that they were the parents of two small children.
The scene at the field shows that the Blakes were apparently attempting an emergency landing. The wreckage was found 150 feet from the spot where it first touched the ground.
Blake’s body was thrown 66 feet from the final resting place of the plane and the body of Mrs. Blake, 32½ feet. The two bodies were 31 feet apart.
The light plane was completely demolished in the crash. The motor was torn loose and found 10 feet from the fuselage.
Wayne Michaels’ Field
Neighbors at the scene stated that the field in which the plane crashed is owned by Wayne Michaels. It is located west of Campbell road and north of Cooks Corners school.
State police notified the CAA in South Bend of the crash. Nothing was to be moved from the site until CAA officials could arrive on the scene, police said. The bodies were brought to the LePell Funeral home.
Deputy Coroner Leonard Wetmore reported that the couple was apparently killed outright. He stated that Blake’s watch stopped at 8 p.m., and Mrs. Blake’s at 8:03.
The last fatal airplane crash in Porter county occurred on Aug. 18, 1952, when three Porter county men died in the crash of a three - place P-13 Consolidated Vultee in a field on the Serial Warren farm, five miles northwest of Valparaiso.
They were Joseph W. Cook, 29, 504 Jefferson; Benny F. Ripley, 41, Flint lake; and Wendell DeForest Stoner, 19, RFD 2.
