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Aircraft Wrecks in the Mountains and Deserts of the American West This Article Appeared in the Toronto
Sun, September 15, 2006 WWII
relics' kin found By BRODIE FENLON -- Toronto Sun With a little help from the Sun, an aircraft "wreck-finder" has found the nephew of one of America's first jet fighter pilots and returned precious personal items he discovered at a crash site dating back to 1945. Retired construction worker Al Lake said he was in "total shock" when he got a call about his late uncle, 2nd Lieut. Robert Murdock, who was killed in a mid-air collision during a secret training mission over California's Mojave Desert in World War II. "This happened in 1945. I was 9 years old. At that time, I didn't know what the heck was up," Lake, 70, of Wenatchee, Wash., said. "It scared the bewilders out of me." AIRCRAFT COLLIDED The story of Murdock and the amateur aircraft archeologist who found his crash site in 2001 was published earlier this month in the Sun. As reported then, hobbyist David Schurhammer, 43, of Fullerton, Calif., recovered rare coins, pilot wings, a wristwatch and Murdock's collar insignia from the site, which he tracked down using details gleaned from an official crash report. Murdock and a fellow pilot were killed March 1, 1945, when their aircraft, two Bell P-59As, collided over the desert while training anti-aircraft batteries how to track and shoot down jets. The P-59 was the first jet fighter built in the States. Schurhammer tried for years to find Murdock's next of kin so he could return the items. He called the Sun on a hunch he'd find relatives in Canada after learning Murdock's parents were both born in Ontario in the late 1800s. The Sun story led to a tip from a Canadian genealogist, which took Schurhammer back to the U.S. and a newspaper obituary, and finally to Lake. "You're talking about opening a can of worms," said Lake, who recalls visiting the fresh grave of his uncle as a boy and the immense grief felt by his mother and grandmother. "All this stuff had been put away ... all of this stuff was history. So now my history has come to haunt me." Murdock was a class valedictorian, an avid hunter and fisherman who grew up in the Cashmere area of Washington. He was a rugged, handsome "mountain man" and quite popular with the ladies, said Lake, who recalls being sheltered from the tragedy as a child. As the years passed, Lake learned more about his uncle's story. Schurhammer's research has filled in many of the missing pieces, he said. On Wednesday, Schurhammer packed up Murdock's personal effects, which he has been holding onto for more than four years, and shipped them off to Lake. 'A JOB WELL DONE' "It's bittersweet. It's the end of a search for me," he said. "So much time and effort goes into finding the crash site. It's a job well done ... this stuff's going home and I'm glad it's going but I'll miss it." Schurhammer said he has several other aircraft wreck mysteries to solve and is searching for the next of kin of two pilots. To learn more about aircraft archeology, visit aircraftwrecks.com.
Copyright 2006 Toronto Sun |
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