A Naval Air Reserve pilot had a close brush with death when he mistakenly landed his F9F-8 Cougar jet plane at the Norwood airport at 8 45 Tuesday night. This was the first time that a jet-powered craft had ever landed at Norwood.
Lt. Ross Edwards, of Trenton, N. J., apparently mistook Norwood’s well-lighted north runway for his home Navy b; se in South Weymouth and came in for a landing on the 4,000-ft. strip. Ross, however, showed his flying prowess when he brought the big ship to stop just over the edge of the runway, his front wheels almost in a swamp.
The pilot, who is a member of a Naval Air Reserve unit now at the South Weymouth Naval Air Station for two weeks training, was unhurt and the plane suffered little damage. A Navy crew was detached from South Weymouth immediately after the plane was reported down here, and freed the craft from its precarious position shortly after. Ralph Hynes, base manager of Wiggins Airways, reported that all lights on the field were shut off. and traffic sent elsewhere until the plane was cleared from the runway.
Another near tragedy was averted when two other planes flying in formation with Eduards were called by the South Weymouth field before they too landed at what they thought to be their home base.
Early Wednosday morning Edwards’ flight leader flew the plane back to South Weymouth. One observer said that the plane almost didn’t get off the ground because of the short runway.
Many Norwood residents were startled when the planes flew so low overhead, and Sergeant Joseph McNulty and Patrolman George Sanborn went to the airport to investigate.
Runways normally u«ed by jets run around 6,000 (oct although Navy fliers are accustomed to more limited landing areas.
So many grammatical and spelling errors in this story. It should be reviewed by an editor and updated.