Two South Shore Fliers Seriously Injured When Piper Cub Crashes Near Norwood Airport-August 16, 1954

Two South Shore men sustained serious injuries yesterday afternoon when their aluminum-body Piper Cub plane nose-dived 100 feet into a wooded area shortly after taking off from Norwood Airport.

The pilot of the low-wing monoplane was Ernest H. Taylor, 28, of 147 Kendrick Avenue, Quincy, who suffered deep cuts to the chin and forehead along with severe shock. His passenger, Lawrence A. Nichols, 30, of Winter Street, Hanover, was most seriously injured, sustaining a fractured left jaw, the loss of a number of teeth, and extensive facial lacerations. Both men, members of the Hanover Flight Club, had flown to Norwood from Hanover a few hours prior to the accident. Airport witnesses reported that Taylor appeared to have been practicing landings before the crash occurred at approximately 11:14 a.m.

According to accounts of the accident, the plane climbed to roughly 100 feet before plunging into the woods, catapulting both fliers through the windshield as the force of the impact sheared their safety straps. Dazed and bleeding, the two men staggered from the wreckage with the assistance of nearby spectators.

Greater tragedy was narrowly averted thanks to the quick thinking of Norman Chandler, 30, of 82 Crescent Avenue, Revere, a mechanic for Wiggins Airways. Chandler dashed through a peat bog and thick bramble and brush to reach the smoking aircraft and successfully disconnect the ignition wires just as the engine began to smolder. Both men were treated at the scene by Dr. Charles Lynch of Norwood before being rushed to Norwood Hospital, where hospital officials reported their condition as “fairly good” today.

Background details reveal that Taylor, a native of Little Rock, Arkansas, is a World War II Navy veteran, works as a service manager for a Quincy automobile firm, is married to the former Phyllis Mirra, and has been taking flying lessons for three months. Nichols, an amateur flyer of six years whose home near Hanover’s Clark Airport is close to aviation roots, is employed by the Sevigny Candy Co. of Hanover and is married with a 12-year-old son.

Archival Note: This article has been dynamically reconstructed from the original public record print archives of the Patriot Ledger