AT6 Monument
Encyclopedia
The AT6 Monument is a granite memorial to Royal Air Force cadets who were killed while on a training flight during World War II. It stands on Big Mountain, north of Moyers, Oklahoma
, and was dedicated on February 20, 2000—the 58th anniversary of the deadly crashes.
cadets during World War II, since the skies over Britain were an aerial battleground.
British student pilots were sent to Australia, Canada, South Africa and the United States for training. In the U.S. they were sent to a number of states—among them Oklahoma and Texas. In Oklahoma they established RAF training schools at Miami
and Norman
, and in Texas they established one at Terrell
. Courses of instruction included navigation, meteorology, aero engines, and principles of flight.
Aviation cadets at Terrell superimposed a map of Europe over Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, New Mexico and Mississippi. As their "zero milestone
" they chose Terrell to serve as "London, England". Radiating outward from Terrell, at precise mileages, were the following stand-in cities:
An important part of training included frequent flight time in the cockpit. Training flights served this purpose, to acquaint the student fliers with real-life conditions in flight. Training flights often flew in formations of aircraft, to mimic real-world conditions during war.
The students were flying a formation of twelve training aircraft known as AT-6s. The AT-6
—an acronym for "Advanced Trainer"—was first manufactured in 1930. It was a two-seater, one-engine trainer plane.
Their objective was to complete a low-level, cross-country training flight. Poor weather hampered the flight, however, particularly as they approached the Kiamichi Mountains
of Pushmataha County, Oklahoma
. According to local residents the weather was unfavorable. One, Lee Stone, described ground conditions as very foggy, with a rainy mist. Another, Calvin Moyer, who was attempting to hunt hogs, stopped due to the fog, which made it hard to see.
The pilot
s encountered similar conditions in the air—and had not been briefed to expect them, or what to do if encountering them. Several planes turned back to Terrell, but others continued. Twelve pilots eventually landed at Miami as planned, but three planes encountered serious difficulties.
"I found myself in the classic situation—trapped in a valley with no confident idea of where we were nor where the high ground might be," said John Wall, one of the three beleaguered pilots. By this point the three troubled pilots found themselves over the Kiamichi Mountains, which rise progressively in elevation from south to north. The valley to which Wall referred is the Impson Valley, which is framed by steep mountains to its east and west.
Pilot Wall and his navigator, "Wilbur" Wright, made the difficult decision to land on the floor of Impson Valley, rather than risk themselves and their plane in unknown territory. "I decided to make a wheels-down precautionary landing," Wall later recalled. He landed successfully in a field known as Bedford's meadow belonging to farmer and rancher Bill Perrin, outside the isolated mountain community of Jumbo
.
"We were shortly surrounded by the local folk who looked after us extremely well," Wall said. A young family, Mr. and Mrs. E.F. Jordan, gave them overnight accommodations.
Things took a tragic turn for the worse regarding the other two planes, which found themselves on a path several miles to the east, taking them over the rural community of Moyers, Oklahoma
, behind which the mountains rise precipitously.
The pilots successfully cleared Rodney Mountain
(764 feet), then passing over Moyers. Immediately behind Moyers is White Rock Mountain (1,023 feet), and one AT-6 crashed into its steep southern slope. The plane slid into a tree, killing its crew. W.E. McMahan and other local would-be rescuers who ascended the mountain believed the fliers would have lived had the plane not impacted the tree. They also believed the pilot, Vincent Henry Cockman, 20, of Ilford, England, had lived for a short time after the crash as his head was turned to face the body of his navigator, Frank Frostick, 21, of North Walsham
, England.
The third missing plane managed to pass above White Rock Mountain but apparently lost control, spiraling down into the face of Big Mountain
(1,145 feet). Big Mountain, which marks the southern end of the rugged and geologically significant Johns Valley
, is between the rural communities of Moyers and Kosoma
.
The third wreck took longer to locate, and was not found until the next day. Piloted by Mike Hosier, 19, of Swindon, England and navigated by Maurice Jenson, 19, of Bournemouth, England, the plane came straight down into the mountain, and "struck the ground head on," according to McMahan.
What the local rescuers found on Big Mountain struck them as almost eerie: the force of the plane's impact "threw a big rock up out of the ground, making a natural tombstone." This almost uncanny circumstance remained with the men for decades, causing them to recount it many years later.
All four bodies were taken to Antlers, Oklahoma
—the county seat and largest town in Pushmataha County, approximately eight miles from the crash sites—and then to Terrell, where they were interred in the British burial ground in Oakland Memorial Park cemetery.
—a country hamlet 12 miles east of Antlers, and over the Kiamichi Mountains from the crash sites—who elected to pursue it as a research topic.
Rattan, as a very small school, divided its boys and girls into separate reading classes—made necessary by the fact that its small, single-purpose gymnasium is not sufficiently large to accommodate both groups of students as a unisex physical education
class. As a result it scheduled girls and boys to be in reading and P.E. classes on alternating classroom periods. It was the boys’ sixth grade reading class, taught by Beth Lawless (Mrs. Bruce Lawless), which initiated the research.
After delving into the matter for several weeks the students came to believe the crash victims should be commemorated. They found it hard to believe local residents no longer remembered this unusual piece of their local World War II history, and considered it sad that four grieving families had been left in England during the war, with no sense of proper closure brought to the affair.
The boys decided to erect a marker
at the crash site on Big Mountain. The site, located in a level glade
, is adjacent to an old logging
road. In addition, it had the additional merit of being known—the crash site on White Rock Mountain is much less accessible, and the local rescuers, who were by then in their 70s and 80s, were unable to take the students to the location.
A local craftsman who builds cemetery grave markers donated his time and labor. The students undertook a fund-raising campaign to raise the money necessary for materials. They were successful, and the resulting marker is made of granite
, tall and perpendicular, and engraved with information about the crash.
The students then undertook locating surviving family members in England, and again were successful. Families of all four fliers were found, in addition to John Wall and Wilbur Wright themselves. Wall had since the war moved to New Zealand.
The AT6 Monument is a granite memorial to Royal Air Force cadets who were killed while on a training flight during World War II. It stands on Big Mountain, north of Moyers, Oklahoma
, and was dedicated on February 20, 2000—the 58th anniversary of the deadly crashes.
Word reached British Airways
and Air New Zealand
of the students’ endeavor. British Airways donated 18 free tickets for the students’ use, and Air New Zealand offered to fly John Wall to the ceremony, free of charge. The students used the British Airways tickets to fly all survivors, plus flier Wright, to Dallas, Texas
—for later transportation to Oklahoma. Several members of the British press corps also accompanied the flights, including reporters from the British Broadcasting Corporation and the Daily Telegraph and Daily Mail
newspapers, as well as a local newspaper from a county seat.
The marker was dedicated on February 20, 2000—the 58th anniversary of the crash landings. According to guest registers and the Oklahoma Highway Patrol
, over 1,000 people crowded onto the mountaintop for the ceremony. News of it was broadcast throughout England, and reported in many newspapers around the world after being carried on the Associated Press
wire service.
Special guests included the assistant air attaché
s from the embassies of the United Kingdom and New Zealand, in Washington, D.C., and also the British vice consul
assigned to the American Southwest, from Houston. All three remarked that this was one of the most unusual and moving events of their diplomatic and military careers—the students, who were from a poor and rural area, had taken on an impossible task—and accomplished it themselves.
The marker stands next to the "natural tombstone" in a quiet glade of pine trees. The site is easily reachable from Oklahoma State Highway 2—a sign erected by the Oklahoma Highway Patrol (originally intended for use on the day of commemoration, but also as a gift to the students by grateful troopers) guides would-be visitors from the turn-off approximately two miles north of Moyers.
Recalling that long-ago day in 1943, John Wall drew his thoughts to a conclusion, telling the students, "Turning back sooner would have been the smart thing—but then, youth always presses on."
Killebrew, Tom. The Royal Air Force in Texas. University of North Texas Press, 2003.
Moyers, Oklahoma
- History :A permanent settlement has existed at the site of modern Moyers since at least the 1880s.During the 1880s the St. Louis-San Francisco Railway, more popularly known as the “Frisco”, built a line from north to south through the Choctaw Nation, connecting Fort Smith, Arkansas with Paris,...
, and was dedicated on February 20, 2000—the 58th anniversary of the deadly crashes.
Background
The United Kingdom was hard-pressed to train Royal Air ForceRoyal Air Force
The Royal Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Formed on 1 April 1918, it is the oldest independent air force in the world...
cadets during World War II, since the skies over Britain were an aerial battleground.
British student pilots were sent to Australia, Canada, South Africa and the United States for training. In the U.S. they were sent to a number of states—among them Oklahoma and Texas. In Oklahoma they established RAF training schools at Miami
Miami, Oklahoma
Miami is a city in Ottawa County, Oklahoma, United States. As of 2009, the population estimate was 12,910. It is the county seat of Ottawa County. The city is named after the Miami tribe...
and Norman
Norman, Oklahoma
Norman is a city in Cleveland County, Oklahoma, United States, and is located south of downtown Oklahoma City. It is part of the Oklahoma City metropolitan area. As of the 2010 census, Norman was to have 110,925 full-time residents, making it the third-largest city in Oklahoma and the...
, and in Texas they established one at Terrell
Terrell, Texas
Terrell is a city in Kaufman County, Texas, United States, and a southeastern suburb of Dallas. As of the 2000 census, the city population was 13,606...
. Courses of instruction included navigation, meteorology, aero engines, and principles of flight.
Aviation cadets at Terrell superimposed a map of Europe over Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, New Mexico and Mississippi. As their "zero milestone
Zero Milestone
The Zero Milestone is a zero mile marker monument in Washington, D.C. intended as the initial milestone from which all road distances in the United States should be reckoned when it was built. At present, only roads in the Washington, D.C...
" they chose Terrell to serve as "London, England". Radiating outward from Terrell, at precise mileages, were the following stand-in cities:
- Albuquerque, New MexicoAlbuquerque, New MexicoAlbuquerque is the largest city in the state of New Mexico, United States. It is the county seat of Bernalillo County and is situated in the central part of the state, straddling the Rio Grande. The city population was 545,852 as of the 2010 Census and ranks as the 32nd-largest city in the U.S. As...
as Warsaw, Poland - Beaumont, TexasBeaumont, TexasBeaumont is a city in and county seat of Jefferson County, Texas, United States, within the Beaumont–Port Arthur Metropolitan Statistical Area. The city's population was 118,296 at the 2010 census. With Port Arthur and Orange, it forms the Golden Triangle, a major industrial area on the...
as Paris, France - Henderson, TexasHenderson, TexasHenderson is a city in Rusk County, Texas, United States. The population was 11,273 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Rusk County...
as Dunkirk, France - Lubbock, TexasLubbock, TexasLubbock is a city in and the county seat of Lubbock County, Texas, United States. The city is located in the northwestern part of the state, a region known historically as the Llano Estacado, and the home of Texas Tech University and Lubbock Christian University...
as Cork, IrelandCork (city)Cork is the second largest city in the Republic of Ireland and the island of Ireland's third most populous city. It is the principal city and administrative centre of County Cork and the largest city in the province of Munster. Cork has a population of 119,418, while the addition of the suburban... - Turner, Arkansas as Emden, Germany
- Vicksburg, MississippiVicksburg, MississippiVicksburg is a city in Warren County, Mississippi, United States. It is the only city in Warren County. It is located northwest of New Orleans on the Mississippi and Yazoo rivers, and due west of Jackson, the state capital. In 1900, 14,834 people lived in Vicksburg; in 1910, 20,814; in 1920,...
as Cologne, Germany
An important part of training included frequent flight time in the cockpit. Training flights served this purpose, to acquaint the student fliers with real-life conditions in flight. Training flights often flew in formations of aircraft, to mimic real-world conditions during war.
Crashes
On February 20, 1943 a British training flight departed its airbase at Terrell, Texas—known as the No. 1 British Flying Training School—en route for the No. 3 British Flying Training School at Miami, Oklahoma.The students were flying a formation of twelve training aircraft known as AT-6s. The AT-6
AT-6
AT-6 may refer to:* AT-6 Spiral, the NATO reporting name for an anti-tank missile system of the Soviet Union.* T-6 Texan, a WW2-era training aircraft used by numerous air forces....
—an acronym for "Advanced Trainer"—was first manufactured in 1930. It was a two-seater, one-engine trainer plane.
Their objective was to complete a low-level, cross-country training flight. Poor weather hampered the flight, however, particularly as they approached the Kiamichi Mountains
Kiamichi Mountains
The Kiamichi Mountains are a mountain range in southeastern Oklahoma. A subrange within the larger Ouachita Mountains that extend from Oklahoma to western Arkansas, the Kiamichi Mountains sit within Le Flore, Pushmataha, and McCurtain counties near the towns of Poteau and Albion...
of Pushmataha County, Oklahoma
Pushmataha County, Oklahoma
-Administrative History:* Ca. 1000-1500: Caddoan Mississippian civilization at Spiro Mounds* 1492-1718: Spain* 1718-1763: France* 1763-1800: Spain* 1800-1803: France* 1803–present: United States...
. According to local residents the weather was unfavorable. One, Lee Stone, described ground conditions as very foggy, with a rainy mist. Another, Calvin Moyer, who was attempting to hunt hogs, stopped due to the fog, which made it hard to see.
The pilot
Aviator
An aviator is a person who flies an aircraft. The first recorded use of the term was in 1887, as a variation of 'aviation', from the Latin avis , coined in 1863 by G. de la Landelle in Aviation Ou Navigation Aérienne...
s encountered similar conditions in the air—and had not been briefed to expect them, or what to do if encountering them. Several planes turned back to Terrell, but others continued. Twelve pilots eventually landed at Miami as planned, but three planes encountered serious difficulties.
"I found myself in the classic situation—trapped in a valley with no confident idea of where we were nor where the high ground might be," said John Wall, one of the three beleaguered pilots. By this point the three troubled pilots found themselves over the Kiamichi Mountains, which rise progressively in elevation from south to north. The valley to which Wall referred is the Impson Valley, which is framed by steep mountains to its east and west.
Pilot Wall and his navigator, "Wilbur" Wright, made the difficult decision to land on the floor of Impson Valley, rather than risk themselves and their plane in unknown territory. "I decided to make a wheels-down precautionary landing," Wall later recalled. He landed successfully in a field known as Bedford's meadow belonging to farmer and rancher Bill Perrin, outside the isolated mountain community of Jumbo
Jumbo, Oklahoma
Jumbo is a community in western Pushmataha County, Oklahoma, 10 miles north of Miller, Oklahoma.- History :A United States Post Office was established for Jumbo, Indian Territory on November 8, 1906...
.
"We were shortly surrounded by the local folk who looked after us extremely well," Wall said. A young family, Mr. and Mrs. E.F. Jordan, gave them overnight accommodations.
Things took a tragic turn for the worse regarding the other two planes, which found themselves on a path several miles to the east, taking them over the rural community of Moyers, Oklahoma
Moyers, Oklahoma
- History :A permanent settlement has existed at the site of modern Moyers since at least the 1880s.During the 1880s the St. Louis-San Francisco Railway, more popularly known as the “Frisco”, built a line from north to south through the Choctaw Nation, connecting Fort Smith, Arkansas with Paris,...
, behind which the mountains rise precipitously.
The pilots successfully cleared Rodney Mountain
Rodney Mountain
Rodney Mountain is a mountain in Pushmataha County, Oklahoma, located approximately five miles northwest of Antlers, Oklahoma. It is a part of the Kiamichi Mountains, a subrange of the Ouachita Mountains, and forms its southwest-most extremity. Its summit is 767 feet above sea level. It is found...
(764 feet), then passing over Moyers. Immediately behind Moyers is White Rock Mountain (1,023 feet), and one AT-6 crashed into its steep southern slope. The plane slid into a tree, killing its crew. W.E. McMahan and other local would-be rescuers who ascended the mountain believed the fliers would have lived had the plane not impacted the tree. They also believed the pilot, Vincent Henry Cockman, 20, of Ilford, England, had lived for a short time after the crash as his head was turned to face the body of his navigator, Frank Frostick, 21, of North Walsham
North Walsham
North Walsham is a market town and civil parish in Norfolk, England in the North Norfolk district.-Demographics:The civil parish has an area of and in the 2001 census had a population of 11,998. For the purposes of local government, the parish falls within the district of North...
, England.
The third missing plane managed to pass above White Rock Mountain but apparently lost control, spiraling down into the face of Big Mountain
Big Mountain (Oklahoma)
Big Mountain is a mountain in Pushmataha County, Oklahoma. It is part of the Kiamichi Mountains, a subrange of the Ouachita Mountains.- Geology :...
(1,145 feet). Big Mountain, which marks the southern end of the rugged and geologically significant Johns Valley
Johns Valley, Oklahoma
Johns Valley is a geographic feature and place name located in the Kiamichi Mountains in northwestern Pushmataha County, Oklahoma. The valley is formally classified by geologists as a “basin” due to its complete encirclement by mountains. - Location :...
, is between the rural communities of Moyers and Kosoma
Kosoma, Oklahoma
Kosoma is a settlement and former railroad station in Pushmataha County, Oklahoma, United States. It is located just off Oklahoma State Highway 2, about north of Antlers.-Geography:...
.
The third wreck took longer to locate, and was not found until the next day. Piloted by Mike Hosier, 19, of Swindon, England and navigated by Maurice Jenson, 19, of Bournemouth, England, the plane came straight down into the mountain, and "struck the ground head on," according to McMahan.
What the local rescuers found on Big Mountain struck them as almost eerie: the force of the plane's impact "threw a big rock up out of the ground, making a natural tombstone." This almost uncanny circumstance remained with the men for decades, causing them to recount it many years later.
All four bodies were taken to Antlers, Oklahoma
Antlers, Oklahoma
Antlers is a city in Pushmataha County, Oklahoma. The population was 2,552 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Pushmataha County.-Geography:Antlers is located at...
—the county seat and largest town in Pushmataha County, approximately eight miles from the crash sites—and then to Terrell, where they were interred in the British burial ground in Oakland Memorial Park cemetery.
The monument
Many years later news of the crashes came to the attention of school students in Rattan, OklahomaRattan, Oklahoma
Rattan is a town in Pushmataha County, Oklahoma, United States. The population was 241 at the 2000 census.-Geography:Rattan is located at...
—a country hamlet 12 miles east of Antlers, and over the Kiamichi Mountains from the crash sites—who elected to pursue it as a research topic.
Rattan, as a very small school, divided its boys and girls into separate reading classes—made necessary by the fact that its small, single-purpose gymnasium is not sufficiently large to accommodate both groups of students as a unisex physical education
Physical education
Physical education or gymnastics is a course taken during primary and secondary education that encourages psychomotor learning in a play or movement exploration setting....
class. As a result it scheduled girls and boys to be in reading and P.E. classes on alternating classroom periods. It was the boys’ sixth grade reading class, taught by Beth Lawless (Mrs. Bruce Lawless), which initiated the research.
After delving into the matter for several weeks the students came to believe the crash victims should be commemorated. They found it hard to believe local residents no longer remembered this unusual piece of their local World War II history, and considered it sad that four grieving families had been left in England during the war, with no sense of proper closure brought to the affair.
The boys decided to erect a marker
Marker
Marker may refer to:* Marker , a morpheme that indicates some grammatical function* Marker , a special-purpose computer* A set of sewing patterns tightly arranged within a rectangle that is placed over cloth to be cut...
at the crash site on Big Mountain. The site, located in a level glade
Glade (geography)
A glade or clearing is an open area within a woodland. Glades are often grassy meadows under the canopy of deciduous trees such as red alder or quaking aspen in western North America. They also represent openings in forests where local conditions such as avalanches, poor soils, or fire damage have...
, is adjacent to an old logging
Logging
Logging is the cutting, skidding, on-site processing, and loading of trees or logs onto trucks.In forestry, the term logging is sometimes used in a narrow sense concerning the logistics of moving wood from the stump to somewhere outside the forest, usually a sawmill or a lumber yard...
road. In addition, it had the additional merit of being known—the crash site on White Rock Mountain is much less accessible, and the local rescuers, who were by then in their 70s and 80s, were unable to take the students to the location.
A local craftsman who builds cemetery grave markers donated his time and labor. The students undertook a fund-raising campaign to raise the money necessary for materials. They were successful, and the resulting marker is made of granite
Granite
Granite is a common and widely occurring type of intrusive, felsic, igneous rock. Granite usually has a medium- to coarse-grained texture. Occasionally some individual crystals are larger than the groundmass, in which case the texture is known as porphyritic. A granitic rock with a porphyritic...
, tall and perpendicular, and engraved with information about the crash.
The students then undertook locating surviving family members in England, and again were successful. Families of all four fliers were found, in addition to John Wall and Wilbur Wright themselves. Wall had since the war moved to New Zealand.
The AT6 Monument is a granite memorial to Royal Air Force cadets who were killed while on a training flight during World War II. It stands on Big Mountain, north of Moyers, Oklahoma
Moyers, Oklahoma
- History :A permanent settlement has existed at the site of modern Moyers since at least the 1880s.During the 1880s the St. Louis-San Francisco Railway, more popularly known as the “Frisco”, built a line from north to south through the Choctaw Nation, connecting Fort Smith, Arkansas with Paris,...
, and was dedicated on February 20, 2000—the 58th anniversary of the deadly crashes.
Word reached British Airways
British Airways
British Airways is the flag carrier airline of the United Kingdom, based in Waterside, near its main hub at London Heathrow Airport. British Airways is the largest airline in the UK based on fleet size, international flights and international destinations...
and Air New Zealand
Air New Zealand
Air New Zealand Limited is the national airline and flag carrier of New Zealand. Based in Auckland, New Zealand, the airline operates scheduled passenger flights to 26 domestic destinations and 24 international destinations in 15 countries across Asia, Europe, North America and Oceania, and is...
of the students’ endeavor. British Airways donated 18 free tickets for the students’ use, and Air New Zealand offered to fly John Wall to the ceremony, free of charge. The students used the British Airways tickets to fly all survivors, plus flier Wright, to Dallas, Texas
Dallas, Texas
Dallas is the third-largest city in Texas and the ninth-largest in the United States. The Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex is the largest metropolitan area in the South and fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States...
—for later transportation to Oklahoma. Several members of the British press corps also accompanied the flights, including reporters from the British Broadcasting Corporation and the Daily Telegraph and Daily Mail
Daily Mail
The Daily Mail is a British daily middle-market tabloid newspaper owned by the Daily Mail and General Trust. First published in 1896 by Lord Northcliffe, it is the United Kingdom's second biggest-selling daily newspaper after The Sun. Its sister paper The Mail on Sunday was launched in 1982...
newspapers, as well as a local newspaper from a county seat.
The marker was dedicated on February 20, 2000—the 58th anniversary of the crash landings. According to guest registers and the Oklahoma Highway Patrol
Oklahoma Highway Patrol
The Oklahoma Highway Patrol is a major state law enforcement agency of the government of Oklahoma. It is a division of the Oklahoma Department of Public Safety. The Oklahoma Highway Patrol was legislatively created in 1937 due to the growing problem of motor vehicle accidents, the expansion of a...
, over 1,000 people crowded onto the mountaintop for the ceremony. News of it was broadcast throughout England, and reported in many newspapers around the world after being carried on the Associated Press
Associated Press
The Associated Press is an American news agency. The AP is a cooperative owned by its contributing newspapers, radio and television stations in the United States, which both contribute stories to the AP and use material written by its staff journalists...
wire service.
Special guests included the assistant air attaché
Air attaché
An air attaché is an Air Force officer who is part of a diplomatic mission; this post is normally filled by a high-ranking officer.An air attaché typically represents the chief of his home air force in the foreign country where he serves. The day-to-day responsibilities include maintaining contacts...
s from the embassies of the United Kingdom and New Zealand, in Washington, D.C., and also the British vice consul
Vice Consul
A vice consul is a subordinate officer, authorized to exercise consular functions in some particular part of a district controlled by a consulate....
assigned to the American Southwest, from Houston. All three remarked that this was one of the most unusual and moving events of their diplomatic and military careers—the students, who were from a poor and rural area, had taken on an impossible task—and accomplished it themselves.
The marker stands next to the "natural tombstone" in a quiet glade of pine trees. The site is easily reachable from Oklahoma State Highway 2—a sign erected by the Oklahoma Highway Patrol (originally intended for use on the day of commemoration, but also as a gift to the students by grateful troopers) guides would-be visitors from the turn-off approximately two miles north of Moyers.
Recalling that long-ago day in 1943, John Wall drew his thoughts to a conclusion, telling the students, "Turning back sooner would have been the smart thing—but then, youth always presses on."
Further reading
- "Two British Cadets Known to be in Oklahoma Crashes", Terrell Tribune, February 21, 1943.
- "Second British Plane Reaches Moyers, Okla.", Terrell Tribune, February 22, 1943.
- "Two RAF Cadets Killed on Air Trip to Miami", Miami News Record, [February 22, 1943?].
- "State Crashes Kill Six Fliers", Daily Oklahoman, February 22, 1943.
- "Two Killed at Moyers", Tulsa World, February 22, 1943.
- "Bodies of Two RAF Cadets Are Taken to Antlers", McAlester News-Capital, February 22, 1943.
- "Two Planes Crash Near Moyers Saturday", Antlers American, February 25, 1943.
- "At-6s Crash Near Moyers During World War II," a compilation of all available information about the crashes by the Rattan students, on file in the Pushmataha County Historical SocietyPushmataha County Historical SocietyThe Pushmataha County Historical Society is a historical society devoted to collecting and preserving the history of Pushmataha County, Oklahoma...
.
Killebrew, Tom. The Royal Air Force in Texas. University of North Texas Press, 2003.