Only Survivor / U.S. Seaplane Crash, WW1
This is only the tunic, but one of my top 5 favorites. This was a lucky find that was passed over by more than one dealer - It was a little pricey till I learned who he was.
Ensign Stanley Thompson Curran
Naval Aviator No. 287, Serial No. 28110
Born in NYC April 21, 1894
Cornell University 1917
3 Years Engineering – Basketball – Beta Theta Pi
Enlisted as Seaman at Newport, RI April 13, 1917
Designated Naval Aviator - January 17, 1918
He died at 4:30 am on October 24, 1949 at his home in Mountain Lakes, NJ of arteriosclerosis.
His wife Helen was a Navy Nurse in WW1 – His son Charles C Curran was a Marine in WW2 and was wounded at Iwo Jima – His daughter; Mary Lou Curran was a Navy Wave.
His Story:...On October 11, 1918, an H-16 flying boat with the side number K-38 took the air at Naval Air Station Killingholme, England early this Friday morning and proceeded on it’s regularly assigned duty connected with mine laying operations in the North Sea. The crew were LTJG Stanley Curran, pilot, LTJG Charles Tyson, co-pilot, Bennett Sergai, Machinist Mate 2nd class, and Robert E. Richardson, Electrician 3rd Class. Near Immingham, the starboard engine cut out and the plane stalled, went into a spin and crashed into the Humber River from about 400 feet at 6:30 am. No reason could be assigned for the crash. Curran was the only survivor. The bodies of Sergai and Richardson, dead by drowning, were recovered from the wreck several hours after the crash. Tyson’s body was recovered from the river about a month later. Curran finished the war in a London Naval Hospital.
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by CThomas
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