THE FLAGLER TRIBUNE
Bunnell, Florida
Thursday, September 6, 1951

 

The body of Lt. (Jg) Donald Rae Tate, of Baden, Pa., was found yesterday by some of the members of a big search party in a. part of the wrecked plane he was flying.

Tuesday, two navy planes for Jacksonville NAS collided in mid­air in St. Johns County, with Tate losing his life while Lt. (Jg) Charles P. Moore from Bastrop, La., bailed out and escaped with minor bruises.

Playing a big part in the intensive search for the flyer was Sheriff Henry Wells, and deputy sheriffs Eddie Irwin and Dewey Stuckey. The sheriff's force used their two-way radio system constantly to help organize and assist the search.

D. D. Moody, head of the Flagler County Civilian Defense Council, with crews of his surveyors also spent many hours in the search, Moody organizing into parties of four the group of sailors from NAS headed by a local woodsman to make the search.

The body was found after a he1icopter and a dirigible were ordered to cruise a line between the points where the two parts of the exploded plane landed. The body was found almost mid-way between the points, still strapped in the seat of the part of the plane at that point.