UNITED STATES FLEET
OPERATIONAL DEVELOPMENT FORCE
AIRCRAFT DEVELOPMENT SQUADRON TWO

U.S. Naval Auxiliary Air Station
Chincoteague, Virginia
16 Jul 1948

Dear Mrs. Pierce:

This letter is to give you further details of the accident in which your husband, John Roland lost his life.

At the time he was flying at approximately 3,000 feet in a Grumman fighter aircraft piloted by LTJG Arthur Lee Price who was controlling a drone target plane in the operating are some 55 miles at sea off Chincoteague, Va. When the pilot had taken the drone beyond the firing ship (U.S.S. MISSISSIPPI) on the first run , at about 2:45 p.m. and while climbing in a bank to the left, observers noted that the plane suddenly fell of to the right and apparently stalled. The pilot managed to level off the wings bu by this time his ship was in about a 30 degree dive and rapidly descending. It was further observed that both engine propellers were “wind milling,” an expression used to denote the loss of power in the engines. Observers state that the plane continued into the sea from about 2,000 feet at a 30 dgree angle dive. The pilot of another plane of the same type, accompanying the plane in which your husband was riding, circled the spot for some time until surface search vessels arrived at the scene, but to no avail. The plane sank immediately without a trace of it or its occupants. Surface boats from the U.S.S. MISSISSIPPI continued the search until after 4 p.m. when the search was discontinued. Only small fragments of the plane were recovered. Witnesses state that the death of both occupants of the plane must have certainly been instantaneous, survival being absolutely impossible.

The news of your husband’s death was conveyed to Mr. and Mrs. Pierce by telegram.

A complete investigation is being conducted in an effort to determine the cause of the accident; however it is doubted that the real reason will ever be known.

Your husband was exceptionally well liked by his fellow shipmates who join you in grief at his passing. We all consider him to be an efficient petty officer and a fine person.