WWII-era plane crashes in Hudson River; body recovered

Published May 29, 2016
NEW YORK: The plane that crashed in the Hudson River being pulled out on Saturday.—AP
NEW YORK: The plane that crashed in the Hudson River being pulled out on Saturday.—AP

NEW YORK: A small World War II vintage plane taking part in celebrations of its 75th anniversary flew a partial loop while smoke spewed from it and then crashed in the Hudson River between New York and New Jersey on Friday, and divers recovered a body from its sunken wreckage, police and witnesses said.

The single-seat plane, a P-47 Thunderbolt, crashed on a part of the river near where a US Airways commercial jet carrying 155 people splash-landed safely in 2009 in what became known as the Miracle on the Hudson.

A witness to the P-47 Thunderbolt crash, Hunter College student Siqi Li, saw smoke spewing from the plane and thought it was doing a trick.

“It made kind of a U-turn, and then there was a stream of smoke coming from it,” Li told the Daily News.

“It was tilting down toward the water. I thought they were doing some sort of trick. I didn’t realise it at first, but it was a plane crash.” Scuba divers recovered the body of a 56-year-old man from the submerged plane about three hours later, New York Police Department Detective Michael Debonis said.

Police identified the body as William Gordon, of Key West, Florida. The body was taken back to the New York shore via police boat. Several police officers carried a stretcher to the dock.

Published in Dawn, May 29th, 2016

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