captain_oliver_e._sabatke
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captain_oliver_e._sabatke [2012/03/25 17:35] tom |
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| Captain Sabatke was never far from my thoughts as I tried to contemplate just what he was thinking during those last fateful minutes. | Captain Sabatke was never far from my thoughts as I tried to contemplate just what he was thinking during those last fateful minutes. | ||
| - | Then something dawned on me. He would have reached Douglas Lake (35°57′40″N 83°32′20″W) which is a man-made, forty-four square mile Tennessee Valley Authority lake slightly north of Newport, Tennessee-if he had been able to continue to fly the aircraft westward another four or five miles. A straight line would have taken him there. I'm making the assumption that Captain Sabatke had made prior trips into Knoxville and was acquainted with the topography. Any passenger who has flown into Knoxville has looked out the window and viewed the large waterways that twist through the hills and valleys of Eastern Tennessee. | + | Then something dawned on me. He would have reached [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Douglas_Lake |Douglas Lake]] (35°57′40″N 83°32′20″W) which is a man-made, forty-four square mile Tennessee Valley Authority lake slightly north of Newport, Tennessee-if he had been able to continue to fly the aircraft westward another four or five miles. A straight line would have taken him there. I'm making the assumption that Captain Sabatke had made prior trips into Knoxville and was acquainted with the topography. Any passenger who has flown into Knoxville has looked out the window and viewed the large waterways that twist through the hills and valleys of Eastern Tennessee. |
| There was good visibility July 9, 1964. At an altitude of 500 feet, Sabatke would have seen Douglas Lake. | There was good visibility July 9, 1964. At an altitude of 500 feet, Sabatke would have seen Douglas Lake. | ||
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| The report arrived and I was not disappointed. The photocopy was in poor condition, but the clearest words stood out and said, **"While in traffic over tower, engine conked three times. Emergency fuel pump was on. Engine went dead completely. Attempts to revive with primer were useless. Down wind water landing was safest compared with straight ahead open sea landing or lagoon because of boat pool small craft."** | The report arrived and I was not disappointed. The photocopy was in poor condition, but the clearest words stood out and said, **"While in traffic over tower, engine conked three times. Emergency fuel pump was on. Engine went dead completely. Attempts to revive with primer were useless. Down wind water landing was safest compared with straight ahead open sea landing or lagoon because of boat pool small craft."** | ||
| - | The reason the photocopy was in such poor condition is because the original had been typed in poor conditions. Ensign Sabatke had been flying a training mission in a Grumman F6F-3 Hellcat (#42537) on the Eniwetok Atoll in the Marshall Islands on November 30, 1944. On another section of the report I read the words: **"Plane sunk in ocean"**. | + | The reason the photocopy was in such poor condition is because the original had been typed in poor conditions. Ensign Sabatke had been flying a training mission in a Grumman[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grumman_F6F_Hellcat|F6F-3 Hellcat]] (#42537) on the Eniwetok Atoll in the Marshall Islands on November 30, 1944. On another section of the report I read the words: **"Plane sunk in ocean"**. |
| My position on how Captain Sabatke spent his final moments can be described as speculative. I would be the first to admit it. But how far-fetched is it when one considers the survival instinct that is present in humans-especially when one finds himself in such daunting circumstances? | My position on how Captain Sabatke spent his final moments can be described as speculative. I would be the first to admit it. But how far-fetched is it when one considers the survival instinct that is present in humans-especially when one finds himself in such daunting circumstances? | ||
captain_oliver_e._sabatke.txt · Last modified: 2012/04/07 23:30 by tom
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