Charles H. King

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Charles Howard King (* 1922 in Britton , South Dakota , USA ; † July 25, 1948 in Berlin-Friedenau ) was an American pilot who had a fatal accident during a supply flight as part of the Berlin Airlift over Berlin-Friedenau.

Life

From 1941 to 1945 King attended the United States Military Academy at West Point . Towards the end of World War II , he served as a co-pilot with the 7100th Support Wing of the US Air Force and then as a pilot in occupied Germany . On July 25, 1948 at around 1 a.m., a twin-engine Dakota C-47 controlled by him touched the gable of House 2 at Handjerystrasse in Friedenau as it approached Tempelhof Airport . The roof and first floor of the house caught fire, the fuselage of the aircraft, which was apparently trying to avoid another machine, crashed into the street and both occupants, King and his co-pilot Lieutenant Robert W. Stuber from California, died. It was the second fatal accident during the Berlin Airlift.

Honors

Nikolassee Charles-H.-King-Strasse West 5

Military awards:

Charles-H.-King-Strasse in Berlin-Nikolassee has been named after him since 1970. A memorial plaque was put up at the crash site in Handjerystraße 2 just 3 days after the accident . In 1979 a granite plaque was unveiled in the same place as a permanent memory of the two crew members who died.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ 50 years of the Airlift Database Foundation. P. 48 ( online , PDF; 6.1 MB)
  2. ↑ https://www.tagesspiegel.de/berlin/die-strassen-der-flieger/1263904.html
  3. ↑ https://www.welt-im-web.de/?%C3%9Cber_mich%2Funs:Flugzeug-Traum-Ph%C3%A4nomen:Rosinenbomber-Abst%C3%BCrze
  4. ↑ https://airforce.togetherweserved.com/usaf/servlet/tws.webapp.WebApp?cmd=ShadowBoxProfile&type=Person&ID=155242
  5. ↑ https://berlin.kauperts.de/Strassen/Charles-H-King-Strasse-14163-Berlin?query=Charles-H.-King-Stra%C3%9Fe+
  6. ↑ https://www.gedenkenafeln-in-berlin.de/nc/gedenkenafeln/gedenkenafel-beispiel/tid/berliner-blockade/
personal data
SURNAME King, Charles H.
ALTERNATIVE NAMES King, Charles Howard (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American pilot (Berlin Airlift)
DATE OF BIRTH 1922
PLACE OF BIRTH Britton , South Dakota , USA
DATE OF DEATH July 25, 1948
Place of death Berlin-Friedenau