The following article is from The Daily Advance, Elizabeth City, NC, December 26, 1942

Two In Civil Air Patrol Lose Lives Off New Inlet
Plane Crashes in Bitter Cold of Last Monday; Rescue Efforts Vain

Manteo, Dec. 26--Two of North Carolina's sons made the supreme sacrifice in the defense of their Country, when Frank Cook and J. L. Cooper went down off New Inlet Monday evening after their small plane had crashed at about 4:30 o'clock.

The victims were members of the Civil Air Patrol operating out of the Manteo Airport. They left the airport at about 4 o'clock, accompanied by a companion plane and were doing routine scouting for enemy submarines several miles off the coast of Pea Island.

It was nearing dark when the first SOS came in to the local airport. It said, "We are dropping rapidly." Almost before the first message could be translated the second came in saying, "We are dropping rapidly and are going to crash." The instrument must have been left open, for it is reported that the crash could be plainly heard over the receiving station.

Men Seen Floating

The two men cleared the plane and were floating around in their rubber life preservers, according to the pilot of the companion plane. This pilot is reported to have said that he circled around the men and as low as the rough sea would permit him to go in an effort to aid the victims. He and his co-pilot dropped their rubber jackets in the hope it might aid in keeping the struggling men afloat. Darkness and being short of gasoline forced the companion plane to leave, but not until its pilot had done everything possible to rescue the victims.

News of the accident flashed quickly over the telephone and radio, and simultaneously, planes from the airport here and crews from Nags Head, Oregon Inlet, Pea Island and Chicamocomico Coast Guard Stations were disperately trying to get boats through the raging breakers to give succor to the freezing and drowning men.

The evening was bitter cold. No human could withstand the cold for long. The spray that flew over the heads, shoulders and arms of the two men froze almost as soon as it struck them, making them helpless to fight for life. It is reported that one of the men apparently was numb before the companion plane left, as his head was dropped over his shoulder, while the life jacket still kept him afloat. The other waived to the companion plane, as its pilot left and headed back to the base.

Death in Icy Waters

The horrors of such a death cannot be described in words. First the chilling sensation of being thrown into a wild and vicious ocean with breakers running 20 to 30 feet high, then the biting of the wind as it thrashed the head and shoulders, the pain of suffering from this cold wind and the ice that covered heads and shoulders from the spray which froze as soon as it struck, then the weakness and numbness that follows the freezing, the sleepiness, just before which there had been thoughts of home and loved ones and a faint hope that help would come, the wisful scanning the fast darkening horizon for this help, and finally the resignation. The victim has given up with his resignation comes rest in numbness and sleep and death follows without pain.

While these tow men were passing from hope to despair every Naval and Coast Guard unit in this area was striving to rescue them. Both power boats from Nags Head and Oregon Inlet tried and tried again to brave the rushing tide and the high breakers on Oregon Inlet bar. Chicamocomico and Pea Island crews were making desperate efforts to launch their surf boats off the back of the beach.

Heroic Attempts at Rescue

It is reported that the Negro crew at Pea Island fought heroically to launch their boats. They were the nearest the scene of the accident. Each time they would thrust their boat into the breakers it would be thrown back at them overturned. Reports have it that it was an almost impossible task to put a surf boat off the back of the Pea Island beach that evening . Reports also state that every crew of the stations named made all possible human efforts to get to sea. The wind and relentless breakers would not let up for even a few minutes.

Also seaplanes and airplanes reached the scene of the original accident. It was dark; they let down flares and there was not sight of the men. Such a small object as a man's head bobbing about, first on the crest of the breaker then submerged by its force, then down in the trough, could not very well be spotted over the broad expanse of several square miles, an area that had to be covered on account of the strong tide, which within the hour had probably swept these two men far apart and far from the scene of the tragic crash.

Frank Cook is survived by his wife, two sons and a daughter. His home is in Concord. J. L. Cooper was unmarried. His home is in Nashville. The bodies have not yet been recovered, although rigid patrol has been kept up over the accident.

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