NORFOLK – More than half a century after a 25-year-old WWII pilot fatally crashed his plane into a ridge on Great Mountain Forest in Norfolk, the circumstances remain a mystery – but artifacts preserve the soldier’s legacy.
On March 31, 1943, First Lieutenant Daniel Henry Thorson of the United States Army Air Force took off from Mitchell Field on Long Island at 3:34 p.m. His destination was what was then known as Bradley Field at Windsor Locks, Connecticut.
Thorson was flying a P-40E-1 fighter plane with three and a half hours of fuel, and what should have been a routine, 30-minute flight somehow went disastrously wrong.
According to records, the plane crashed at 4:10 p.m. in a remote area on Great Mountain Forest (GMF), killing Thorson. The Connecticut Western News edition of April 29, 1943 reported the details weeks later.
“The mysterious and unsolved death three weeks ago of Aviation Lieut. Daniel H. Thorson, age 25, of South Worth, Pas., in the deep jungle recesses of Canaan Mountain while on a routine flight from Mitchell Field, New York to Bradley Field, Windsor Locks, is one that is puzzling the brains of our military forces,” the article noted.
It went on to share that Thorson’s body and his plane were found high up on the mountainside one Saturday morning by two students of the Yale School of Forestry, William Holmes and F.J. Turner. The duo was running a surveyors’ line through the 4,000 acre estate of S.W. Childs, a founder of GMF.
“Had these men not been surveying in the mountainous territory,” the article said, “there is no telling when the body of the intrepid flier might have been discovered.”
Present-day GMF property manager Russell M. Russ made artifacts of the crash available, including a large chunk of the aircraft itself and a .50 caliber machine gun round.
Russ said when the Army came to the crash site, the salvage team recovered everything they could find, including thousands of .50 caliber rounds.
Thorson was honored, and a marker installed near the scene of the accident on June 25, 2003.
The memorial service included a presentation of awards and decorations to Thorson’s relatives, a proclamation from Governor John Rowland, the reading of memorial letters from military officers – including Capt. Howard Tuman, Thorson’s squadron leader – and a flyover with A-Warthogs from the Connecticut Air National Guard.
Justine and Victor Valla in their studio with a painting of Victor’s,”Jonah and the Whale.” Robin Roraback 
A ceramic vase by Kathleen Heidemann.Provided 
Joy Brown’s delightful ceramic sculptures.Provided 
