
Aroostook County
Historical & Art Museum
of Houlton
Walter Varney Plane Crash 1945

Arvard Noble, 19, Still In Serious Condition at Local Hospital
Arvard Noble, 19, son of Mr. and Mrs. G. Mae Noble of Littleton was hospitalized by serious injuries and Walter Varney, 35, suffered minor bruises and a shaking up when the Piper Cub training plane, in which they were flying, piloted by Varney, went out of control at 800 feet and plunged to earth near the B road and Bangor and Aroostook crossing late Saturday afternoon.
The crash was investigated by State Trooper Donald Herron and by W.F. Placek from the district office of the C.A.A., at Concord, N.H. Officer Herron reported that the plane had just taken off on what was to be a routine flight for flying time. Noble, a passenger in the front cockpit of the two place ship had taken one lesson.
At 800 feet, he reported, the pilot testified that the control stick came loose in his hand and the light ship immediately went out of control. Before he could reach over into the front seat and seize the dual control mechanism, the plane had plummeted earthward almost in a nose dive. It glanced from a tree and skidded to a stop about 200 feet from where the B road crosses the Bangor and Aroostook tracks. The heavy snow in which it landed cushioned the force of the fall. If the ground had been bare witnesses said, both passengers would have been killed instantly.
Varney suffered a minor cut on the jaw and was considerably shaken up. Noble sustained severe lacerations about the head. He was rushed to the Aroostook Hospital where he was given immediate treatment. Medical Examiner Frank H. Jackson reports the boy’s condition still to be very serious. He was also attended by a Bangor specialist Monday.
No report has been given for the cause of the crash by the investigating officials.
Taken from the Houtlon Pioneer Times, February 15, 1945