Lt. Willard's Plane Crashed in Ocean, Headed for Washington, D.C.

Bay City Flier Was Recovering From Kidney Ailment After Iceland Expedition

January 2, 2012
By: Dave Rogers

Lt. Rush Howard Willard, Bay City flier who died in a plane crash during World War II, never reached a combat zone.

He died about five weeks after the attack on Pearl Harbor by the Japanese that launched the United States into World War II. Thus he never had a chance to use the skills he had learned from youthful air experiments and training in piloting a Curtiss P-40 Warhawk.

A classmate from the 1937 Central High graduation class, Marshall Carter, retired advertising manager of The Bay City Times, recalled that Willard had died in a training accident.

Local author Geraldine Higgs recalled Rush Willard became a PR representative for the Army Air Force, traveling around the country giving speeches until he asked to be returned to active duty. Mrs. Higgs wrote:

"As a member of the 33rd squadron he was in July 1941 sent as squadron leader to Iceland where a submarine surfaced in the bay and Rush had the unique experience of relieving the German captain of his sidearm, a Luger, which he kept as a souvenir.

"A medical emergency sent him to Walter Reed Hospital after which he spent some time in Bay City recuperating. He was still "grounded" on January 14, 1942 when he left Gunther Field in Montgomery Alabama with a Lt. Fanin at the controls on his way to Washington, D.C. when they crashed in the Atlantic Ocean. Rush's brother Dean was also a Pilot and died on his first mission over Germany in 1945."

Willard had joined the service shortly after graduation in 1939 from Bay City Junior College. He had financed his college education by leading a 12-piece orchestra.

News and war department reports were that Lt. Willard was killed in a plane piloted by 2nd Lt. James A. Fannin, 33, that unexplicably fell into the ocean 45 miles off Cape Charles, Virginia.

Fannin was a dentist from Memphis, Tennessee. The plane that crashed was a two seat BT-13A Vultee Valiant with a sliding cockpit cover. The plane was built by the Vultee company in Downey, California.

The pursuit aircraft was about 150 miles off course while reportedly on a route from Knoxville, Tennessee, to Bolling Field, Washington, D.C.

There was no indication of the mission of the pursuit plane but Lt. Willard had received permission to seek new active duty orders from Army officials in Washington.

The fatal flight came after he had been treated for a kidney ailment incurred while on an expedition to Iceland in July 1941. He was taken ill while serving as troop commander of a secret mission and was returned to the U.S. in a bomber flight.

Lt. Willard had spent 46 days in Walter Reed Army Hospital in Washington and subsequently had been back in Bay City for a 30 day leave. He went back to the hospital for several weeks more treatment and then passed his physical examination Dec. 15, 1941, a week after the Pearl Harbor attack.

Born in White Cloud, Michigan, Oct. 11, 1918, Lt. Willard's father, W.A. Luther Willard, and mother Martha, lived at 2003 Tenth St. Luther was a retired senior educational advisor for the Civilian Conservation Corps, a work initiative of the administration of President Franklin D. Roosevelt.

Lt. Willard's body was recovered, along with the landing gear of the plane, by a naval vessel, but there was no trace of the pilot, Fannin. The pair was stationed at Gunter Field, also known as Maxwell Field, now Maxwell Air Force Base, Montgomery, Alabama.

The body was returned to Bay City under escort by Lt. Herbert K. Lindley, of Gunther Field, Montgomery, Alabama, where Lt. Willard had been stationed.

A contingent of Bay City musicians met the body of Lt. Willard at the train depot and formed an honor escort to his home where the body lay in state. A detachment of fellow fliers from Selfridge Field, Michigan, also participated in the funeral services at Trinity Episcopal Church here. The Rev. Harold McCausland officiated.

He was buried with full military honors in a cemetery at Webberville, Michigan, near Lansing.