BADIN, N.C. -- Seventy years after tragedy engulfed the small town of Badin, a World War II B-25 bomber plane and the bodies of its two pilots still rest beneath the lake's deep waters.
THE LEGEND
The legend of the Badin Lake bomber is a seven-decade mystery laced with an ill-fated love story -- a compelling basis for a tale that has held the interest of locals and aura of the town.
"It was really a romantic tragedy. Young bride...watching her new husband crash into Badin Lake, where he remains to this day," explained Curt Dorsey, a longtime Badin resident who has harbored a fascination for this story.
June 7, 1944, 2nd Lieutenant Charles McDaniel and co-pilot John Withrow were ferrying a plane to Cherry Point base in North Carolina. An aircraft trouble report reveals the pilots encountered bad weather along the journey and had to land at Morris Field base in Charlotte. They decided to spend that night in nearby Palmerville, near Badin, where McDaniel grew up and lived with his bride of only seven months.
The next morning, the weather appeared to be clear. McDaniel reportedly told his newlywed wife, Elizabeth Hill, that he would circle Palmer Mountain and fly by the house to signal goodbye, as affirmation that sky conditions were adequate and he would be continuing toward the destination.
Hill watched from her yard, waiting for him to fly across. Details of what happened next are still unclear. After emitting a loud roar, the plane crashed into the waters of Badin Lake.
"She (Hill) ran in the house, knowing something had happened. Everybody was running to the lake. When the plane crashed, there were a lot of things floating on the water. People were out there picking up what they could," said Badin native David Summerlin.
Summerlin, who is now the chairman of the Badin Historic Museum, was a child when he saw the B-25 bomber plane fly across Badin Lake shortly before it crashed.
"I was seven years old, and I had the mumps. There was a reason I wasn't in school. And I happened to be standing there on this end of the porch when that airplane flew across. Now at that time, I had no clue what was going on, and I did not hear the crash," Summerlin recalled while showing WFMY News 2 his childhood home.
Summerlin admitted it was unusual to see a B-25 bomber plane fly across the lake. "But, now, Badin had been through a war. It was just at the end of it, and Badin had seen a lot of military action. We had maneuvers here," he said.
THE SEARCH TO FIND THE PLANE AND PILOTS
Shortly after the plane crashed, the military arrived and launched an extensive search of Badin Lake.
"The first thing they did was starting putting off dynamite charges trying to get something to come up that they could locate the plane," explained Summerlin.
Lacking sonar technology and diving equipment of modern day, the search was predominantly reliant on divers. A diver claimed he located the plane, approximately 200 feet beneath the surface near Palmer Mountain. However, he reported finding no evidence of the pilots. Search efforts were hampered because the water was deep and infiltrated by trees, and the plane, itself, had been crushed by the impact and dynamite.
A military report document filed June 15, 1944 reads, "A total of six dives were made on the plane, and after a conference with the divers, it was decided that it would be impossible to recover bodies or parts of bodies due to the fact that the plane was so badly crushed."
ELIZABETH HILL'S LIFE AND DEATH
According to Summerlin, Elizabeth Hill remarried and legally became (Mary) Elizabeth Hill Cutrell. She had children. Summerlin said Hill eventually divorced. She died Aug. 18, 1986 at the age of 65. Badin locals have said she has one living sibling, a brother, who still lives near Badin Lake.
Though Hill remarried, Summerlin said he believes her heart never fully moved on from her first love -- McDaniel. She is buried in a cemetery on the Palmer Mountain hillside, where she once waited for McDaniel to wave farewell. Just feet from her headstone is an empty grave marked with McDaniel's name and date of death.
THEORIES ABOUT WHAT CAUSED THE CRASH
The military never officially concluded what caused the crash. The Navy did determine McDaniel was 15 miles from his approved route when the accident happened -- a factor Summerlin said could have gotten the pilots court marshaled, had they survived.
The plane had no reported maintenance troubles on the day of the crash. Summerlin maintains the theory that the plane hit an air pocket, which caused the wing to tip and hit the water.
Divers' reports claim the bodies of the pilots were not in the cockpit -- a detail Dorsey said he finds perplexing.
"If they were strapped in, you would think they would still be in the seats," he noted.
However, given the possibility that the dynamite blast caused the bodies to eject from the wreckage, Summerlin said it is possible their bodies became trapped in the trees and mud beneath the lake. The gradual forming of silt might have prevented any other evidence of the pilots from surfacing.
ARTIFACTS RECOVERED
According to the Navy, a brown sock and shirt sleeve were the only articles recovered from the pilots. In the years since the crash, the Badin Historic Museum recovered and now preserves a radio tube identified as that of the plane.
A B-25 wheel also is in the museum, but Summerlin has not run the military serial number to prove it can be traced back to the plane. Dorsey recovered the wheel after discovering a local farmer was using it on his tractor.
"I said what do you want to do, you gonna sell it or you want to donate it? He said I'm so broke I'll take 20 bucks for it. So, I went back to my truck, got 20 bucks, got the wheel. When you really looked at it you could tell it came off a B-25. It had the manufacturer's date. It had all kinds of numbers on it," Dorsey recalled.
Dorsey explained he first became fascinated by the story because it is one he grew up learning. "I heard the adults talking about it all my life. My uncle actually had a seat that floated up in Palmerville, but who knows whatever happened with it," he said.
ONGOING INVESTIGATION
In 1991, the Naval Historical Center and underwater archaeologist Wendy Coble attempted another search effort for the plane. The search report indicates their goals were to locate the plane and determine the reason it crashed. The report states additional goals "were the potential for retrieval and burial of the crew and display of the aircraft as a memorial to the lost pilots."
The divers claimed to have found wreckage of the plane, which they determined had crashed at a high speed and most likely broke apart upon impact. The team also concluded the remains of the pilots are no longer with the plane, if they ever were, and are unlikely to be found. Furthermore, the team said an additional investigation would "require the permission of ALCOA and the State of North Carolina." Anyone who commits "unauthorized disturbance" of the remains is subject to criminal prosecution from the federal government.
The remainder of search funds from this effort were donated to the Badin Historic Museum to fund a memorial statue. The statue was unveiled on Veterans Day in 2001.
HISTORY OF BADIN LAKE
The ALCOA aluminum company opened the lake, also known as the Narrows Reservoir, in 1917 to cool the plant. The lake spans Stanly County, Davidson County, and Montgomery County and runs into the Yadkin River.
Today, the lake is a popular recreational spot for North Carolinians who enjoy water sports or relaxing among the beauty of the Uwharrie National Forest.
The town of Badin has a population of approximately 1,800 people, comprised of both longtime residents and newcomers who have bought lake property.
"Everyone that comes in is always amazed at how Badin's been the best-kept secret for a lot of years," Summerlin said.
According to the Badin Historic Museum, the town was settled in 1913 by a French company who worked on the lake's dam, which generated electricity for an aluminum smelter. The town evolved as a community to house the workers. The French company sold the project to ALCOA in 1915.
Since 1983, Badin is listed on the Register of Historic Places.
