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Submitted by Fred Remington
From the Rutland Herald June 26,1935
Last Chapter Of Life`s Story Of Ace Of The Air,
"100 Per Cent Mac"
This is a continuation of last week’s story of a tragic airplane crash at the old Rutland airport that involved the crash of two planes and the death of two flyers.
Finis was written yesterday to the thrilling story of an aviator`s life--an ace of the air whose career would read like a book of romance if compiled in chronological order. When W. H. (Mac) McMullen`s life was snuffed out at noon yesterday in a tragic crash at the airport dedication, the country lost an able airman and a chap whom everybody liked and called "100 per cent Mac".
When McMullen died another brave man crossed into the beyond with him--R. L. Oakes, an aerial photographer of country-wide experience.
Both men died in harness, the one a pilot of a Bellanca plane, the other with his photographic instruments and paraphernalia equipped for work.
The two were taking photographs for the Aerial Exploration Survey company of New York of the hills and vales that are incorporated in the Vermont national forest and the proposed parkway.
The plane in which the two met death, was the one which McMullen flew over the Andes Mountains of South America for the Shippe-Johnson Expedition for the National Geographic society. It was equipped with aerial mapping equipment as well as a regular air camera.
McMullen dated his aviation career back to the World war in which he attained the rank of captain. After the war, he did what most army pilots did, "barn-storming", and later affiliated with a large plane manufacturing company. He tested and sold planes. One of his assignments was to take a large number of planes to China and start one of the river routes, which have made China air-minded. He later sold a large order of pursuit and attack ships to the Chinese government.
He came back to America and took up with Lieut. James A. Doolittle as sales partner. Their work took them to South America and Europe. It was after this tour that he joined the Shippe-Johnson expedition. He had been doing map work since that time
Wives Hear Dread News From Police
Two young wives, who kissed their husbands goodbye shortly before they took off from the Glens Falls, N.Y. airport at 10 a.m. yesterday morning, arrived in Rutland at 9:30 o’clock last night to learn that the mangled and lifeless bodies of their men were lying in an undertaking establishment.
The comely young matrons Mrs. Myra McMullen and Mrs. Helen Oakes, wives of the victims of the plane crash over the Rutland airport yesterday, were informed of the tragedy as they sat in an automobile outside the Rutland police station.
Mrs. McMullen heard the fatal news, quietly and with composure. Tears came to her eyes, as she asked to use the police stations telephone to inform relatives of the tragedy.
Mrs. Oakes however, fell into a dead faint. As Miss Anne Mae Rousseau, a nurse and members of the police department tried to revive her, efforts were made to reach a physician. Dr. Robert Williams was located and reached the scene. He stated that although the newly informed widow had been unconscious for nearly a half hour, she would recover.
She was removed to the Bardwell hotel on a stretcher.
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