S/N 52-7510

The Daily Republican (Monongahela, Pennsylvania)
Friday, January 15, 1954 page 1

Pilot Uninjured In Snow Rescue Helicopter Crash

VIENNA, Austria (UP) – Second Lt. H. E. Cooley, of Pittsburgh, escaped injury today when his big H-19 Sikorsky helicopter crashed while trying to land at Blons in the avalanced-ravaged Great Walser Valley.

Cooley already had made 14 round trips from Ludesch to Blons with food and supplies for avalanche survivors. His helicopter nosedived into avalanche drifts and was wrecked so badly “it will be impossible to repair it.” Col. Robert L. Rizon, of Long Beach, Calif., said. Rizon is commanding officer of the helicopter rescue force.

The 23-year-old Pennsylvania pilot had been assigned to the Air Force rescue mission since American flyers began taking their planes into the Austrian “Death Valley”.

“I haven’t been out of these clothes yet,” the young pilot grinned when he completed his last mission.

The Air Force pilot, who earned his degree at Allegheny College in Meadville, PA., was married last October to the former Suzanne McCreary, Beaver Falls, PA.