Newspaper article from the High Point Enterprise describes the crash.
Altimeter Error Possible In Crash That Killed Two WRECKAGE OF LIGHT PLANE IN WHICH TWO PEOPLE DIED ( S t a f f Pholo by Sonny Hedgecock) Fifty or 100 more feet, and Robert V, Bain would have made It Into the rain : and fog- shrouded Asheboro Municipal Airport late Sunday afternoon. Instead, the Piper Cherokee plane the High Point attorney was flying crashed into the side of Burkehead Mountain about two miles from the runway. The crash killed Bain, 31, president of the High Point Jaycees, and Miss Gloria Jean Norman, 23, also from High Point, a passenger in the light plane. Their mangled bodies were found in the wreckage of the plane Tuesday afternoon. The discovery brought to a close an intensive air search over two days for the missing airplane. Bain was last heard from at 12:30 p. m. Sunday when he left Myrtle Beach, S.C., to return to the Greensboro-High Point-Winston-Salem Airport. He had departed from the regional airport on Saturday. No flight plan was filed by Bain for his return to the Greensboro-High Point airport and he was not reported missing until 2:30 p.m. Monday. The air search by the Civil Air Patrol was hampered most of Tuesday by strong winds. The search was concentrated over the northern portion of Randolph County because of reports from numerous persons who had heard a low-flying airplane over the area late Sunday afternoon. The wreckage was spotted first from a plane piloted by George Lyles of High Point, who was assisting in the search. Lyles was coming in over Burkehead Mountain in a landing approach to the Asheboro airport when a passenger in.his plane noticed the wreckage in the;.trees just below the crest of the mountain. When he landed, Lyles reported the sighting, and he and several other persons from the airport headed for the mountaintop in a truck. Meanwhile Bill Cleland, Another pilot participating in the search made positive identification of the wreckage. Cleland, from Greensboro, circled his plane over the site until the wreckage was reached by the first rescue party. This was about 3:45 p.m. Tuesday. According to Enterprise photographer Sonny Hedgecock, who was among the first to reach the scene, the plane crashed in a heavily wooded area just below the crest of the mountain. It appeared to have been flying on a direct line of approach to the Asheboro airport, The field can be seen clearly from mountaintop, according to Hedgecock, The fuselage was lying on its right side among the trees. One wing was torn off. The area was roped off until it could be inspected by officials from the Federal Aviation Administration. Both bodies were discovered in the front seats of the plane, which has seats for four persons. The first rescuers on the scene removed the bodies, from the wreckage. Bain was identified by papers in his wallet. Identfication of Miss Norman was not made until about 7 p.m. yesterday. Randolph County coroner Julian Brady said multiple head and body injuries apparently were the cause of death, which he believed came almost instantly. The bodies were removed from the scene by members of the Ash-Rand Rescue Squad. The removal was made difficult because of the rugged terrain. Rescue workers had to leave their vehicles on a narrow logging road at the foot of the mountain and then climb slopes that seemed to rise straight into the air. It was 6:45 p.m. before rescuers reached the foot of the mountain with the bodies. Rescue workers said that if the plane had been flying slightly higher, it would have cleared the mountain and had a clear path into the Asheboro airport. Weather in the Asheboro area Sunday afforded practically no visibility, according to a pilot with the CAP. Witnesses reported seeing the airplane flying as low as 100 feet Sunday over Glenola, Archdale, the Asheboro airport, and over Midway Airport, between Thomasville and High Point.. The airplane was equipped with a radio and also with equipment for instrument flying. Bain, who had 150 hours of flying time, was not fully qualified for instrument flying, according to Lt. Col. Erwin Roberts of High Point. Deputy chief of staff for emergency services for the North Carolina Wing of the Civil Air Patrol, Roberts was in charge of the air- search for t he missing airplane, it appears that he was either making a final pass or trying to get away," Roberts said. "The ridge there is high, and he might, have had his altimeter set a 'little too low;" That Bain failed to make radio contact with anyone after leaving Myrtle Beach was also an unexplained mystery," Roberts said, "He was completely equipped." According to Roberts, the CAP searched over 2,475 square miles in seeking the missing plane. About 133 persons and 39 airplanes took part in the search, Roberts said, "We could fly only about one-third of the daylight hours available because of adverse weather conditions Tuesday," Roberts said. At one time, because of the weather, the CAP had only 19 planes in the air. The other 20 planes available were too light for flying in the high winds. "But I want to thank all of these people personally for their work in this effort," Roberts said.
Les, Don, Mike and myself, visited this debris but Mike said the crash happened way up at the top of Coolers Knob Ridge. How the wreckage got down where we were is not clear. Mike remembered the rescue effort. A truck with a winch and cables was used to haul the fuselage up. We searched for an impact crater but found none.
After our futile search, I became separated from everyone (Mike had left at this point)and decided to just head to the next spot we had planned to explore - Frank Bingham's homesite. I reached it and was wondering where the others were. I heard some voices nearby and headed in that direction to find Less and Don at a chimney none of us knew was out there.
I found a number of hand formed bricks in the chimney debris. What was odd to me, is there was no other visible signs of this being a homeplace. No other foundations. No road to it. No cedars. It was just there in the woods.
Continuing, we decided the Frank Bingham homesite was the most likely spot labeled as Camp 2 on Joe Moffit's map of the Birkheads. The Bingham homesite had all the accouterments of a homesite that were lacking from the nearby chimney.
We messed around trying to find old roads but couldn't find any which might have provided access from here to camp 1b. My time was up, so I left the fellows and made my way out.
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