Staff Writer 

 Some people say July 11, 1944, was an overcast, rainy day. Others remember it being bright and sunny. 

Whatever the weather was over the fields and trailer park that used to exist where now there are only parking lots and brick buildings, there is one thing everyone remembers.

Around 5 p.m., a twin engine A-26 Invader bomber aircraft crashed into the South Portland trailer park and set the fields ablaze with jet fuel, killing 19 people.

Resident and veteran John Kierstead said he showed the spot – now a pool area for nearby residents – to a friend and described what happened that day. 

“Fee Russell’s luck ran out,” he said. “Any aviator will tell you that’s the most important thing to have in the cockpit.”

Fee Russell, a prominent South Portland resident, former flight instructor and a combat experienced pilot was coming into what is now the Portland International Jetport to meet his wife and daughter. He hadn’t flown into the airport since he was deployed in 1940, which Kierstead said could have played a role in the crash. 

“He may have thought he knew the area, but it can look a lot different from up there,” he said. 

In piecing together the final moments before the crash, Kierstead said one witness told him he spotted the incoming plane while walking out of the Red Bank general store with a bag of potatoes on a drizzly day. According to his account, the plane was banked sharply to starboard and struck an embankment to the north of a trailer park, bounced, and burst into flames amidst the trailers, Kierstead said. 

Another witness “swears up and down” he saw the plane fly overhead several times and even saw flames coming from one of the engines before the crash while he was haying in a nearby field, Kierstead said. 

“I can’t get a decent day,” he said. “You can’t hay when it’s rainy and foggy.”

One eyewitness claims he was swimming in nearby Long Creek when the plane struck, also suggesting it was a warm day, Kierstead said. This particular witness managed to take several photographs of the crash, which Kierstead said have helped put some of the pieces together. 

“In some of his pictures you can see a reflection of the wing in the windows of the trailer park,” Kierstead said. “That was important because most people mistake an A-26 for a B-26.”

While Kierstead’s investigation is ongoing, his current top priority is to follow the advice his friend imparted to him that day next to the pool in Old English Village. 

“He asked me, ‘Where’s the memorial?’” Kierstead said. “I thought, ‘My God, there isn’t one.’”

Now Kierstead is the chairman of a five-member committee committed to raising funds for a memorial honoring victims of the crash. On Monday, the committee received the sanction of the city council to proceed with fundraising efforts and to further investigate placing a granite monument on a parcel of city land across the street from what Kierstead calls “ground zero.”

“Ideally I’d like to plant 19 trees as well, to honor each of the victims,” he said. “We’re still in the preliminary stages of what this will actually look like.”

Mayor Tom Blake, who is also on the committee, said he anticipates the memorial could be of no cost for the city to install, but was not sure who would be responsible for the long-term maintenance. Kierstead estimated the final cost to be about $10,000 for the monument, most of which could be raised through donations.

“The outpouring from people has been staggering,” he said. “The phone calls I’ve been getting are absolutely stunning.”

Councilor Linda Boudreau said she is surprised it took the city more than 50 years to recognize the event. 

“I’m glad there’s a group that remembers this tragedy,” she said. “The fact that somehow we’ve chosen to wipe it from our memories is really sad.”

While the committee is just entering the design phase, Blake said he wouldn’t be surprised if more, similar projects are spurred as the history of that particular area of the city is brought to the surface.

“The history out in the West End is absolutely phenomenal,” he said. “I could see memorials like these popping up all over the Greenbelt.”