Edwin R. Stevenson
Edwin R. Stevenson
Captain Edwin R. Stevenson was born on August 25, 1917 in Pennsylvania to Howard and Evelyn Stevenson. By 1922 the family had moved to New Jersey, living at 225 South Barrett Avenue in Audubon, NJ. Besides Edwin, there were two younger brothers, Charles L. and Howard Russell, and a younger sister, Eleanor. He graduated from Audubon High School and received a degree in mechanical engineering from the Drexel Institute in Philadelphia.
A member of the Army Reserves, Captain Stevenson flew anti-submarine patrols in the Caribbean during World War II and was an expert helicopter pilot. His brother Howard served as a fighter pilot, and youngest brother Charles was assigned to bombers. Charles L. Stevenson was killed in action while serving with the 306th Bomber Group on January 11, 1944, and was brought home after the war ended and buried at Beverly National Cemetery on July 16, 1948.
On September 2, 1949, Captain Edwin R. Stevenson was killed when the Army C-47 he was piloting crashed in icy waters off Cook Inlet, near Anchorage, Alaska, after flying into a thundercloud. He was one of seven men on the plane. His body was not recovered until 1995, when he was brought home to New Jersey and buried near his brother at Beverly National Cemetery on July 25, 1995 — Plot MA O 65.
Beverly National Cemetery, Beverly, New Jersey
He was survived by his parents; his wife, Cecelia; his son, Lawrence; his brother Howard, then of Runnemede, NJ; and his sister, Eleanor, of the Audubon address.
Audubon Captain Is Killed in Air Crash in Alaska
Camden Courier-Post —
Capt. Edwin R. Stevenson, 32, an army airplane pilot, of 225 South Barrett avenue, Audubon, was killed Friday in a thundercloud crash of a C-47 transport plane in icy waters off Cook inlet, 10 miles southeast of Anchorage, Alaska. He was one of seven men on the plane identified as killed.
The pilot’s father, Howard R. Stevenson, said today he has not been notified by the War Department of his son’s death.
Search crews reported little likelihood of recovering all the bodies. The plane sank in shallow water but settled in deep mud.
Officers at Elmdorf field quoted a hunter, who reported witnessing the crash, as saying the ill-fated plane flew into a thundercloud. The witness said there was a flash of lightning and as the plane came out of the cloud it went into uncontrolled flight.
Plane Explodes
As it plunged, one wing tore off and the C-47 struck the water and exploded.
Born in Philadelphia, Captain Stevenson had been a resident of Audubon since he was six years of age. He was a graduate of the Audubon high school and a mechanical engineering graduate of Drexel Institute.
He was in the army reserve when the United States entered War II after Pearl Harbor. He flew in the submarine patrol in the Caribbean during the war and was a helicopter expert.
Widow Survives
A brother, Charles L., who was navigator of a B-17, was killed over Germany in War II. Another brother, Howard R. Jr., of Runnemede, was a fighter pilot in the war and served over Germany.
Also surviving Captain Stevenson are his widow, Cecelia, and a son, Lawrence, 4, who are in Anchorage; his mother, Mrs. Evelyn L. Stevenson, of the Audubon address; and a sister, Miss Eleanor Stevenson, at home. Captain Stevenson’s father is a draftsman at the New York shipyard.