Walter Mitchell Ledford was the son of Benjamin Harrison Ledford and Ertie York.
He died on 30 June 1941 in Florida
Buried at Wilder Cemetery, Wilder, TN
Seaman First Class
U.S. Navy
BT-1 landplane, piloted by Aviation Cadet Frank Duer Mears (USNR), crashed near Fort Lauderdale, Florida, about 2.48 p.m., June 30, 1941. Mears and Ledford were in the plane when it entered a normal spin at a comparatively low altitude, from which recovery was not effected prior to its striking the ground.
The Commercial Appeal, July 1, 1941
The Opla-Loka Naval Aviation Training Station’s second fatal crash in foru days killed a student pilot and his mechanic on Monday. Aviation Cadet Frank D. Mears, 23, of Pocomoke City, Md., and Machinist Walter M. Ledford, 20, of Grimsley, Tenn, died instantly when the Navy plane crashed into an abandoned sand pit near here. “They were on a regular scheduled training flight,” Commander G.H. Bogan of the station said. “The pilot apparently lost control of the plane and it spun in.” The plane hit nose first, half burying itself in the sand, and was demolished. Two eye-witnesses, the Rev. James A. Brown and Earl W. Vennum of Miami, said the plane went into a spin and its motor was running at the time of the crackup. There was no explosion.
- Rank: Seaman First Class
- Date of birth: 22 June 1921
- Date of death: 30 June 1941
- County: Fentress
- Hometown: Grimsley
- Service Branch: Navy
- Conflict: World War II
- Burial/Memorial Location: Wilder Cemetery, Wilder, Fentress County, TN
- Location In Memorial: Pillar IX, Top Panel
- Contact us to sponsor Walter M. Ledford
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