Pilot 2nd Lt. Thomas Tuttle Killed in Jet Airplane Crash

(May 15, 1958) -- Second Lt. Thomas W. Tuttle, Jr., 25, son of Mr. and Mrs. Tuttle Sr., of Heatherington Road, an Air National Guard pilot, was killed last Wednesday when his jet reconnaissance plane crashed  in flames while he was attempting a landing at Detroit's Wayne Major Airport.

An airport spokesman said the plane, an RF84F, apparently stalled during the approach to the landing strip and nosed into a field about a mile south of Wayne Major.

Lt. Tuttle, a February graduate of the University of Michigan, was about a week away from the end of a 45-day tour of active duty with the 127th Tactical Reconnaissance Group, of the Air National Guard.

The Air Force said the plane was completely destroyed.

Lt. Tuttle left the University of Michigan in his senior year in August 1956 to begin pilot training in the Air Cadet Corps. He recently received his commission in the Michigan Air National Guard.

Lt. Tuttle was born in Orange, while his father, an executive for International Telephone & Telegraph Corp., for 28 years was assigned in this area. The family moved to Nutley four years ago from Monterey, Mexico.

While at college, he was a member of the track team and of the Acacia Fraternity.

He leaves also two brothers, David Tuttle a student at Marietta College, Marietta, Ohio, and Allan Tuttle, 19, a student at Yale University in Connecticut.

The Nutley Sun:

AIR GUARD PILOT KILLED IN JET AIRPLANE CRASH

2nd Lieut. Thomas Tuttle, Jr., Is Fatal Victim In Detroit Landing Mishap

Nutley Sons Honor Roll

Peacetime Casualties