Page 172 - Family History

Letters, Postcards, Clippings

William A. Boyd (Backy’s Crash) Letter

William A. Boyd
250 White Oak Lane
Winnetka, Illinois

November 21, 1945

Dear Mr. Backman, [Everett’s father.]

Please forgive the long delay in answering your letter of
August 27th requesting details of Backy’s death. The letter was
forwarded to me from the ship, as there is now no aviator aboard
who was present at the time of Back’s crash.

Before I go on, let me introduce myself. I joined the ship
in Bremerton last year, as Rex Batten’s relief. Ev. and I were
friends from the start, and at the time of his death he was by
far my closest friend aboard. He was such a swell guy in every
respect that we all felt a great sense of grief and loss. From
my own feeling I know what yours must have been.

Here is the story. I will let you draw your own
conclusions as to the cause of the accident. Backy was
catapulted at about eight o’clock on a clear morning. The
catapulting was normal, and the hop just routine, one of many
that we made just to get flying time in our logs. He climbed to
about six hundred feet, circling the ship, and then headed off
away from the Task Group. The second plane, piloted by Art
Thomas followed him out and attempted to join up on Backy, who
was the leader of the hop. Art said later that every time he
tried to join up, Backy would sheer off to one side, as though
he didn’t want Art to join up on him. This would suggest that Ev
was trying to fix something in his plane, and didn’t want
another plane flying close to him. Suddenly, according to Art,
Ev’s plane banked steeply, went into a steep dive, and crashed
into the sea, disappearing below the surface almost immediately.
Art landed at once, but by the time he reached the scene of the
crash, there was only a little oil to mark the spot.

When we made out the accident report, all we could put in
the blank marked “Cause” was “Undetermined”, and we still have

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