1941 crash site at Conn. airport found?

HARTFORD, Conn., Sept. 15 (UPI) -- Connecticut archaeologists believe they have found the place a young pilot crashed in 1941 under a runway at his namesake airport, Bradley International.

Eugene M. Bradley was a 2nd lieutenant training for a war that did not yet involve the United States when he was killed in an exercise at what was then Windsor Locks Army Air Base outside Hartford. The plane came down nose first, burying everything except the tail.

State Archaeologist Nicholas Bellantoni told The Hartford Courant he believes the crash site is under the crosswind runway.

"We hit with the radar a wonderful feature that looks like it may be it," Bellantoni said Thursday. "I'm 90 percent sure this is the site."

State Department of Transportation officials said Monday they had not yet decided whether to allow additional exploration under the runway.

After the crash, most of the plane was recovered, and what was left covered with a bulldozer. Bradley's body, discovered still strapped in his seat, was returned to his native Texas for burial.

For some reason, the exact site of the crash was not recorded. Bellantoni said many small shards of debris are likely to remain buried that will identify the crash scene.