Lost in the Skies: The Heroic Sacrifice of Lt. Cmdr. Corry

CALLAWAY, FL - Lieutenant Commander William Merrill Corry, Jr., born on October 5, 1889, in Quincy, Florida, must have had nerves of steel. He was one of the early aviators, the 23rd naval aviator ever licensed in the U.S. He was a Naval Academy graduate with honors and served in the U.S. Navy, spending four years on the U.S.S. Kansas. While on the ship, he had a burning desire to become a pilot and later became a fighter pilot, serving in World War I.

Lt. Cmdr. Corry was posthumously awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor after he lost his life in an aircraft accident on October 6, 1920. Early airplanes did not have the instruments that are in use today, so navigating when the skies were unclear was challenging to say the least. There was cloud cover, and the pilot was trying to land but couldn’t find the airport, so they landed on a golf course where they stayed for two days, then requested that the plane be refueled. The young man who fueled the plane did not use the correct fuel, using automobile gas instead of aviation gas. When they were lifting off and flying over the tree line, the engine stalled causing the plane to nose over and crash.

Lt. Cmdr. Corry was in the passenger seat and was thrown clear since he was in the back and not wearing a seat belt. He was catapulted about 15 feet forward of the airplane, but the co-pilot was crushed under the plane and did not escape before the plane burst into flames. Lt. Cmdr. Corry could hear his buddy screaming in agony being burned alive, and even with three broken ribs and a broken nose he managed to rush back through the fire to unbuckle his buddy. In doing so, he sustained serious burns from which he died four days later in the hospital. Some of the other people from the golf course came over, started dousing the flames and pulled his buddy out, who died later that night.

An airfield was named Corry Field in his honor and was located near I-10 and I-110 near Davis Avenue in Pensacola, Florida. After five years, the city started to encroach on the field, so a second Corry field was opened just above Roscoe, along Highway 98. There is also a football field named in his honor in Quincy. What heroic service from a courageous man!

This information came from fascinating presentations made to the Callaway Historical Society on April 21st by Mike Smith and Jim Corry. Smith was a veteran and a pilot who flew for Gulf Power for 28 years. And Jim Corry, a published author and great nephew of William Merrill Corry, Jr.

You can learn more from the book, “SOARING: The Legacy of U.S. Aviator #23 Lieutenant Commander William Merrill Corry, Jr.” by Stanley Michelson and James Corry.