May 16th On the road to Perry, Florida A terrific story Navy Lt. Robert Allison

I was attracted to this one because of the big US Flag, slowly wafting in the breeze.  Took the shots, then learned about the story later tonight. Quite a story for this one:

On August 11, 1955 at approximately 1600 hours, Lt Robert Clem Allison was returning on a routine training mission from Pensacola NAS back to Jacksonville's Cecil Field when his F2H4 Banshee jet aircraft sustained a catastrophic in flight emergency requiring him to immediate land. Fortunately Lt. Allison was able to touch down on Highway 27 about 12 miles East of Perry, Florida. As he was making his final roll out a fully loaded log truck and another vehicle came around the curve just in front of him. Lt. Allison only had seconds to make a decision and his final decision was to give his failing aircraft full throttle, pulled up and fly it into a cypress swamp just off the side of the highway. Don L. Whitfield, the driver of the log truck said the aircraft missed the cab of his truck by inches, “I knew I was going to die, either by crashing into the ditch in my loaded truck or be killed by the jet.” Lt. Allison’s funeral was conducted in his home town of Robinson, Illinois. In his obituary it was stated he had died during a routine training mission therefore none of his friends and probably most of his family never knew the true sacrifice that he had made. It is still unclear if he was decorated by the Department of Navy for his heroism.
During the Korean War, Lt. Allison served 18 months on the heavy cruiser USS Bremerton and was commissioned a Navy Lieutenant (JG) upon his graduation from the US Naval Academy in 1952. In January 1954, he began flight training at Pensacola NAS and was subsequently reassigned to Cecil Field in Jacksonville.

A Banshee, of the type the LT was flying.