Individual Details
Robert Dowden Baker
(17 Aug 1938 - 19 Sep 1960)
Arkansas Gazette, Little Rock, Arkansas, Wednesday, September 21, 1960, Page 11: LR Air Cadet, 2 Navy Pilots Killed in Crash. A student pilot from Little Rock was killed with two other men Monday night in an airplane crash at the Corpus Christi, Tex. Naval Air Station. One of the victims was Aviation Cadet Robert Dowden Baker, 22, son of Robert L. Baker of 101 Galway Street, North Little Rock, and Mrs. Mary A. Baker of 4320 Kenyon Street, Little Rock. He was flying with two instructors in an S2F-1T "Tracker" plane, a type used for submarine search, making touch-and-go landings as a training exercise. These are practice landings in which the pilot brings the plane down until the wheels touch the runway, then puts on power to take off and go around for another landing.
The Navy said the twin-engine jet lane fell just short of the south gate of the station when it failed to pull up from a ground controlled approach. In such an approach the control tower on the ground guides a plane toward the runway with radio instructions, simulating conditions such as fog when the pilot can't see the runway. If for any reason the airplane doesn't get lined up correctly with the runway, the tower operator orders the pilot to pull up and go around the landing pattern again.
Crashes Near Highway. The plane exploded and burned within 30 feet of a row of business houses near the Air Station but didn't damage them. The crash was only a few yards from the highway on the south side of the Air Station. The men killed with Baker were listed by the Navy as Lt. Lorenzo J. Rathke, 30, of Westmont, Ill., and Lt. John J. Battersby, 26, of Bayside, N. Y. Baker was a graduate of Central High School and had attended Little Rock University and the University of Arkansas. He was a member of the First Presbyterian Church. Other survivors include a bother, Bill Baker of Little Rock, and his grandparents, Mr. and Mrs. R. J. Baker and Mrs. Louise Dowden, all of North Little Rock. Griffin-Leggett will announce the funeral arrangements.
Photo of Cadet R. L. Baker with newspaper article.
The Navy said the twin-engine jet lane fell just short of the south gate of the station when it failed to pull up from a ground controlled approach. In such an approach the control tower on the ground guides a plane toward the runway with radio instructions, simulating conditions such as fog when the pilot can't see the runway. If for any reason the airplane doesn't get lined up correctly with the runway, the tower operator orders the pilot to pull up and go around the landing pattern again.
Crashes Near Highway. The plane exploded and burned within 30 feet of a row of business houses near the Air Station but didn't damage them. The crash was only a few yards from the highway on the south side of the Air Station. The men killed with Baker were listed by the Navy as Lt. Lorenzo J. Rathke, 30, of Westmont, Ill., and Lt. John J. Battersby, 26, of Bayside, N. Y. Baker was a graduate of Central High School and had attended Little Rock University and the University of Arkansas. He was a member of the First Presbyterian Church. Other survivors include a bother, Bill Baker of Little Rock, and his grandparents, Mr. and Mrs. R. J. Baker and Mrs. Louise Dowden, all of North Little Rock. Griffin-Leggett will announce the funeral arrangements.
Photo of Cadet R. L. Baker with newspaper article.
Events
| Birth | 13 Aug 1936 | ||||
| Birth | 17 Aug 1938 | Arkansas |  | ||
| Death | 19 Sep 1960 | Corpus Christi, Nueces Co., Texas | | ||
| Burial | Roselawn Memorial Park, Little Rock, Pulaski Co., Arkansas | |
Families
| Father | Robert Llewellyn Combs Baker (1913 - 1985) |
| Mother | Mary Alexander Dowden (1914 - 1962) |
| Sibling | William Royce Baker (1945 - ) |
Endnotes
1. Ancestry.com, Public Member Trees (Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2006), Database online..
2. A Kirkpatrick Genealogy; Melvin Kirkpatrick & David Hudson, 1995, page 202.
3. Ancestry.com, Public Member Trees (Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2006), Database online..
4. Texas Death Index.
5. Texas Deaths 1890-1976, Viewed death information on-line.
6. Roselawn Memorial Park, Little Rock, Pulaski Co., Arkansas, Phone call to 501-663-0248 on April 7, 2016 confirmed Mary Baker and her son Robert D. Baker are buried near Robert L. Baker..