Paul Darling 1921-1950

DARLING, BEUGHUN, MILLS

Posted By: Merllene Andre Bendixen (email)
Date: 7/1/2012 at 23:07:47

Paul Darling Killed in Jet Plane Crash
“Something Conked Out,” Is Report
Star Athlete in H.S., College
Airforce First Lt. Paul Darling of Estherville yesterday was killed in Aurora, Colo., when the jet fighter plane he was flying went out of control and smashed into a row of residences. (Aurora is a suburb of Denver.)

An Associated Press dispatch from Des Moines reported that Darling was catapulted into the kitchen of the home of Mr. and Mrs. Earl Horrell where the plane exploded and the body burned. The house was destroyed by fire.

Joe Galdys, an insurance salesman, who was working in a garden nearby was badly burned by a blast from the tail of the jet plane.

Witnesses said the plane took off from Denver’s Lowry air force base with another jet and climbed about 1,000 feet before “something conked out.” The fighter then clipped the tops of a cluster of hardwood trees in a vacant field north of Colfax avenue, sheared off a telephone pole, hit the ground, digging a furrow about 75 feet long and a foot deep before bouncing back into the air and across the street into the Horrell home. The family was away.

Three homes caught fire and another was slightly damaged by flying debris. Firemen had difficulty fighting the blazes because the plane clipped off the only fire hydrant in the vicinity. Airforce fire fighters from Lowry field put out the fire with chemicals.

Darling was on a routine training flight. He was a flying instructor in a pilot training group at Williams air force base, Arizona, where he and his wife, Helen, lived at Chandler, Ariz.

He was the son of Mr. and Mrs. Cecil R. Darling of Estherville, and is the second son in the family to meet death while serving with his country’s armed forces. An older brother, Yeoman first class, Gerald E. Darling, was killed June 26, 1942, in Alaska while serving in the U.S. navy. Gerald had enlisted in 1934.

Darling was born May 6, 1921, in Estherville, was educated in the Estherville public schools where he was an outstanding high school athlete, starring in football, basketball and track.

He was named to all-Lakes conference football and basketball teams while competing for the Midgets. In football he played defensive end and in the backfield on offense under Coach Floyd Tate and played center in basketball. Darling also was a crack track athlete, competing in the field events. He won the pole vault at many track meets in this area as well as placing in the weights and high jump.

Paul graduated from high school in 1939 and went to Iowa State college where he became one of Iowa State College’s outstanding athletes in the early 1940’s.

Darling lettered three years as fullback for the Cyclones and in the fall of 1942 he was selected as all-Big Six fullback.

He was 6 feet 2 inches tall and weighed about 195 pounds during his years of competition at Iowa State. He was a runner and kicker and was one of the country’s outstanding line-backers.

Harry Burrell, sports information director at Iowa State, said today that Darling was “an exceptionally fine competitor and an All-American type of boy.” He had a winning personality and was a clean sportsman, Burrell said.

Darling also lettered two years in track where he was an all-around man in field events.

Darling, an engineering student, went into the air forces in the spring of his senior years in 1943, receiving his pilot’s wings Nov. 20, 194. He was an ROTC student at Iowa State. Last year the air force sent Darling to Michigan State college to enable him to complete requirements for his engineering degree.

While in the air force he continued his athletic career, playing on a service football team and competing in overseas service track meets. In the early summer of 1949 he turned in an impressive performance in a European zone meet, winning and placing in practically every field event on the meet calendar.

He was married in1945 to Helen Beughun in Des Moines.

He was a member of the Christian church and is survived by his parents and three sisters; jean of Estherville; Dorothy Mills of Des Moines and Carol at home, and his wife.

Funeral services have not been arranged yet. (Estherville Daily News, Estherville, IA, May 15, 1950)

Darling Rites at Snelling
The body of Paul Darling, who was killed Sunday at Aurora, Colo., in the crash of a jet fighter he was flying, will be returned at his wife’s request, to Fort Snelling, Minn., for burial, with full military rites being held there Tuesday. Paul was a son of Mr. and Mrs. Cecil Darling of Estherville, and is the second son of the Darlings to be killed while serving with the United States armed forces. He was an outstanding athlete in football, basketball and track at Estherville high school, at Iowa State college and in the U.S. occupation forces in Germany following World War Two. (Estherville Daily News, Estherville, IA, May 17, 1950)