The first West Milford airplane disaster recorded in Chief John Moeller’s scrapbooks occurred around 1945 when a rented aircraft flying from Murchio’s Airport in Preakness developed motor trouble’ and crash-landed in Upper Greenwood Lake. From that point, Moeller’s albums reveal at least six more crashes, as they were reported in local newspapers. As time went on, the details and coverage became more expansive. 1946 The crash of a Piper Cub flying out of Murchio’s Airport resulted in the death of two brothers, 16-year-old Thomas and 20-year-old Gilbert McKeon, a recently discharged Army Air Force veteran who had served as a gunner on a B-29 . It was reported that the plane nose-dived into an Apshawa meadow west of Macopin Road. Eye witness Floyd Struble summoned help and ran to the site. He found the plane, which had cut a perpendicular swath down an oak tree, and the victims, who had already perished. Captain John Moeller and Sergeant John Ryan responded to the scene. The McKeons had suffered the loss of another son in an auto accident several years earlier. 1961 An eye witness walking in the woods in Upper Greenwood Lake noticed a plane overhead making a putt-putt’ sound as it seemed to search for a place to land. The Piper Tri-Pacer didn’t find that safe spot and crashed into rough terrain one-half mile from the lake, killing the three men on board instantly. Chief Moeller, Captain Ryan and Patrolmen Cox, Morreale and Deaver, along with the Upper Greenwood Lake fire company and state troopers had the grim, hours-long task of extricating the bodies from the wreckage. If good fortune was smiling anywhere that day it was on the Alonsiak home, just 300 yards from the crash site where Mrs. Alonsiak was at home with nine of her 10 children. Air Show crashes 1961 The first Air Show at Greenwood Lake Airport ended abruptly when tragedy struck with three separate plane crashes. None were related to the air show. According to reports, the Federal Aviation Administration attributed the crashes to the weather, a very hot day, and the resulting “thin air.” Thin air, it went on to explain, provides “poor lift” which then requires “considerable runway.” Before a crowd of 3,500 spectators, and despite FAA warnings, the three planes took off, faltered in the thin air and crashed. The result was one death and four injuries. 1962 A single-jet Lockheed, originating from the Naval Air Station at Floyd Bennett Field, Brooklyn, N.Y., crashed into a “heavily wooded swamp” reportedly infested with poisonous snakes. The site was two miles from Bubbling Springs Lake, between Union Valley and Macopin Roads. The troubled plane was first spotted by a worker in the Bearfort Fire Tower. He alerted police and a plane was sent out from Greenwood Lake Airport to locate the crash site. First on the scene were Captain John Ryan and Sergeant Louis Hall, who drove to the edge of the swamp, then ran, zigzagging for miles, searching for the plane, taking their cues from the search plane above. They found two Marine Reserve officers standing a distance away from the burning wreckage. The flyers said at the time that their plane had “flamed out” and their ejection mechanisms had failed. The two airmen were taken to Chilton Hospital with back injuries and abrasions. Local heroics 1964 A single-engine Beechcraft Bonanza, piloted by Peter Brozyna and carrying passengers Ellis Travers and his son, Wayne, crashed just after take off from Greenwood Lake Airport. The son was thrown clear but Travers and Brozyna were still in the wreckage. By chance, Lynne, Brian and Jeffery Gallagher of Haskell had just arrived at the airport to watch planes take off and land. Within a few minutes, the accident occurred and the youngsters ran 600 feet to the scene. Jeffrey, 15, lifted the 215-pound pilot from the plane while Brian, 12, assisted then ran for help. Lynne, 24, tried desperately to keep the victims from going into shock. Their courageous efforts went unnoticed in the frenzy of the rescue worker’s arrival. The Gallaghers left the scene and were on their way home when they began to have breathing problems. Taken to a hospital by their mother, their story came to light. They were treated for fragment wounds and given oxygen and later were credited for their heroic acts. Brozyna was listed in critical condition and Ellis Travers died four days later. John Moeller’s albums give no further information on accidents past 1964 but retired Chief James Dykstra has memories of two horrific plane crashes in more recent years. Dykstra spoke about a crash on Bearfort Mountain, off Clinton Road, around 1992. A plane with five people on board was headed to a wedding when it ran into a thunderstorm and plummeted to earth. “It just about disintegrated,” he said. Another devastating accident happened in the early 1990’s when an aircraft with four or five people on board nose-dived into the ground on Greenwood Lake Turnpike. That one, he said, was a pile of burning rubble. Recalling his years on the force, dealing with such tragic accidents and all other aspects of being a lawman, Dykstra said, “We were a small core of policemen doing the best we could with limited resources.” Retired Chief James Breslin echoed his sentiments saying, “It was always a good police department.” Current Chief Paul Costello summed up his view of today’s force by saying, “As to the caliber of the men and women who work here, we have one of the best police departments in Passaic county.” The department has grown tremendously since John Moeller first put on the uniform in 1934 and as they approach the 75th anniversary of the department they can look back and celebrate the fact that no life has ever been lost in the line of duty. Chief John Moeller, the first of West Milford’s finest, was blessed with a long life and died less than a year ago at 101 years of age. Sources: Chief John Moeller’s albums, courtesy of Charles Moeller; Chief Paul Costello; Ret. Chief James Dykstra; Ret. Chief James Breslin; WMPD executive assistant Dorothy Wink; airfields-freeman.com; wikipedia.org; Paterson Morning Call; The Mountaineer; Middletown Times-Herald; Paterson News; politicalgraveyard.com. Dateline: Aviation n 1930:?Murchio Airport appears on map, construction date unknown. Located off Hamburg Turnpike on Church Lane in Wayne, airport was used by Civil Air Patrols, 1943-1944. Described in 1944 as having a 3,200 ft. unpaved runway. Closed early 1950s. 1944: Joseph Patrick Kennedy, Jr., brother of John F. Kennedy, killed in England when his bomber exploded. 1950: Twenty-four-year-old Greenwood Lake resident Ensign Frank Roerhenbeck, Jr., a Navy Aviator, died when he over-shot flight deck on aircraft carrier Midway. 1960: United Airlines and Trans World Airlines flights collide over Staten Island, NY killing 128 people. One plane spiraled down into Staten Island, the other crashed into a Brooklyn neighborhood. Six people on the ground killed. 1935-1997: Entertainers killed in aviation accidents: Will Rogers, 1935; Carole Lombard, 1942; Glenn Miller, 1944; Mile Todd, 1958; Richie Valens , 1959; Buddy Holly, 1959; Patsy Cline, 1963; Otis Redding, 1967; Jim Croce, 1973; Ricky Nelson, 1985; John Denver, 1997.