Planes Scour Desert For 2 Tucson Fliers Missing in Snowstorm

Harold S. “Pete” Jacobs, age 43, of Tucson, Arizona, formerly of Chicago, died Saturday, February 28, 1948 due to injuries received in an airplane crash near Williams, Arizona.

According to Walter Douglas, president of Gilpin Airlines, Ltd., where the plane was leased, it was piloted by Harold S. Jacobs, Manager of the Gilpin Airport for six years, coming here from Chicago. With him on the business flight, and also killed, was James W. Shields, 25, a Gilpin flight instructor for two years.

They were on a routine flight from Grand Canyon to Tucson when strong winds, heavy weather, and resulting poor visibility combined to run them into a knoll in the plains country near Williams.

Jacobs and Shields had been missing since February 28, when they left Tucson, Arizona, piloting a BT-13 plane to Prescott, Ariz.  When the plane did not reach its destination, the Civil Air Patrol was sent out to search for the plane, and the patrol reported Sunday that all hope for their safety had been abandoned, as the trip was routed over mountainous country and the Grand Canyon, which give little chance for survival in case of a forced landing. Both occupants of the war surplus plane were licensed pilots who should have made the run, under good conditions, in about two hours.

Bodies of the two men were found Sunday afternoon, March 14, 1948 amid the wreckage of the training plane, by a rancher about 10 miles northeast of Williams. They had been the object of a two-week state-wide aerial search over thousands of square miles of rugged mountain country.

Jacobs’ body was sent to Chicago for services and burial. Services for Shields was held in Tucson.

Harold Samuel Jacobs, age 43 was born November 24, 1904 in Newton, Illinois son of Reverend Alvin O. and Betty Ann (Buser) Jacobs. (Reverend Jacobs was a former pastor of the Olney Congregational Christian Church serving as pastor from 1915-1925 and from 1931-1937. His family was raised in Olney and attended Olney schools while pastoring here).

Harold Jacobs is survived by his widow, Grace; three sons, James, 16, Peter, 12 and Vernon, 5; four sisters, Mrs. C.W. Head of Olney, Ill, Mrs. Arthur (Sarah)Towmey of Pittsburgh, Mrs. Fred (Etha) Sims, Newton, Ill and Helen Jacobs, Tucson; and his father, the Rev. Alvin O. Jacobs, Newton, Ill. and brother, Orel Jacobs.

Tucson Citizen (Tucson, AZ) – Wed. March 17, 1948 & The Daily Herald (Chicago, IL) – Fri. March 12, 1948