In Memory

Robert Scherer - Class Of 1927

Robert Scherer

Olney Pilot Who Died in Crash to be Brought Home

The body of Lieutenant Robert Marx Scherer, 26 of Olney, who was killed near Pine City, New York Tuesday night, August 20, 1935, when his parachute failed to open as he leaped from his crashing plane, will be brought to Olney for burial, the family announced Wednesday. Burial in Haven Hill Cemetery.

The straps of Scherer’s parachute had caught on the undercarriage of the plane. He apparently had been instantly killed.

Scherer, who had been piloting one of five planes in an exhibition of night bombardments and anti-aircraft gunnery, was a reserve pilot on two weeks’ active duty with the 97th observation squadron from Mitchell field.

Lieutenant Scherer was born at Olney, son of Oliver Frank Scherer and Elizabeth M. (Marx) Scherer. He was graduated from Olney High School in 1927 and from the University of Illinois college of engineering in 1932.

After joining the aviation corps of the U.S. Army, he went to Randolph Field in Texas and later was transferred to Mitchell Field, L.I.

Lieutenant Scherer’s father is a city mail carrier here.

Published in The Decatur Herald (Decatur, IL) – Thursday, August 22, 1935