DorisMarie McCormick, Diane Peedin, Fay Payne, Gene Townley, and Carol Wooten: Strong Women Forced by Fate

by Linda Harris Sittig

What bound these five women together was their courage in the face of an appalling shared tragedy, a tragedy that befell their husbands and altered the life of each family.

The Beginning

All of their husbands worked together at Turner Air Force Base in Albany, Georgia.

Well, worked, might just underplay their jobs. This five-man crew played a crucial part in the Strategic Air Command of the United States Air Force in the Chrome Dome Operation of the 1960s during America’s Cold War with Russia.

The men worked as a well-oiled team, flying massive B-52 bombers on 24-hour runs, circling near Russian airspace in the event that the United States would be attacked by Russian missiles. While their husbands were together on these 24-hour runs three times a month, their families continued with their lives on an Air Force Base.

The Women

DorisMarie hailed from California, Fay from Oklahoma, Diane from North Carolina, Gene from Alabama, and Carol from South Dakota.

At age 39, DorisMarie was the tallest wife, over 6 feet. She loved to cook Mexican food and had hopes of becoming a graphic artist. But then she met Tom McCormick near the end of WWII and swapped her artistic dreams for the life of a military pilot’s wife.

Fay, at 42, was the oldest of the five wives. She had been enrolled in secretarial school in Tulsa when she met Bob Payne. They soon discovered they had a shared love for dancing, and she won him over with her delicious home-baked cherry pies.

Diane, at 29, was the fashionista of the group. She had been voted Best All-Around Girl in her senior year in a North Carolina high school. She loved clothes and met Mack Peedin while still in school and then quit college to marry him. Marrying an Air Force co-pilot sounded exciting. She had no idea of the dangers her husband would face.

Gene, age 39, grew up in Alabama, where the tradition of entertaining guests can be considered an art. Gene perfected her reputation by concocting delectable peanut butter milkshakes that both guests and husband Robert Townley loved.

Carol, at age 23, was the youngest of the five and the only wife in the small group not married to an officer. Carol met her future husband, Melvin Wooten, at a roller-skating rink when she was still in high school. Blonde and petite, Carol’s life quickly centered on marriage and then on children.

DorisMarie was the mother of two boys, Fay was the mother of two boys and a daughter, Diane had one son, Gene had two sons, and Carol had a son and two daughters. All five women had lived on various Air Force bases when they found themselves together in 1963 at Turner Air Field in Georgia.

The Turning Point

The turning point in their lives started on January 12, 1964.

It was a balmy Sunday in Albany, Georgia. All of their husbands had the day off, and then the phones rang. A B-52 bomber in Westover Air Force Base in Chicopee, Massachusetts, needed to be ferried back to Albany for repairs. A five-man crew was necessary for the retrieval flight.

One by the one, the five husbands, Major Tom McCormick, Captain Mack Peedin, Major Bob Payne, Major Robert Townley, and Tech Sergeant Melvin Wooten, suited up, kissed their wives goodbye and flew up to Massachusetts.

The return flight was supposed to be routine, but it didn’t turn out that way.

Leaving Massachusetts at 12:30 am, the crew made it as far as Philipsburg, Pennsylvania, when they encountered an unexpected blizzard, later called the blizzard of the century. Their plane collided with 167 mile-an-hour winds, and the rear tail and back wings sheared off. This force threw the aircraft (traveling at 500 mph) into Negative G, and it spiraled, then flipped upside down.

The men had no choice but to eject. At 30,000 feet. Into a howling blizzard. With ground temperatures below zero. And with 3-4 feet of snow already on the ground.

One by one, they ejected, only to find themselves landing and then stranded in the roughest terrain of the area, in the mountains of Garrett County, western Maryland. It would have been helpful had they landed near each other. But as fate would have it, each man touched down approximately 2 miles away from anyone else. Two miles in deep snow in zero visibility and the blizzard still raging.

By 5:00 am the Base Commander at Turner visited each wife and alerted her with the assumption that the plane had crashed and the five men listed as missing.

One can only imagine the emotions of each wife as she waited, clinging to a desperate hope that her husband might somehow, miraculously be found alive.

Each of the women had neighbors who came and sat with them while awaiting the news. None of the women had family nearby other than their children. While DorisMarie and Gene had older children, Fay, Diane, and Carol had young children.

And the five wives would not know at the time that a combination of 1,000 volunteers – locals of Garrett and Allegany Counties plus military, were trekking the mountains trying to locate and rescue the downed men.

The Aftermath

By the end of the five-day search for survivors, some of the five wives became widows, and others would experience survivors’ guilt.

To read the entire story with the memorable crash and rescue efforts, look for my newest book, B-52 DOWN! Available now from your favorite book store, or can be ordered through Amazon at www.amazon.com/dp/1940553105.

The first six people who respond to today’s blog by emailing me LHsittig@verizon.net, will receive a link to a complimentary Kindle copy of B-52 DOWN!

And, if you have not yet signed up to become a follower of this blog, please enter your email on the right sidebar. Join with over 1200 other people who enjoy the monthly stories of Strong Women.

~ linda