On Aug. 1, 1948, a U.S. Army jet plane crash took place at Woodlawn near Port Deposit. The Air Corp jet struck Joseph Abrahams Store in Woodlawn at 4:10 p.m. The newest type of reconnaissance plane, the P-80, being piloted by 1st Lt. Glenn W. Jackson became separated from a flight of four aircraft traveling from Stewart Field, West Point, N.Y., to Langley Field, Va. It went out of control as the squadron approached Port Deposit and the Susquehanna River.
Lt. Jackson, parachuting from the diving jet as it spun out of control at 32,000 feet, watched as it missed the Abrahams’ house, struck the Jacob Tome Memorial Highway and careened into the family store. An explosion and fire occurred as the Water Witch Fire Company, assisted by units from Bainbridge, Perryville, Rising Sun, and North East rushed to the crash site. The store burned to the ground, but firefighters were able to keep the intense flames from spreading to the home.
The pilot touched down safely on the farm of E.D. Lambdin about an eighth of a mile from the scene, where he staggered to the farmhouse before collapsing from exhaustion, according to the Maryland News Courier.
“In the house with Mr. Abrahams at the time were his two sisters, Cornelia and Virginia, and his daughter-in-law and three grandchildren,” the newspaper reported. No one on the ground was hurt.
“This was the second major plane crash in the section of the heavily traveled air lane, the other being the passenger plane that crashed near Battle Swamp last year, which is still the worst traffic air crash in U.S. history,” the 1948 article concluded, referring to the May 31, 1947, crash of Eastern Airline Flight 606 that killed all 53 people on board near Port Deposit.