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Submitted: 11/11/14 • Approved: 11/26/14 • Last Updated: 11/29/14 • R1050893-G1050892-S3
Greg
July 20, 1948 - August 27, 1974
*Obituary (news item)
Northwest Arkansas Times
Wednesday, August 28, 1974, front page
Crash Kills 4 City Men
Four Fayetteville businessmen died Tuesday when their twin-engine plane crashed at the edge of a county road about three miles north of Alma in Crawford County.
State Police identified the victims as pilot Dayton Stratton, 42, of Dinsmore Drive; Gregory Britt Jeko, 27, of 1132 Paradise Lane; Roy Eugene Hopkins, 33, of Cliffside Trailer Park and Eldon Walker Behlke, 44, of Hwy. 16 west.
All four men were contractors involved in construction of new hangers at Fayetteville's Drake Field and in other projects in the Fayetteville area. At the time of the 10 a.m. crash they were returning from a brief business trip to Fort Smith.
There was no immediate finding on the cause of the crash. The Beechcraft B-50 had lost portions of one wing and the tail assembly before it crashed to earth in front of the Ed Thomas home on Freedom Road. The wreckage did not burn, although a small fire occurred in one engine.
Officials of the Federal Aviation Administration were called to the scene shortly after the crash, and accident investigation experts of the Civil Aeronautics Board were expected to launch a full probe of the accident.
The plane, based at Drake Field, took off for Fort Smith at 9:30 a.m. and was believed enroute back to Fayetteville when it crashed minutes away from the Fort Smith airport.
There were thunderstorms in the area at the time but it was not known whether they figured in the fatal accident. Preliminary findings indicated that neither engine was running when the plane struck.
Witnesses told police that the plane appeared to be "falling apart" before the crash and at the last second plunged almost straight downward. There was speculation that the aircraft may have struck a tree or other obstruction while still airborne.
The crash site is near several rural homes, Police said children were playing in the area, but that none were injured. The four victims apparently died instantly.
Wreckage was scattered over a wide area. A wheel and portions of the landing gear were found about 150 feet from the crash site and parts of a wing fell into a chicken yard about 100 yards away.
Trellon Ball, a Crawford County deputy sheriff, said the plane was upside down and a tow truck was required to right the wreckage so bodies of the four men could he removed.
EYEWITNESSES
Ed Thomas said he was standing in the yard of his home when he heard noises that sounded like explosions. He said he looked up, saw the plane "coming apart," and ran into the house to get his wife. By the time they
got outside, the plane had crashed at the intersection of his driveway and the county road.
A second eye-witness, D. E. Livingston, who lives about 300 feet from where the plane struck, said he saw the Beechcraft in the air but did not see the actual crash. Like Thomas, Livingston said the craft was coming apart before it hit.
"I was out in the front yard by the fence when I heard a loud bank, like a sonic boom, and when I first saw the plane it was just coming apart," Livingston said.
Mrs. Wayland Kuykendall said she heard a "boom," but "all we could see was a white streak." She said children playing in the yard heard the plane coming and ran into a carport.
*Obituary (service notice)
Springdale News
Thursday, August 29, 1974
Funeral services for Gregory Britt Jeko, 26, Fayetteville, will be held Friday at 1 p.m. in Moore Chapel, Fayetteville, with the Rev. Randall Garrison officiating. Burial will be in Fairview Cemetery under the direction of Moore.
A memorial education fund for the late Mr. Jeko's son, Devit Britt Jeko, has been established at First National Bank, P.O. Box 1287, Fayetteville.
Devin
June 11, 1974 - January 18, 2001
*Garden of the Cross, Section H
Contributed on 11/11/14 by wfields55
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Record #: 1050893