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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 18, 2006
USAF
Texas Tower Association Website Releases Formerly Classified Documents
That Question Outcome of Air Force Investigation.
On 45th anniversary of tragedy documents
put to bed conspiracy theories but renew fears that the tower design was
motivated by greed.
Boston. Mass. Donald Abbott, director of the United
States Air Force Texas Tower Association web site today posted to the web
site a series of formerly classified letters to and from legendary USAF
General Curtis LeMay. The letters, date between October 12, 1961 and
October 13, 1961, represent an exchange between then Secretary of the Air
Force Eugene Zuckert and LeMay regarding the 1961military courts’
decision to acquit the commanding officer of the ill fated radar station
known as Texas Tower Four. Tower Four collapsed during a fierce winter
gale with the loss of all hands.
“The collapse of Tower Four has for 45 years been
surrounded by controversy, mystery, and whispered accounts of greed,” said
Abbott, son of David Abbott, one of the tower’s 28 victims. “Because it
involved what was then a Cold War radar station packed with classified
equipment, the Air Force had at times appeared to be less than forthcoming
about the whole affair. To then exonerate the commanding officer of
Dereliction of Duty charges fueled fears of cover-ups and conspiracies.
These letters prove those theories wrong. These previously unpublished
letters clearly show that behind the scenes, the Air Force was as
concerned by the implications of the acquittal as we who lost our
husbands, sons and fathers. To find these documents, and to have a man of
LeMays stature concurring with this sentiment, is of incalculable solace
to us all. We owe the Air Force our thanks.”
The documents were found by author L. Douglas Keeney
while during research on the lives of the men who perished on Tower Four.
“Tower Four’s history is at best murky,” said Keeney. “It involved so many
industries, so many individuals, the Navy, the Air Force, oceanography,
and the earliest years of offshore oil rigs. It had no father, but
hundreds of people knew it was there. How 28 men could perish in the
middle of the night is unfathomable. Now at least one part is explained.”
Abbott and Keeney continue to explore the issuance of
a patent to one of the designers of the tower. The patent was downplayed
by those who knew of it during the 1961 investigation and oddly ignored by
the Congressional Committee yet clearly influenced what would ultimately
prove to be a faulty design.
The letters were found in Record
Group 340: Records of the Office of the Secretary of the Air Force, 1928 –
1966
For More Information Contact:
Donald Abbott
1-781-324-5158
Donald R. Abbott -
donald@texastower.com
www.texastower.com
Douglas Keeney
502-419-5837 |
