Loeffler Park (the Officers Picnic Park) on RSA (Huntsville, Redstone Arsenal: 2014, tenant)

[y8tiger]

Does anyone here know where the where Loeffler Park (the Officers Picnic Park) was located on Redstone Arsenal?

This has been bugging me for a while and my research hasn’t provided any answers.

"On June 27, 1944, a fully loaded B-26 Martin Marauder took off but developed engine trouble. The plane caught Fire and crashed in a cotton field just north of U.S. 72 and about nine miles from Huntsville. The bombs exploded.

Hale Road, which connects the airstrip with Rideout Road, is named for 1st Lieutenant Emmett J. Hale, the pilot. He had been among the first group of Army Airforce officers stationed at Redstone in 1943.

Loeffler Park is named for 2nd Lieutenant Jerome Loeffler, the bombardier.

Valim Reservoir, the Arsenal’s water reservoir on Madkin Mountain, is named for Sergeant Antone Valim, the flight engineer."

I know where Hale Road is and I read some interesting history about the Valim Reservoir.

All I could find about Loeffler Park is that it was the name given to the Officers Picnic Park, but no reference to it’s location.

One Reference: https://huntsvillehistorycollection....amed_That.pdf?

[AU HSV]

Originally Posted by y8tiger

Does anyone here know where the where Loeffler Park (the Officers Picnic Park) was located on Redstone Arsenal?

This has been bugging me for a while and my research hasn’t provided any answers.

"On June 27, 1944, a fully loaded B-26 Martin Marauder took off but developed engine trouble. The plane caught Fire and crashed in a cotton field just north of U.S. 72 and about nine miles from Huntsville. The bombs exploded.

Hale Road, which connects the airstrip with Rideout Road, is named for 1st Lieutenant Emmett J. Hale, the pilot. He had been among the first group of Army Airforce officers stationed at Redstone in 1943.

Loeffler Park is named for 2nd Lieutenant Jerome Loeffler, the bombardier.

Valim Reservoir, the Arsenal’s water reservoir on Madkin Mountain, is named for Sergeant Antone Valim, the flight engineer."

I know where Hale Road is and I read some interesting history about the Valim Reservoir.

All I could find about Loeffler Park is that it was the name given to the Officers Picnic Park, but no reference to it’s location.

One Reference: https://huntsvillehistorycollection....amed_That.pdf?

would be interesting if the crash site on US 72 has or is identified. May be under a building now.

[RocketDawg]

I don't think I've ever heard of Loeffler Park or the Officers' Picnic Park. Maybe it's near the Officers' Club (which I think is closed now).

Interesting the article is that the crash site is just north of US 72, 9 miles from Huntsville, an area that's quite built up now. The Redstone Airport runway is 17/35, so assuming the plane took off on 35, just west of north, and continued straight along that route, the crash site must be about where the Audi and Mercedes dealerships are located, or maybe even Providence. A closer look at a map would be more accurate.

[MisterEd51]

I just talked to the person designated as the Redstone Historian. She said after WW II there was a lot of changes made at the Huntsville Arsenal that weren't documented. Documents that did exist were scattered to places like the Aberdeen Proving Ground and possibly the National Archives. I think we are at a dead end unless we can locate someone with first hand knowledge. Unfortunately, since that happened so long ago most of them are no longer alive.


70 years ago today, Redstone Arsenal experienced the worst air disaster in the installation's history
https://www.al.com/news/2014/06/70_y...dstone_ar.html

A History of Redstone Arsenal Airfield
https://history.redstone.army.mil/ihist-airfield.html

[y8tiger]

Originally Posted by MisterEd51

I just talked to the person designated as the Redstone Historian. She said after WW II there was a lot of changes made at the Huntsville Arsenal that weren't documented. Documents that did exist were scattered to places like the Aberdeen Proving Ground and possibly the National Archives. I think we are at a dead end unless we can locate someone with first hand knowledge. Unfortunately, since that happened so long ago most of them are no longer alive.


70 years ago today, Redstone Arsenal experienced the worst air disaster in the installation's history
https://www.al.com/news/2014/06/70_y...dstone_ar.html

A History of Redstone Arsenal Airfield
https://history.redstone.army.mil/ihist-airfield.html

The ACC Historian gave me a similar answer.

He said, the only reference to a picnic area that he was able to find was from a 1984 American Engineering Record compiled by David G Buchanan and John P Johnson.

It identified a picnic area on the north side of Martin Rd, between Gemini and Tiros Streets.

That is well inside the NASA boundary on a 1998 map I located.

I figured that by crowdsourcing this here someone might recall the location of the Officers Picnic Park.

IMHO, a logical location would be somewhere near the Officers Club (Now the Summit), Officers Pool (Now the Goss Road Outdoor Pool), and the Bachelor Officer Quarters (BOQ).

[RocketDawg]

Originally Posted by y8tiger

The ACC Historian gave me a similar answer.

He said, the only reference to a picnic area that he was able to find was from a 1984 American Engineering Record compiled by David G Buchanan and John P Johnson.

It identified a picnic area on the north side of Martin Rd, between Gemini and Tiros Streets.

That is well inside the NASA boundary on a 1998 map I located.

I figured that by crowdsourcing this here someone might recall the location of the Officers Picnic Park.

IMHO, a logical location would be somewhere near the Officers Club (Now the Summit), Officers Pool (Now the Goss Road Outdoor Pool), and the Bachelor Officer Quarters (BOQ).

If that's the place I'm thinking of, it is the NASA picnic site. In fact, when I worked there they had a large annual picnic for employees. That probably went away with Covid, but hopefully will come back if it did. The Army also has a large recreation facility on the southern end of the Arsenal on the Tennessee River.

[RocketDawg]

Originally Posted by MisterEd51

I just talked to the person designated as the Redstone Historian. She said after WW II there was a lot of changes made at the Huntsville Arsenal that weren't documented. Documents that did exist were scattered to places like the Aberdeen Proving Ground and possibly the National Archives. I think we are at a dead end unless we can locate someone with first hand knowledge. Unfortunately, since that happened so long ago most of them are no longer alive.


70 years ago today, Redstone Arsenal experienced the worst air disaster in the installation's history
https://www.al.com/news/2014/06/70_y...dstone_ar.html

A History of Redstone Arsenal Airfield
https://history.redstone.army.mil/ihist-airfield.html

You might want to talk to the NASA historian as well. His office used to be in the ground floor of 4200 but they don't use that building any longer so I don't know where the office is.

[y8tiger]

Originally Posted by RocketDawg

If that's the place I'm thinking of, it is the NASA picnic site. In fact, when I worked there they had a large annual picnic for employees. That probably went away with Covid, but hopefully will come back if it did. The Army also has a large recreation facility on the southern end of the Arsenal on the Tennessee River.

I considered both Easter Posey and Carrol D. Hudson Recreation Areas on the Tennessee River, but I can't see them having been renamed.

There is also a Linton Field located at the Corner of Gray Rd and Patton Rd.

[y8tiger]

I reached out to a Retired 2nd generation Redstone Employee that I used to work with. He also did a stint as an Officer in the Army during the 70's.

He is pretty confident that the Officers Picnic Park was located near the original post HQ off of Redstone Road close to Gate 3.

The FBI Hazardous Devices School is located there now and the original Officer Housing area is fenced off for their Urban Training Area. i.e. - Post Rd and Circle Dr.

If a plaque still exist there for Loeffler Park, it is inaccessible to most of us.

[RSNHSV]

Originally Posted by y8tiger

I reached out to a Retired 2nd generation Redstone Employee that I used to work with. He also did a stint as an Officer in the Army during the 70's.

He is pretty confident that the Officers Picnic Park was located near the original post HQ off of Redstone Road close to Gate 3.

The FBI Hazardous Devices School is located there now and the original Officer Housing area is fenced off for their Urban Training Area. i.e. - Post Rd and Circle Dr.

If a plaque still exist there for Loeffler Park, it is inaccessible to most of us.

This doesn’t answer the question regarding Loeffler Park but does give a little more information regarding the locations of the crash site:

The Huntsville Historical Review, Spring 2017-Summer 2017, Volume 42, Number 1, Page 27 states:
… three Army Air Forces personnel were killed in a crash of a Martin Marauder B-26 bomber while flight-testing incendiary bombs. On 27 June 1944, the Martin Marauder bomber took off from the Huntsville Arsenal Airstrip with bombs that were to be drop-tested on Little Tokyo. Climbing north, at about 3,000-feet altitude, an engine problem developed. The pilot turned back and dropped one of the 500-pound bombs into a vacant field near the present HudsonAlpha Institute. He again attempted a landing, but crashed into a cotton field just north of the highway near the present Memorial Gardens Cemetery. Killed were 1st Lt. Emmett J. Hale, the pilot; 2nd Lt. Jerome Loeffler, the bombardier; and Tech. Sgt. Antone Valim, the onboard engineer.