STANFORD — The Kentucky Historical Society will dedicate a historical marker commemorating a 1966 military aircraft crash in Lincoln County.
The marker will be dedicated at 11 a.m. June 23 at 489 Short Pike near McKinney.
The night of Dec. 12, 1966, at the height of the Cold War, an Air Force B-58 “Hustler” returning from a training mission to Bunker Hill Air Force Base in Indiana crashed into a hillside in Lincoln County.
Residents of nearby McKinney awoke to the sound of the explosion and converged on the hill to find the wreckage in a large, fiery crater. All three crew members perished: the pilot, Maj. Richard F. Blakeslee; the navigator, Maj. Floyd E. Acker; and the defense systems operator, Capt. C. Dale Lunt.
The marker is sponsored by Lincoln County residents.
The Kentucky Historical Marker Program, administered by KHS in cooperation with the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet, commemorates historical sites, events and personalities throughout the state.
Through the program, the wealth of Kentucky history is made accessible to the public on markers along the state’s roadways.
The markers are on-the-spot history lessons that add drama and interest to the countryside for Kentuckians as well as tourists. They are also available in an online database at www.history.ky.gov/markers.
For more information, contact Becky Riddle, program coordinator, at (502) 564-1792, ext. 4474, or becky.riddle@ky.gov.
