MENDOTA- Carol L. Swope, 72, of Mendota passed away Aug. 27, 2017 in Alden Debes Rehabilitation and Health Care Center in Rockford....
Two days before the crash that killed him at 26, Redding had recorded the vocals for aching ballad (Sittinâ On) The Dock of the Bay. Four miles outside Madison, Wisconsin, December 10, 1967, hampered by low cloud cover and cold weather, the eight-seater private plane carrying 26-year-old soul star Otis Redding hit trouble.
On September 17, 1908, with Army observer Lt. Thomas E. Selfridge on board, the airplane experienced a mechanical malfunction involving one of the propellers and crashed. Orville was severely injured and Selfridge died, the first fatality in a powered airplane. Orville would resume the flight trials after his recovery.