Maryland. Test pilot William H. B. Millar was killed. 1 April The tip tank of a Dow AFB-based Republic F-84B Thunderjet came off during a Lewiston, Maine parade flyover and hit the Lewiston Public Works Garage. 20 April The crash of Lockheed F-80A-10-LO Shooting Star 44-85438 (c/n 080-1461) on takeoff from Kirtland AFB in New Mexico at 16:40 during a cross-country proficiency flight killed USAF Reserve Col. Robert L. Coffey. Coffey, a World War II ace (six victories) with 97 missions in the Republic P-47 Thunderbolt and deputy group commander of the 365th Fighter Group of the 9th Air Force who had been shot down and evaded capture, had resigned his regular commission to enter politics. He was elected to the 81st United States Congress (D-Pa.) and was on an Air Force training flight while the House was in recess when he was killed. Coffey and fellow Hell Hawks pilot William D. Ritchie had departed Kirtland for March AFB in California after refueling; due to apparent engine failure on takeoff, the fighter never rose above 25 feet, skidded off the end of the runway, cartwheeled across an arroyo, and broke apart. Coffey, who was killed instantly, is buried in Arlington National Cemetery; the House of Representatives recessed for one day in his honor. 29 April The first of two prototypes of the McDonnell XF-85 Goblin parasite fighter, 45–523 (piloted by McDonnell test pilot Edwin F. Schoch), made its only flight. After launching from a trapeze suspended below Boeing EB-29B Superfortress 44-84111 named "Monstro", Schoch was unable to hook up for retrieval and belly-landed on a dry lake bed at Muroc Air Force Base in California. After six flights by the Goblin totaling about hours of flight time, the U.S. Air Force abandoned the test program. Both prototypes are in museum collections. 4 May USAF North American F-82F Twin Mustang 46–468 out of Mitchel Field crashed into an unfinished house on Fulton Avenue near Duncan Road in a residential neighborhood of Hempstead, New York near Hofstra University. The plane burst into flames, but neither pilot 2nd Lt. Andrew Wallace nor radar observer 1st Lt. Bryan Jolley were killed; Wallace used a brick from the house to smash the right canopy and rescue Jolley. 20 May USAF Fairchild C-82A Packet 48–572 (c/n 10207) from the 1227th Air Base Group in Goose Bay, Labrador, veered off the runway during takeoff at remote Arctic