This is Floyd Wynne with THE VIEW FROM HERE 5/03/05

Who was David Kingsley?
Yes....our airport is named for him, but what do you actually know about him?
We know that he was a bombardier aboard a B-17 over the oil fields of Romania when it was shot down and he gave his parachute to an injured crewman and went down with the plane.
I was a member of the committee that selected the name for the airport. However, little was really known of his background prior to entering service in World War Two.
The Sunday Oregonian carried a lengthy story about him on the plan to commemorate the 60th anniversary of his death on Wednesday.
They added more details to the incident, saying witnesses said that he tried to bank the plane away from a group of laborers who had spread out their lunch on some blankets in a field. They maintain that Kingsley may have been trying to land the plane since he was found in the pilot’s seat, but that the fuel laden wing of the plane touched a tree and exploded. Seven people on the ground were also killed in the incident.
Kingsley was the second oldest of nine children born to David and Ann Kingsley in Portland. Every day he and his siblings filled a front pew at morning mass and then split up, the boys to St. Michael’s school and the girls to St. Mary’s Academy.
When David was 10 his father, a policeman, was killed in an autocrash. His mother was determined to keep the family together. She relied on David to help keep order.
When David was 18, his mother came down with cancer and she died three years later. Now 21, he made certain that the members of the family carried out his mother’s wishes.
David’s sister, Phyllis, remembers him saying “Mom wants sit done this way, and that’s how it’s going to be.” His oldest brother, Tom, was already in the Navy at the time his mother died. David was a Portland firefighter.
The Oregonian reported a special mass was dedicated to Kingsley Sunday. His sister also heard reports from others about the incident.
She and her husband traveled to Bulgaria where the plane went down last fall as part of a military delegation. They walked the site of the crash and were told by several survivors tell her how they saw the bomber approaching low over the far hills. They saw several parachutes fall from the plane, two with the help of another man, who stayed on board.
In answer to questions they said that they found his body in the pilot’s seat and took him out and buried him there. Later his body was returned to the United States, he was awarded the Medal of Honor posthumously and reburied in Arlington Cemetery.
His sister summed it up, saying “Dave grew up listening to our mother. She taught us to love each other, take care of each other and help people in need. Sometimes I wonder if Dave even had to think about it all.”
A bronze plaque will be installed at St. Michael’s church tomorrow that tells the story of David Kingsley.
Remember who he was as well as what he did...next time you visit Kingsley Field here.

This is Floyd Wynne and that’s THE VIEW FROM HERE.