The Shadow
A former Clifton Forge man who was the sole survivor of a 1959 plane crash has died.
Ernest Philip “Phil” Bradley Sr., died Aug. 23 in a hospice in Monroe, N.C., following a brief battle with pancreatic cancer. He was 87.
He was the only survivor of the crash of Piedmont Airline Flight 349 on Bucks Elbow Mountain near Crozet in Albemarle County on Oct. 30, 1959.
Bradley co-wrote a book in 1997, “The Crash of Piedmont Flight 349 Into Buck’s Elbow Mountain,” and created a website, solferino.info, to tell his story and memorialize his fellow passengers. Twenty-three passengers and three crew members died in the crash.
Bradley, an organizer with the International Association of Machinists, was returning home from business in Oklahoma when the crash occurred.
Bradley had missed his original flight due to a late connection. He then booked the last seat on another flight from Washington, D.C., to Roanoke. At 9 p.m. that night, the plane was overdue for a scheduled landing in Charlottesville.
A search-and-rescue operation was launched and 36 hour later, Bradley was found near the wreckage, still strapped in his seat with serious injuries.
The FAA declared that the crash of the DC-3 was caused by a navigational error of omission by the pilots.
After spending two months at the University of Virginia Hospital in Charlottesville, Bradley returned to his jobs and resumed making business trips for the union. In 1980, he earned a license to fly private planes.
He was born May 19, 1926, in Clifton Forge, a son of Felix Augustine Bradley and Ethel Mae Worth Bradley.
He joined the U.S. Navy in 1943 and participated in the D-Day Invasion at Normandy, France, by ferrying men and equipment to Omaha Beach.
Bradley later completed machine apprentice work on the C&O Railway and became an organizer with the International Association of Machinists.
In 1999, Bradley designed a monument and had it placed in Mint Springs Valley Park near the site of the crash.
He returned to Crozet Oct. 31, 2009, to the memorial to observe the 50th anniversary of the tragedy.
Bradley always attributed his survival to a vision he said he saw of Jesus Christ as the plane went down.
The Crozet Gazette quoted Bradley as saying: “Someone had told a joke and they were all laughing when we hit. I had the most beautiful vision of Jesus Christ. He looked at me just as I am looking at you. He said, ‘Be concerned not. I will be with you always.’ And I have never had a moment of fear since. If it hadn’t have been for the illumination of the mountain created by Christ I would not have known where I was.”
Bradley is survived by his wife, Rose “Zella” Stansbury Bradley; son, Brad Bradley and his wife, Carol of Monroe, N.C.; stepson, Rick Toombs and wife, Betty, of Friendsville, Tenn.; and three grandchildren: Hayden, Conner and Brianna Bradley, all of Monroe, N.C.
The family suggests that memorials be made to the E. Phil Bradley Scholarship Fund, 3112 Medlin Road, Monroe, N.C. 28112.
