PENNY JERRY STEPHEN

CW2 Jerry Stephen Penny was a potential VHPA member who died after his tour in Vietnam on 04/27/1981 at the age of 30.6 from Auto accident
Ft. Rucker, AL
Flight Classes 69-37 and 69-35
Date of Birth 09/21/1950
Served in the U.S. Army
Served in Vietnam with 176 AHC in 70
This information was provided by Robert Fureigh, J. Michael Borland, 7th Reunion

More detail on this person: Auto accident.Jerry was in his Corvette, and one of his students was on a motorcycle. They had left Ft. Rucker late at night, enroute to Enterprise, on the 4-lane highway. They were racing, apparently Jerry in the outside lane, the m/c in the inside lane. At a high speed, Jerry's right front tire blew. The highway was in a cut section, with the right shoulder on a rising slope. Jerry's Corvette veered right; the rising slope launched him airborne, clipping a power pole, through the lower branches of a tree, and he slammed into the brick chimney of a house. The power pole supported a cable that went over the highway. As the power pole fell, the attached cable fell, and caught the student (in his neck or upper body), and he was also killed.

The Enterprise paper had an article with a picture of the remains of the Corvette -- hardly recognizable. The article described the accident in superlative terms. I've misplaced the article.

(Jerry and I had been in the 176th, 70-71; In the late 70s, Jerry showed up in Ark., and flew with us in the Ark. ARNG. He was doing some CFI and charter work for an FBO at LR Arpt. After a while, he decided to go active, and went to Rucker as an IP (night contact??). His death was a little tragic. After a couple of years at Rucker, he was finally getting some stability, and things were smooth. He bought a condo in Enterprise, bought a Corvette (and a Sportster), and became engaged -- to a very nice girl, I might add.

From: Robert Fureigh

This information was last updated 05/18/2016

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Date posted on this site: 03/10/2024


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