May 5, 1958 - Madison, WI
At about 1:30 pm an F-102A Delta Dagger Jet crashed into Lake Monona near Hudson Park. Pilot Gerald Stull is considered a hero for maneuvering the plane and keeping it from hitting
the nearby houses. Stull turned his plane and went into the lake at what witnesses described as a steep angle, ejecting at the last moment. He could have tried to make it to Truax
Field, putting others in the path in danger.
Three men, Pete Aspinwall, Edward Hassett, and Joe Morgan grabbed a rowboat that was tied up nearby. Using only a board and their hands they paddled out to the wreckage. They could see
the tail of the plane and the parachute sticking out of the water.
They pulled the chute and lines until they got Stull to the surface but couldn't pull him into the small boat. Aspinwall held his head above water until he could be put on a Madison
Police Department boat.
Stull's heroism was recognized shortly after the crash by Madison Mayor Ivan Nestingen. He received the Distinguished Flying Cross on August 5th at Tyndall Air Force base (Florida).
The Dane County Board honored him on the 50th anniversary. A trust fund was set up for Stull's son, George.
1LT Gerald Clark Stull (26) - 1139 E. Gorham St.
Alice Faye Amos Baggett (21/73) - Gerald's Wife
George Clark Stull (Infant/62) - Gerald's Son
May 9, 2009 - Hudson Park - Madison, WI
Fifty-one years later a bronze plaque attached to a boulder of Baraboo quartzite memorial, donated by
Pechmann Memorials in Madison,
was dedicated to Stull at Hudson Park. Stull's widow, Alice, son George, and Pete Aspinwall, were on hand along with 125 others for the dedication.
The event, organized by William White a member of Friends of Hudson Park, opened with an Air National Guard 115th Fighter Wing color guard, and concluded with taps.
The program was interrupted three times by airliners flying over, using the same flight path Lieutenant Stull was using 51 years ago.
George Stull became a chiropractor in Macon, Georgia, which was also the home of the widow of Otis Redding, the singer who also
died in a plane crash
in Lake Monona. A statue in Redding's memory stands about a block from Clark Stull's office in Macon, and he met Redding's widow, Zelda.
