AFTON Minn. – A pilot and his passenger died when their light plane crashed and exploded in the hills above this St. Croix River community. The pilot was Pat Moore, 85, of White Bear Lake. Initial reports identified the passenger only as 85 years old and from nearby Bayport. They men had just taken off from Lake Elmore en route140 miles to visit a World War II aviation museum in Granite Falls. The plane, a single engine Globe GC1 Swift, went down in a residential area. A garage at a house was scorched by the explosion, but there were no injuries on the ground. Witnesses said they head the plane’s engine sputter, followed by a pop. The plane, they said, dropped nose-down the ground. This was about 9:45 a.m. in the1500 block of Afton Hills South.
Globe GC1 Swift. About 1,500 were built from 1946 to 1951. Weight empty: 1,100 pounds. Cruise: 140 mph. Range: 420 miles.