Mayor, Ex-MLB Pitcher: Plane Vanishes Near Culpeper, 1958

Aviation Survival Stories · Aug 10, 2026 · 16m

Mayor, Ex-MLB Pitcher: Plane Vanishes Near Culpeper, 1958

A sitting mayor and former major-league pitcher vanished when his twin-engine plane went down near Culpeper, Virginia, in the summer of 1958 - he was 50 years old and traveling to Baltimore to watch a baseball game. The crash was ruled accidental and no cause was ever recorded; how did a man who built an airport terminal and whose name would later be given to it die without explanation?

In this episode, we tell the record of who William Fort McAfee Jr. was, what he built, and what remained unfinished after his death, asking whether the…