WHAS airchecks: 74' tornado coverage.

[rjc]

Just downloaded part 1, and this is chilling stuff. I can't believe Dick Gilbert was allowed to stay up during this.

[1240winn]

I still remember listening to this coverage on my transistor radio as we waited out the storm in our basement. We lived a little west of the fairgrounds, so we escaped any damage, but I will never forget John Burke saying "It's right here...I'm gone" and Dick Gilbert's brave flight.

I did notice that the 5 to 6 PM hour doesn't appear to be part of this collection. It was in this hour that Dick Gilbert surveyed the area and provided listeners with the first reports of damage.

This was a defining event in our lives, much like the 1937 Flood was to an earlier generation.

[Matt Sorrell]

Wait until you hear parts 8-14, it's even more chilling. When LMetso takes over at around 10 P.M. I was just going to bed around 11 the other night and had to turn it off, it was giving me the creeps. The 5 to 6 hour can be heard on _Day of Disaster, which is a little bit further down on the page. It's in 2 parts. You will find the hours you're looking for at the very beginning of part 2.

[rjc]

matthew said:

Wait until you hear parts 8-14, it's even more chilling. When LMetso takes over at around 10 P.M. I was just going to bed around 11 the other night and had to turn it off, it was giving me the creeps. .

I will get there soon enough, I can't imagine how it can be much more chilling, then it is now. I look forward to listening to the rest of it. I used to wonder why WHAS didn't run this programming on the anneversery of the event, but as I listen, I understand why, this would really scare some folks.

[darrentandy]

My family lived in Louisville from '73-'75. I was only four years old in April 1974, but at some point that day, WHAS played "Suspicious Minds" from Elvis Presley. To this day, the song gives me the willies! Especially the part where it fades out and then fades back in. I'll always associate that song with the tornado.
Darren Tandy
WFMS/Indianapolis

[rjc]

As I listened to the airchecks, there was also an earthquake that day. Normally, that quake probably would have dominated the coverage, but understandably, it didn't.

It hit home, just how serious this event was, when the death count from Brandenburg came in.

[robynwatts]

I thought this site might interest everyone since the subject of the Super Outbreak came up.

www.april31974.com

I wasn't around when this occurred, but even now it's scary to see the pictures of the tornadoes as well as the aftermath.

Robyn

[rjc]

I was fortunate to live in a trailer park in the Shively area, and the tornado missed us. And living in a trailer, thank goodness it missed us. Trailers and tornados don't get along to well.