Hundreds attend service for doctor killed in airplane crash

Jackson Countian

NEWPORT, Ark. -- Hundreds of friends, colleagues, and patients joined the Junkin family Monday at a memorial service for Dr. Anthony Bruce Junkin, who died Thursday when his 1967 Piper Twin Comanche airplane plowed into an empty field near Scopus, Mo., in Bollinger County.

A white lab coat with a blood pressure cuff in the left pocket hung near the center of the room at the funeral home. His Navy uniform -- he spent 33 years in the military -- and doctor's bag also were on display, filed past by tearful mourners.

Initial Federal Aviation Administration reports revealed Junkin had engine trouble and planned to attempt a landing. Officials with the National Transportation Safety Board, which investigates airplane crashes, took pieces of the plane to the Cape Girardeau Regional Airport Friday.

Airport manager Bruce Loy said Monday that investigators left over the weekend. The plane's engine will be shipped to the manufacturer, and the rest will go to the insurance company.

It will take a year for the NTSB to release its final report, an investigator said.

Junkin crashed as he was flying home from Oshkosh, Wis., where he attended a week-long experimental aircraft show.

Friends who spoke at Junkin's memorial service called him a loving father and doctor who loved to fly airplanes.