disinfozone/The_Info_Web
1
0
Fork 0
Code Issues Pull requests Projects Releases Packages Wiki Activity Actions

vault backup: 2026-10-15 14:01:13

Browse source
This commit is contained in:
disinfo.zone 2026-10-15 14:01:14 -04:00
parent 70fb85249f
commit ef6dbe44ac
No known key found for this signature in database
67 changed files with 3030 additions and 862 deletions
Download patch file Download diff file Expand all files Collapse all files

14
10 - PEOPLE/(H-M)/Raymond C. Hoersch.md
View file

@ -29,14 +29,14 @@ relations:
with: "[[Clara Hoersch]]"
fn: 7
created: 2026-09-23
updated: 2026-09-23
updated: 2026-10-15
---
Raymond C. Hoersch was a [[Bucks County, Pennsylvania|Bucks County]] mechanical engineer and a glider pilot of the [[United States Army Air Forces]] in the [[World War II|Second World War]], the father of the [[Philadelphia]] pornographer, counterfeiter, and fugitive [[R.C. Horsch]], who was born Raymond Charles Hoersch Jr. in 1943. He was born in Philadelphia on August 17, 1918, a son of [[Albert Hoersch]] and [[Helen E. Hoersch]] of 417 West Chew Street in the [[Olney, Philadelphia|Olney]] section of Philadelphia, the house deeded to his grandson [[Eugene Horsch]] in 2007 and searched in the [[Olney House Investigation]] of 2026.[^1][^2][^3][^4]
Raymond C. Hoersch was a [[Bucks County, Pennsylvania|Bucks County]] mechanical engineer and a glider pilot of the [[United States Army Air Forces]] in the [[World War II|Second World War]], the father of the [[Philadelphia]] pornographer, counterfeiter, and fugitive [[R.C. Horsch]], who was born Raymond Charles Hoersch Jr. in 1943. He was born in Philadelphia on August 17, 1918, a son of [[Albert Hoersch]] and [[Helen E. Hoersch]] of West Chew Street in the [[Olney, Philadelphia|Olney]] section of Philadelphia, the house deeded to his grandson [[Eugene Horsch]] in 2007 and searched in the [[Olney House Investigation]] of 2026.[^1][^2][^3][^4]
### Glider Pilot
His son said in a 2013 interview, rebroadcast in 2026, that he flew cargo gliders for the Army Air Corps and was stationed in [[London]]: large plywood aircraft, towed aloft six or eight at a time behind a [[Douglas DC-3|DC-3]], each able to carry a jeep or twelve to sixteen troops, which landed once behind enemy lines by crashing in a controlled way. "My father said generally, you pick two trees and you went between them to shear the wings off," he said, and added that his father's war stories concerned "slipping across the [[English Channel]] and smuggling back a plane load of wine." In January 1979 a notice in [[Luzerne County, Pennsylvania|Luzerne County]] newspapers asked former World War II glider pilots living in the area to contact "State Commander Raymond Hoersch, 523 N. Main St., Chalfont."[^1][^5]
His son said in a 2013 interview, rebroadcast in 2026, that he flew cargo gliders for the Army Air Corps and was stationed in [[London]]: large plywood aircraft, towed aloft six or eight at a time behind a [[Douglas DC-3|DC-3]], each able to carry a jeep or twelve to sixteen troops, which landed once behind enemy lines by crashing in a controlled way. "My father said generally, you pick two trees and you went between them to shear the wings off," he said, and added that his father's war stories concerned "slipping across the [[English Channel]] and smuggling back a plane load of wine." In January 1979 a notice in [[Luzerne County, Pennsylvania|Luzerne County]] newspapers asked former World War II glider pilots living in the area to contact "State Commander Raymond Hoersch, N. Main St., Chalfont."[^1][^5]
### Bucks County
@ -44,18 +44,18 @@ He married [[Clara Hoersch|Clara Hagerty]], a daughter of [[Eugene D. Hagerty]]
In May 1964 a firm named R. C. Hoersch & Associates, at Rural Delivery 1, [[Doylestown, Pennsylvania|Doylestown]], advertised in *[[The Philadelphia Inquirer]]* for a mechanical design draftsman.[^9] In September 1969 Mr. and Mrs. Raymond Hoersch "of Doylestown" attended the fiftieth wedding anniversary of Clara's parents in Stroudsburg with their daughter Helen; the son's wife attended separately, listed as Mrs. Raymond Hoersch Jr., of Philadelphia.[^10] The following month Raymond C. Hoersch and his wife sold a property on Gayman Road in [[Plumstead Township, Pennsylvania|Plumstead Township]] for 48,000 dollars.[^11] In July 1971, when a car he owned crashed into a tree on South York Road in [[Hatboro, Pennsylvania|Hatboro]] with his daughter, then Mrs. Bowers, in it, he was living at the English Village Apartments in [[Horsham Township, Pennsylvania|Horsham]]; in September 1971 he bought a property in [[Chalfont, Pennsylvania|Chalfont]] from Karl R. Zuch for 36,400 dollars, and in July 1973 the Chalfont borough council approved the division of land he owned on Oak Avenue into three lots.[^12][^13][^14]
### 523 North Main Street
### North Main Street
The house at 523 North Main Street, Chalfont, was the address his son gave in December 1972 when, as "Raymond C. Hoersch, Jr.," he sued the Secretary of the Army to void his call to active duty, and in December 1974, when the [[United States Secret Service]] arrested the son for counterfeiting, officials described it as his parents' home, where he had been living recently.[^15][^16] On August 20, 1973, a Cessna 210A, registration N1437J, was registered to "Hoersch Raymond C" at that address; the registration was cancelled on July 11, 1984. On July 26, 1981, while the son was living in [[New Zealand]] under a false identity, the aircraft lost power in its initial climb from [[Doylestown Airport]] and was brought back for a wheels-up landing; the [[National Transportation Safety Board]] recorded the pilot in command as 62 years old, an engineer holding a commercial certificate, with a minor injury.[^17][^18] His son said in 2013 that while he was a fugitive [[Federal Bureau of Investigation|FBI]] agents obtained his father's telephone records about once a year and traced every long-distance call, "which it never was, even though I was in pretty good contact with my father the whole time," and that the father was notified after each search, which let the son track the investigation. R.C. Horsch also said that his own son, then three, "was missing seeing his grandparents" when he decided to surrender in 1984.[^19] At 7:50 p.m. on November 19, 1991, walking home in dark clothing along a dimly lit stretch of Main Street near Peace Valley Road in Chalfont, he was struck by a car; borough police said he was hearing-impaired and "technically" jaywalking. He was flown by helicopter to [[Hahnemann University Hospital]] with head injuries and two broken legs and was pronounced dead at 5 a.m. on November 20, at 73. His death notice names his wife Clara, his son Raymond of Chalfont, his daughters Helen M. Mitchell of Chalfont and Virginia E. of [[Souderton, Pennsylvania|Souderton]], his sister [[Helen M. Hoersch|Helen M.]] of Philadelphia, and four grandchildren, and asked for remembrances to [[Doylestown Hospital]]; the funeral was held at the Decker Funeral Home in [[Warminster, Pennsylvania|Warminster]], with interment at [[Hillside Cemetery]].[^20][^21] In June 2026 the *Inquirer* reported that investigators searching the Olney house had found what appeared to be urns holding remains, "one set of which was apparently his father's."[^22] In September police said they believed three of the five urns found in the house held the ashes of R.C. Horsch, his sister, and a friend, and that two were unidentified.[^23]
The house on North Main Street, Chalfont, was the address his son gave in December 1972 when, as "Raymond C. Hoersch, Jr.," he sued the Secretary of the Army to void his call to active duty, and in December 1974, when the [[United States Secret Service]] arrested the son for counterfeiting, officials described it as his parents' home, where he had been living recently.[^15][^16] On August 20, 1973, a Cessna 210A, registration N1437J, was registered to "Hoersch Raymond C" at that address; the registration was cancelled on July 11, 1984. On July 26, 1981, while the son was living in [[New Zealand]] under a false identity, the aircraft lost power in its initial climb from [[Doylestown Airport]] and was brought back for a wheels-up landing; the [[National Transportation Safety Board]] recorded the pilot in command as 62 years old, an engineer holding a commercial certificate, with a minor injury.[^17][^18] His son said in 2013 that while he was a fugitive [[Federal Bureau of Investigation|FBI]] agents obtained his father's telephone records about once a year and traced every long-distance call, "which it never was, even though I was in pretty good contact with my father the whole time," and that the father was notified after each search, which let the son track the investigation. R.C. Horsch also said that his own son, then three, "was missing seeing his grandparents" when he decided to surrender in 1984.[^19] At 7:50 p.m. on November 19, 1991, walking home in dark clothing along a dimly lit stretch of Main Street near Peace Valley Road in Chalfont, he was struck by a car; borough police said he was hearing-impaired and "technically" jaywalking. He was flown by helicopter to [[Hahnemann University Hospital]] with head injuries and two broken legs and was pronounced dead at 5 a.m. on November 20, at 73. His death notice names his wife Clara, his son Raymond of Chalfont, his daughters Helen M. Mitchell of Chalfont and Virginia E. of [[Souderton, Pennsylvania|Souderton]], his sister [[Helen M. Hoersch|Helen M.]] of Philadelphia, and four grandchildren, and asked for remembrances to [[Doylestown Hospital]]; the funeral was held at the Decker Funeral Home in [[Warminster, Pennsylvania|Warminster]], with interment at [[Hillside Cemetery]].[^20][^21] In June 2026 the *Inquirer* reported that investigators searching the Olney house had found what appeared to be urns holding remains, "one set of which was apparently his father's."[^22] In September police said they believed three of the five urns found in the house held the ashes of R.C. Horsch, his sister, and a friend, and that two were unidentified.[^23]
### Footnotes
[^1]: West, Ashley. "Unknowing Ray Horsch, Episode 1: Youth," *The Rialto Report,* Podcast 171, September 13, 2026, audio at 08:39 to 10:20 and 26:01 to 27:14. https://www.therialtoreport.com/2026/09/13/ray-horsch-2/
[^2]: "Hoersch, Albert," death notice, *The Philadelphia Inquirer,* July 3, 1972, p. 10 ("father of Albert Jr., Raymond C., Helen M Hoersch, 417 W. Chew st."). https://www.newspapers.com/image/180006503/
[^2]: "Hoersch, Albert," death notice, *The Philadelphia Inquirer,* July 3, 1972, p. 10 ("father of Albert Jr., Raymond C., Helen M Hoersch, W. Chew st."). https://www.newspapers.com/image/180006503/
[^3]: "How a pornographer's violent fantasies blurred fact and fiction as cops searched Olney house for missing women," *The Philadelphia Inquirer,* August 2, 2026. https://www.inquirer.com/news/a/raymond-eugene-horsch-olney-philadelphia-missing-women-history-20260802.html
[^4]: U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs BIRLS Death File and Social Security Death Index, "Raymond Hoersch," born August 17, 1918, died November 20, 1991; World War II draft registration card, Raymond Charles Hoersch, born August 17, 1918, Philadelphia (all via Ancestry.com), accessed September 23, 2026. https://www.ancestry.com/
[^5]: [Notice seeking former World War II glider pilots], *The Times Leader* (Wilkes-Barre), January 29, 1979, p. 36; the same notice ran in *The Mountaintop Eagle* and *The Miner* (Carbondale) in January and February 1979. https://www.newspapers.com/image/407620980/
[^6]: The marriage is inferred rather than stated in any one document: Cecilia T. Hagerty's obituary of 1991 names her daughter "Clara Hoersch of Chalfont"; he bought property in Chalfont in 1971 and lived at 523 North Main Street there; and the *Pocono Record* in 1969 listed "Mr. and Mrs. Raymond Hoersch" among the Hagerty children and grandchildren. "Cecilia T. Hagerty," obituary, *The Morning Call,* October 26, 1991, p. 115, https://www.newspapers.com/image/283774999/; *Pocono Record,* September 26, 1969, p. 6, https://www.newspapers.com/image/40464241/
[^6]: The marriage is inferred rather than stated in any one document: Cecilia T. Hagerty's obituary of 1991 names her daughter "Clara Hoersch of Chalfont"; he bought property in Chalfont in 1971 and lived on North Main Street there; and the *Pocono Record* in 1969 listed "Mr. and Mrs. Raymond Hoersch" among the Hagerty children and grandchildren. "Cecilia T. Hagerty," obituary, *The Morning Call,* October 26, 1991, p. 115, https://www.newspapers.com/image/283774999/; *Pocono Record,* September 26, 1969, p. 6, https://www.newspapers.com/image/40464241/
[^7]: "Cecilia T. Hagerty," obituary, *The Morning Call,* October 26, 1991, p. 115 ("Daughter, Clara Hoersch of Chalfont, Bucks County"). https://www.newspapers.com/image/283774999/
[^8]: [Social column], *The Daily Intelligencer* (Doylestown), January 10, 1955, p. 2. https://www.newspapers.com/image/40163522/
[^9]: [Classified advertisement, "Draftsman, Mechanical Design"], *The Philadelphia Inquirer,* May 12, 1964, p. 42. Whether the firm was the father's or the son's is not stated. https://www.newspapers.com/image/180608119/