Date & Time: Jul 7, 1951 at 1110 LT
Type of aircraft:
Boeing B-29 Superfortress
Operator:
Registration:
44-83950
Flight Phase:
Flight
Flight Type:
Training
Survivors:
No
Site:
Plain, Valley
Location:
Carsphairn
Dumfries and Galloway
Country:
United Kingdom
Region:
Europe
Crew on board:
11
Crew fatalities:
11
Pax on board:
0
Pax fatalities:
0
Other fatalities:
0
Total fatalities:
11
Circumstances:
The aircraft had taken off from RAF Lakenheath in Suffolk at 0917LT for a Radar Navigation Flight which was to be followed by 4 hours of Air to Air refueling practice with a Boeing B-50. At 1103LT the aircraft was in contact with the controller at Prestwick, having entered the Scottish Flight Information Region, the pilot reported they were at a altitude of ~14,500 feet in visual conditions. Only 7 minutes later the aircraft was seen be witnesses on the ground descending out of cloud at 1,500 to 2,000 feet over Carsphairn on a NNW course. They stated that the engines sounded different to the aircraft which normally over-flew the area. The aircraft then turned onto a SE course before stalling and entering a spin from which it did not recover before impacted the ground in a deep gully at the edge of a field. The fuel tanks, containing an estimated 8,000 US Gallons exploded and completely destroyed the aircraft, scattering it over a considerable area.
Crew:
1st Lt Joseph A. O'Leary, pilot,
1st Lt George Merrill Foote, copilot,
1st Lt Claude Jacques Hayden Jr., navigator,
S/Sgt Noel M. Poppof, flight engineer,
Cpt Tennant A. Metz, radar operator,
Cpl John B. Simpson, radio operator,
Cpl John P. Finnegan, scanner,
1st Lt Jack W. Kern, boom instructor,
Sgt Henry H. Hill, boom operator,
S/Sgt Wallace L. Scott, boom operator,
Cpl Reginald Y. Russell, boom operator.
Source:
http://www.peakdistrictaircrashes.co.uk/crash_sites/scotland/boeing-kb-29p-44-83950-carsphairn/