Crash of an Antonov AN-2 in Gorbovichi: 5 killed

Date & Time:
Type of aircraft:
Operator:
Registration:
CCCP-A2583
Flight Phase:
Flight Type:
Survivors:
No
Schedule:
Kiev – Byshev – Borodyanka – Kiev
MSN:
1 00 473 02
YOM:
30
Country:
Region:
Crew on board:
5
Crew fatalities:
Pax on board:
0
Pax fatalities:
Other fatalities:
Total fatalities:
5
Aircraft flight hours:
972
Circumstances:
The crew consisting of two pilots and three instructors left Kiev-Zhuliany Airport at 0936LT on a training mission to Byshev, Borodyanka and back to Zhuliany. While cruising west of Kiev at an altitude of 1,000 meters in good weather conditions, the aircraft went out of control, lost several pieces and went into a dive. At a height of 50 meters, three crew members bailed out and the aircraft crashed at an angle of descent of 35 to 40° in a field located in Gorbovichi, about 24 km west of Kiev. The aircraft was destroyed upon impact, several debris were scattered on a large area and all five crew members were killed. Unfortunately, the three crew members who bailed out were also killed as the distance with the ground was insufficient.
Probable cause:
It was determined that the loss of control was due to the failure of the wings' structure and several other parts of the fuselage due to a faulty design of the aircraft and unacceptable manufacturing defaults.

Crash of a Boeing B-29-65-BW Superfortress in Mountain Home: 7 killed

Date & Time:
Type of aircraft:
Operator:
Registration:
44-69810
Flight Phase:
Flight Type:
Survivors:
No
Schedule:
Mountain Home - Mountain Home
MSN:
10642
YOM:
1944
Crew on board:
7
Crew fatalities:
Pax on board:
0
Pax fatalities:
Other fatalities:
Total fatalities:
7
Circumstances:
The crew was completing a local training flight at Mountain Home Airport, consisting of touch and goes. After takeoff, while in initial climb, the four engine bomber went out of control and crashed in a huge explosion about 1,300 feet past the runway end. The aircraft exploded on impact and disintegrated, killing all seven crew members.

Crash of a Lockheed P2V-3 Neptune off Block Island: 7 killed

Date & Time:
Type of aircraft:
Operator:
Registration:
122978
Flight Phase:
Flight Type:
Survivors:
No
Schedule:
Quonset Point - Quonset Point
Crew on board:
7
Crew fatalities:
Pax on board:
0
Pax fatalities:
Other fatalities:
Total fatalities:
7
Circumstances:
The crew was involved in a training flight consisting of an aerial attack of a submarine off Long Island. One hour after his departure from Quonset Point NAS, the pilot encountered problems and lost control of the aircraft that crashed into the sea about 30 miles east of the Montauk Point lighthouse, Long Island. All seven crew members were killed.
Crew:
Lt Jerome J. Rossillion,
Lt Herschell B. Thorpe,
Charles G. Chapman,
Charles L. Cook,
Ralph R. Maxfield,
Frank M. Roeder Jr.,
Kenneth G. Peterson.
Probable cause:
It is believed that the loss of control was caused by the explosion of an engine in flight.

Crash of a Douglas C-47 in Wular Lake

Date & Time:
Operator:
Registration:
HJ913
Flight Phase:
Flight Type:
Survivors:
Yes
Country:
Region:
Crew on board:
2
Crew fatalities:
Pax on board:
0
Pax fatalities:
Other fatalities:
Total fatalities:
0
Circumstances:
The crew was performing a local training flight. En route, the captain gave controls to the copilot who lost control of the airplane that crashed into the lake. Both occupants were injured while the aircraft sank and was lost.

Crash of a Boeing B-29-85-BW Superfortress near Randolph AFB

Date & Time:
Type of aircraft:
Operator:
Registration:
44-87640
Flight Phase:
Flight Type:
Survivors:
Yes
MSN:
12443
YOM:
1944
Crew on board:
0
Crew fatalities:
Pax on board:
0
Pax fatalities:
Other fatalities:
Total fatalities:
0
Circumstances:
En route, an engine failed and caught fire. All crew members decided to bail out and abandoned the aircraft that crashed in a field located three miles north of Randolph AFB. There were no casualties but the aircraft was destroyed.
Probable cause:
Engine failure and fire.

Crash of a Consolidated PBY-5A Catalina in Atlanta: 8 killed

Date & Time:
Type of aircraft:
Operator:
Flight Phase:
Flight Type:
Survivors:
No
Location:
Crew on board:
8
Crew fatalities:
Pax on board:
0
Pax fatalities:
Other fatalities:
Total fatalities:
8
Circumstances:
Crashed on takeoff for unknown reason. Eight crew members, all reservists, were killed.

Crash of a Vickers 490 Wellington XVIII in Hudswell: 6 killed

Date & Time:
Operator:
Registration:
PG367
Flight Phase:
Flight Type:
Survivors:
Yes
Schedule:
Leeming - Leeming
Region:
Crew on board:
7
Crew fatalities:
Pax on board:
0
Pax fatalities:
Other fatalities:
Total fatalities:
6
Circumstances:
At the time of the accident RAF Leeming was using the Martinet aircraft as a target aircraft for crews training in the use of the interception radar flying in larger bomber-aircraft. In the Wellington on this day were Cadets from 1869 (Middlesbrough) Squadron ATC who were visiting Leeming in August 1951 during their summer camp and the boys were being given flights in both aircraft to demonstrate such techniques done in the RAF's training role. In the mid-afternoon of 13th August 1951 such a training flight was being carried out. Each aircraft was carrying one ATC Cadet and any other day such a flight would have been a fantastic experience for these young boys. There were three trainee navigators on the Wellington, all taking turns in doing the interceptions. Some would appear to have flying experience though and many were commissioned officers and it is probable that all has seen Wartime service. One of men these was certainly no novice, F/Lt Quinton had been a night-fighter navigator who was awarded the DFC in 1946 but was retraining at Leeming at the time of this accident. He had been de-mobbed after the War but had found civilian life hard and after five years had re-applied for a short-service commission. For him this training flight would have been very much run of the mill and really only a refresher course. As the two flights begun the Martinet took off and flew away in one direction, a short time later the Wellington took off with seven on board and flew off in the opposite direction. The radar operators would then guide their pilot to the Martinet to practice their skills. Both aircraft were flying at between 8-10,000 feet and the area of the sky was free of cloud, without warning cloud closed in and soon after the Martinet appeared out of the cloud and was too close to the Wellington, it's wing struck the Wellington. The Martinet then went into a dive and crashed killing the two in the aircraft which included the ATC Cadet. Both probably stood no chance of being able to get out of the aircraft. The Wellington went into an uncontrollable spin and began to break up in midair. By the time of the collision the Cadet and F/Lt Quinton in the Wellington had taken up a position in the astrodome, Quinton had carried out his part of the exercise and had moved to one side to let one of the others have their turn. The tail section of the Wellington began to break away from the aircraft and there would have been very little the pilot would have been able to do to land the aircraft. In the Wellington at the time the parachutes of the aircrew were stowed awaiting use, seeing a parachute pack nearby F/Lt Quinton picked up this and clipped it on ATC Cadet Derek Coates' harness. He jestured to the Cadet how to deploy his parachute and then pushed him through a hole where the tail section of the aircraft was once attached and thus clear of the crashing aircraft. Such an action then prevented F/Lt Quinton's own survival as further parachutes were stowed in the rear of the aircraft and were by now impossible to get to. F/Lt Quinton would have known this and by these actions his own chances were limited. The aircraft crashed in fields around Hudswell, near Catterick, North Yorkshire and sadly the six remaining aircrew were killed in the crash. In all eight were killed in the collision.
Crew (228th OCU):
F/O Peter Frederick Keeling, pilot, †
F/O Dawyck George McLeod Veitch, pilot, †
F/O George Michael Trotman, navigator, †
F/Lt John Alan Quinton, navigator, †
P/O Frank Leslie Farrell, navigator, †
P/O Edwin George Percival Garratt, navigator, †
Cad Derek Coates.
Source:
http://www.yorkshire-aircraft.co.uk/aircraft/planes/dales/pg367.html

Crash of an Avro 696 Shackleton MR.1 off Gibraltar

Date & Time:
Type of aircraft:
Operator:
Registration:
VP283
Flight Type:
Survivors:
Yes
Schedule:
Gibraltar - Gibraltar
YOM:
1951
Region:
Crew on board:
0
Crew fatalities:
Pax on board:
0
Pax fatalities:
Other fatalities:
Total fatalities:
0
Circumstances:
On final approach to Gibraltar Airport, while completing a local training sortie, the aircraft was too low and hit the runway surface, causing the undercarriage to be sheared off. The pilot-in-command attempted a go around and later decided to ditch the aircraft offshore. The airplane came to rest into the sea and was lost while all occupants were rescued.
Probable cause:
It was reported that the pilot was blinded by sun while trying to land.

Crash of a Consolidated PB4Y-2 Privateer on Amak Island: 12 killed

Date & Time:
Operator:
Registration:
66298
Flight Type:
Survivors:
No
Site:
Schedule:
Cold Bay - Cold Bay
MSN:
66298
YOM:
1944
Crew on board:
12
Crew fatalities:
Pax on board:
0
Pax fatalities:
Other fatalities:
Total fatalities:
12
Circumstances:
Following a training mission over the North Pacific Ocean, the crew was returning to Cold Bay Airport when on descent, the airplane hit the slope of a mountain located on the Amak Island, about 20 miles northwest of Cold Bay Airport. All 12 crew members were killed.
Crew:
Edwin Roy Park, pilot,
Robert Wilfred Conklon,
Henry Howard Wood,
Leonard Walter Sexton,
Elnord Ellis Flinkfelt,
Ronald Lee Hunt,
Brook Alton Williams,
Bobby Enloe,
Joseph Dale Whitherspoon,
Edwin Francis Busbi Jr.,
Charles Wyalis Elkins,
William Stuart Wagner.

Crash of a Consolidated PB4Y-2 Privateer off Smith Island: 9 killed

Date & Time:
Operator:
Registration:
59657
Flight Phase:
Flight Type:
Survivors:
No
Crew on board:
9
Crew fatalities:
Pax on board:
0
Pax fatalities:
Other fatalities:
Total fatalities:
9
Circumstances:
The crew was performing a local training flight when control was lost. The aircraft crashed into the Possession Sound, less than a mile off Smith Island. All nine crew members were killed. The aircraft was registered 59657 (VP-871).