Hickam AFB

The airplane departed Hickam Field AFB on a maritime patrol flight over the Pacific Ocean, carrying a crew of nine. In flight, the crew encountered technical problems and equipment failures affected communication and navigation. In such conditions, the captain decided to return to base. Doing so, he reported that he was low on fuel and did not know his position with a 300 feet cloud ceiling in storm. A fuel exhaustion caused the engine n°2 to stop. When the engine n°3 was about to stop, the pilot feathered its propeller but this caused a loss of instruments so was restarted. The pilot held the plane off the water until the airspeed decayed and ditched the airplane about 233 km off Oahu. After ditching, one life raft was released and the top escape hatch failed to open. Two crew members were missing and seven others were rescued.
Crew:
1st Lt William S. Raper, pilot,
2nd Lt Edwin L. Sterling, pilot,
2nd Lt Frank E. Ross Jr., navigator,
Sgt Alva E. Dye, flight engineer,
Cpl Jessie R. Downard, assistant engineer,
Sgt Walter Dombrowski, radio operator, †
Pvt Robert J. McKeage, assistant radio,
2nd Lt Foster G. Daniels, bombardier,
Pvt Walter J. Dutkiewicz, air gunner. †

Crashed in unknow circumstances at Hickam Field, Pearl Harbour. Crew fate unknown.

Shortly after takeoff from Hickam AFB, while climbing, the airplane stalled and crashed into the sea. There were no casualties.
Crew:
Julian Jacobi.

The airplane departed Hickam AFB on a maritime patrol flight with a crew of 10 on board, looking for the Japanese invasion fleet which was expected after the December 7th attack. Just after their inbound turn the navigator discovered that there were some inconsistencies with their ‘known’ position and his estimated position. This pattern was repeating itself each time he took a sextant sighting. After reporting this to the pilot, he began a step by step check of all contributing factors and found the problem was the aircraft compass. It had not been recalibrated after the 0.50 caliber machine gun had been installed nearby. Therefore the compass was not reliable. The crew asked for a radio and heading check with Pearl Harbor. The heading they received was mixed up with another aircraft thus heading the B-17E out to sea - not to land. With no land in sight, it was getting dark and they were low on fuel. The pilot began a controlled ditching in the open sea about midnight, forty miles south of Kauai Island. With the nose up, the aircraft hit the water; the tail section up to just aft of the wings broke off and drifted away. Water came rushing into the compartments and everyone got out as best they could. In the water, they found only two 2-man rafts had deployed and were upside down. The other expected rafts did not launch when the aircraft hit the water. While clinging to the rafts, they began a crew count. One crew member was missing. It was dark and hard to see anything. Climbing onto the upside down rafts, they began calling for him. They heard a faint voice in the distance and began to move in that direction. They found the crew man riding, cowboy style, on the tail section, in front of the vertical stabilizer bruised but unhurt. Now they were all together, cold, wet, a long way from base, and a long night ahead. After three days and nights afloat, they were located by a PBY-5 Catalina which landed in heavy seas to rescue them, damaging the hull in the swell. Returning to Pearl Harbor, because of the damage to the PBY hull during the water landing, the PBY had to make a high speed run and fly up the sea plane ramp. The pilots nosed the PBY up the ramp and it skidded across the tarmac, came to a halt and slowly rocked onto one wing float. There were a lot of people waiting for them - Army, Navy, Medics. The nine crew were back at Pearl and on the way to the hospital. The crew killed was U/N Earl J. Cooper.
Source: www.joebaugher.com

On approach to Hickam AFB, the airplane was attacked by the pilot of a Japanese fighter. Bullets hit the aircraft and its cargo. Several explosions occurred, and upon touchdown, the bomber went out of control and veered off runway, coming to rest broken in two and bursting into flames. A crew member was killed and seven others were injured.

The airplane suffered an accident while taxiing at Hickam AFB, Honolulu. There were no casualties.

The twin engine airplane departed Hickam AFB at 0700LT on a training exercise, carrying four crew members and two passengers. The goal of the mission was an inter-island navigation on instruments. While flying at an altitude of 10,000 feet, the airplane suffered a main bearing failure in the left engine. The crew attempted an emergency landing when the airplane crashed into the Kohala summit swamps west of Waimanu, in an isolated mountain valley at 3,500 feet. All six occupants suffered minor injuries and were rescued three days later. The aircraft was abandoned on site.
Crew:
Cpt Boyd Hubbard, Jr., pilot,
2nd Lt Francis R. Thompson, pilot,
S/Sgt Joseph S. Paulhamus, flight engineer,
Pvt William Cohn, radio operator.
Passengers:
Pvt Fred C. Seeger,
Pvt Robert R. Stevens.