Pacific Ocean

The airplane departed Long Beach Airport on a delivery flight to Bangkok via Honolulu. While cruising about 525 miles from the California coast, the crew informed ATC about an engine failure and elected to return. Contact was lost and the airplane crashed into the Pacific Ocean. No trace or the aircraft nor the three occupants was ever found.

The airplane was engaged in an anti-submarine exercise when control was lost. It crashed into the Pacific Ocean about 187 miles off San Diego. The aircraft was destroyed and all 11 occupants were killed.

The DC-4 took off from Honolulu at 22:47 PST for a flight to Los Angeles, ETA 10:27 PST. At 05:54 PST the pilot reported a bad fire in the no. 2 engine and stated that a ditching might become necessary. Nothing more was heard from the flight. Extensive search efforts were discontinued after 5 days; nothing had been found. A total of 15-17 min maintenance delay had occurred on the Los Angeles-Philippines round trip. Among the causes of these delays was a recurring oil leak in the propeller governor assembly for the no. 2 engine.

While on a flight from Wake Island to Hickam AFB in Honolulu, the four engine aircraft crashed in unknown circumstances into the Pacific Ocean some 1,200 km west of Honolulu. No trace of the aircraft nor the nine occupants was found.

A Northwest Airlines, Inc., Douglas DC-7C, N290 MATS charter Flight 293, crashed in the north Pacific Ocean approximately 116 nautical miles west-southwest of Annette Island, Alaska, at approximately 1816 G.m.t., June 3, 1963. The flight departed McChord AFB, Washington, for Elmendorf AFB, Alaska, carrying 95 passengers and a crew of 6. The passenger list included military personnel, dependents, Department of Defense employees and a Red Cross employee. All occupants of the aircraft were lost at sea and the aircraft was destroyed. The aircraft had been airborne approximately 2 hours and 35 minutes when radio contact was lost. No difficulties were reported by the crew prior to this time. The wreckage was sighted by a Royal Canadian Air Force aircraft at 0322 C.m.t., June 4, 1963, at 54 degrees 21' N - 134 degrees 39' W but no survivors were observed. Approximately 1,500 pounds of floating aircraft wreckage was recovered.

Crashed in unknown circumstances into the Pacific Ocean some 350 miles southwest of San Diego while conducting a maritime patrol flight. Few debris were found floating on water and all 13 occupants were killed.

Thirty-three minutes after its departure from Tachikawa AFB, the airplane crashed into the Pacific Ocean off the Japanese coasts. Few debris were found floating on water and all eight crew members were killed.

En route from Atsugi to Subic Bay (Cubi Point NAS, Philippines), the crew informed ATC that engine number three caught fire and elected to divert to Naha Airport, Okinawa. Few minutes after 1400LT, the captain informed ATC about his position and maintained the altitude of 6,500 feet with 339° heading and requested maritime assistance in case of ditching. This was the last message. Shortly later, the four engine aircraft crashed into the Pacific Ocean some 290 km southeast from Okinawa Island. No trace of the 29 occupants was found but only 350 kilos of debris floating on water.

While cruising by night, the crew informed ATC about technical issues with the number three and elected to feather the propeller. In the mean time, the captain decided to divert to Hickam Field. Thirteen minutes later, the crew reported he was unable to feather the propeller that was windmilling while the engine number three was losing oil. In such condition, the captain decided to divert to Johnston atoll closer from his position. Unfortunately, shortly later, a propeller detached from the engine number three and struck the ailerons, causing serious control difficulties. The crew reduced his altitude and attempted to ditch the airplane about 200 miles northeast of the Johnston atoll. Rescuers arrived twelve hours later and were able to evacuate three wounded crew members while the aircraft sank and six other occupants were killed.

The crew was performing a flight from Travis AFB to Tokyo with intermediate stops at Hickam (Hawaii) and Wake Island. On the leg from Hawaii to Wake Island, the airplane crashed into the ocean in unknown circumstances. SAR operations were conducted for several days but eventually suspended as no trace of the aircraft nor the crew was ever found. The last position of the airplane was reported 375 miles southwest of Honolulu.