Topham (Canton Island)

A Lockheed Constellation, Model L-749A, N 116A, owned by the United States Government and operated by the Federal Aviation Agency, crashed following a local training flight at Topham Field, Canton Island, April 26, 1962, at 1213 local time. All four FAA crew members were fatally injured. One of the two passengers, not an FAA employee, was also fatally injured. The other, an FAA physician, was seriously injured. The aircraft was destroyed. The purpose of the flight was to train the copilot in various maneuvers and flight configurations prior to being tested for an Airline Transport Pilot Rating, and to train a flight maintenance technician as a flight engineer.

The crew was performing a local trip around Canton Island following maintenance. While flying along the shore at a too low altitude (about 30 feet), the aircraft hit a tree with its right wing that was partially sheared off. The aircraft lost height and eventually crashed in flames some 400 metres further on. All nine occupants were killed.
Crew:
S/Sgt Walter W. Gebhardt,
2nd Lt George W. Gee,
2nd Lt John A. Harcharik Jr.,
Cpl Charles H. Lohman,
2nd Lt William A. Prater,
T/Sgt Leslie A. Roberts Jr.,
Pfc Joseph F. Scogna,
2nd Lt Morris M. Steinberg 1.

After takeoff from Topham Airfield, Canton Island, the right engine started to vibrate and caught fire. The pilot ditched the airplane in open water with the landing gear down. The seaplane sank and all nine occupants were quickly rescued.
Crew (VP-71):
Lt(jg) Frederic L. Feind, pilot,
Ens L. L. Harkness,
Amm1c T. H. Freeman,
Amm2c R. L. Hall,
Amm2c L. G. Sheperd,
Rm2c J. J. Conrad,
Rm3c H. L. Wipprecht,
Sgt Troia,
Pfc Goodpasture.

While on a night approach to Topham Airfield (Canton Island), Kiribati, the pilot completed a last turn to reach the approach path when the airplane stalled and crashed into the sea few hundred metres offshore. 18 occupants were killed while three others were rescued. The flight was operated by a United Airlines crew on behalf of the Air Transport Command (ATC).
Passengers:
Col John Dibble,
Col Ralph F. Love,
Lt Col William Hyatt Bache,
Lt Col Powhatan Moncure Morton,
Lt Col John R. Pitman Jr.,
Maj James J. Gleason,
Maj Clark Wilson Mayne,
2nd Lt Gerald H. Levine,
M/Sgt Kendall Maxfield Taylor,
T/Sgt Felix M. Padkosky,
S/Sgt Percy J. Archdale.
W/O Alexander E. Dale,
T4c Robert Lambie.

The airplane departed Hickam Field AFB, Hawaii, on a special mission to Australia, with a intermediate stop in Topham, Canton Island. On board were eight crew members, among them Edward V. 'Eddie' Rickenbacker, WWI flyer ace, who was sent on a tour of the Pacific theater to review conditions, operations, and to personally deliver a secret message from President Roosevelt to General MacArthur. After takeoff from Hawaii, the airplane went off course due to a navigation error caused by an out-of-adjustment celestial navigation instrument, a bubble octant that gave a systematic bias to all of its readings. That octant reportedly had suffered a severe shock in a pre-takeoff mishap during the first attempt to takeoff in a different bomber, but the landing gear's brakes seized mid-takeoff. The navigator kept the same damaged bubble octant which caused the navigational failure. The plane's aircraft commander was forced to ditch close to Japanese-held islands but the Americans were never spotted by Japanese patrol planes. The USAAF and USN searched for more than two weeks, but failed to find anything. Rickenbacker's wife convinced them to extend the search another week. The press reported that Rickenbacker had died. The seven crew used two life rafts. Rickenbacker still suffered from the airplane crash, his friend sustained serious injuries in the water landing, and others in the crew were hurt to varying degrees. The crew's food supply ran out after three days. They drifted at sea without food or water aside from an occasional fish and rain. On the eighth day a seagull landed on Rickenbacker's head, he caught it and the men meticulously divided it equally and used some for fishing bait. On the thirteenth day, one of the crew died and was buried at sea, leaving only six survivors. Rickenbacker assumed a role of leadership, encouragement, and browbeating to help the others survive, and encouraged them to turn to the Lord for solace. According to Rickenbacker, each person on the rafts converted to Christianity after the experience. Three of the survivors decided to separate and departed together. They found a small island, close to another, inhabited one. The natives of the second one were hosting an allied radio station. They were taken to an English missionary on the island, until rescued by a US Navy tender. On the seventeenth day, the other survivors saw an aircraft, but it failed to spot them. More planes were spotted on the eighteenth and nineteenth days, but they failed to spot them. US Navy pilots located the surviving crew members off the coast of Island X near Samoa. A Navy patrol plane spotted the captain on the evening of the twenty-first day, 12NOV42 and a PT Boat rescued him. Twenty-two days after the crash, 13NOV42 an OS2U Kingfisher crew spotted the raft with Rickenbacker and two other crew members off the coast of Nukufetau in Tuvalu and landed. Already dark, the Kingfisher loaded one inside the cockpit. Rickenbacker and the other crew member were strapped to the wing. The Kingfisher taxied on the surface for more than thirty minutes to a nearby PT Boat, where they were transferred. Rickenbacker completed his assignment and delivered MacArthur's secret message.
Source: Joe Baugher.
Crew:
Cpt William Cherry Jr., pilot,
2nd Lt James C. Whittaker, copilot,
Lt John J. DeAngelis, navigator,
Sgt Alexander T. Kaczmarczyk, navigator, †
Sgt James W. Reynolds, radio operator,
Pvt John F. Bartek, flight engineer.
Passengers:
Col Hans C. Adamson,
Cpt Edward V. 'Eddie'Rickenbacker.

For unknown reasons, the airplane landed short of runway at Topham Airport, Canton Island, and was damaged beyond repair. There were no casualties.

The floatplane failed to arrive at destination while on a flight from Topham (Canton Island) to Pearl Harbor with 11 crew members on board. Lost without trace. SAR operations stopped on 10 February 1942.