West Palm Beach | Bureau of Aircraft Accidents Archives

The four engine aircraft departed by night on a transatlantic flight to Europe. After a takeoff roll of 7,000 feet, the airplane rotated but encountered difficulties to gain height when it struck Australian pines and crashed in a huge explosion just past the runway end. Twelve crew members were killed while two others were injured. The aircraft was destroyed.
Crew:
Samuel Gerald Dean, pilot, †
Edward Joseph Wolbers, copilot, †
Radamés E. Cáceres, navigator, †
Douglas Laurent Dauphin, bombardier, †
Bert Garland Sauls Jr., master gunner, †
Kenneth N. Markle, radio operator, †
Louis Karp, artillery gunner, †
James Henry “Jim” Henderson, artillery gunner, †
Douglas Vincent Schmoker, artillery gunner, †
Howard George Sewell, turret gunner.
Passengers:
George M. “Pud” Durrett, †
Robert H. Watson, †
Harold Edwin Richards, †
James Dixon “Big Jim” Fore. †

Crash of a Consolidated C-87 Liberator Express near General Zaragoza: 2 killed

Date & Time: Feb 9, 1943

Type of aircraft:

Consolidated C-87 Liberator Express

Operator:

Registration:

41-23850

Flight Phase:

Flight Type:

Survivors:

Site:

Schedule:

West Palm Beach – Georgetown

MSN:

645

YOM:

1941

Location:

Country:

Region:

Crew on board:

Crew fatalities:

Pax on board:

Pax fatalities:

Other fatalities:

Total fatalities:

Circumstances:

The airplane left West Palm Beach Airport at 0030LT on a cargo flight to Georgetown, Ascension Island. While overflying the Bahamas at the assigned altitude of 9,000 feet about 90 miles east of Florida, the crew encountered an unexpected situation. The airplane became unstable and severe vibrations were noted in the tail, the stabs and the control column. In such situation, the captain decided to return to West Palm Beach but approaching Florida, the on-board situation worsened and the crew decided to abandon the aircraft and bailed out. Six crew were found alive about 10 miles east of Hollywood, Florida, while two other occupants were never found. With the autopilot engaged, the aircraft continued to the west, overflew the Gulf of Mexico for about 2,000 km and eventually came down, short of fuel, on a mountain located near General Zaragoza, Nuevo León.
Crew:
1st Lt R. C. Ulmer,
1st Lt C. W. Hauth,
1st Lt R. H. Digby,
Pvt K. J. Riddle,
Pvt S. Gutowski,
2nd Lt B. A. Brannon.
Passengers:
2nd Lt Albert E. Lloyd,
2nd Lt G. P. Knutson.

Crash of a Douglas DC-3-201B near Vero Beach

Date & Time: Apr 3, 1941 at 0907 LT

Type of aircraft:

Douglas DC-3

Operator:

Registration:

NC21727

Flight Phase:

Flight

Flight Type:

Scheduled Revenue Flight

Survivors:

Yes

Site:

Lake, Sea, Ocean, River

Schedule:

Miami – West Palm Beach – Daytona Beach – Jacksonville – Brunswick – Savannah – Charleston – Raleigh – Richmond – Washington DC – Baltimore – Philadelphia – New York

MSN:

2143

YOM:

1939

Flight number:

EA014

Location:

Vero Beach

Florida

Country:

United States of America

Region:

North America

Crew on board:

Crew fatalities:

Pax on board:

Pax fatalities:

Other fatalities:

Total fatalities:

Captain / Total flying hours:

3557

Captain / Total hours on type:

2486.00

Copilot / Total flying hours:

4100

Copilot / Total hours on type:

469

Circumstances:

On the leg from West Palm Beach to Daytona Beach, while cruising along the east coast of Florida, the crew encountered poor weather conditions with storm activity and turbulence. The aircraft lost height and crashed in a flat attitude in a swampy area near Vero Beach. All 16 occupants were injured and the aircraft was wrecked.
Crew:
Gerald O'Brien, pilot,
Byron M. Crabtree, copilot,
Albert Marin, steward.

Probable cause:

Upon the basis of the foregoing findings and of the entire record available, investigators find that the probable cause of the accident was loss of control of the airplane while being operated on instruments and while encountering severe turbulence in a line squall, the existence of which the carrier's ground personnel had failed to make known to the captain.
The following contributing factors were identified:
1. Failure of carrier to provide an adequate dispatching system with a number of trained dispatchers on Route 6 to keep in constant contact with flights in order to provide them with current and accurate flight information.
2. Failure of carrier's West Palm Beach ground station to transmit to Trip 14 the full text of the message received from Trip 10 at 8:32 A.M.
3. Failure of carrier's meteorologist to make a more thorough analysis of weather conditions and issue a supplementary forecast to that originally issued for the operation of trip 14.
4. Although as we have previously stated it is impossible to reach a definite conclusion as to the degree of severity of the problem presented to the pilot it appears very possible that the handicap of the captain's limited experience in flying transport aircraft under conditions of severe turbulence was a factor contributing to the occurrence of the accident.

Final Report:

Crash of a Lockheed 3 Air Express in West Palm Beach

Date & Time: Jan 17, 1930

Type of aircraft:

Lockheed 3 Air Express

Operator:

Registration:

NC7955

Flight Phase:

Takeoff (climb)

Flight Type:

Executive/Corporate/Business

Survivors:

Yes

Site:

Airport (less than 10 km from airport)

MSN:

EX-2

YOM:

1928

Location:

West Palm Beach

Florida

Country:

United States of America

Region:

North America

Crew on board:

Crew fatalities:

Pax on board:

Pax fatalities:

Other fatalities:

Total fatalities:

Circumstances:

The pilot Frank Hawks attempted a takeoff from a soggy field in West Palm Beach, Florida, destroying the aircraft named 'Texaco 5' in a spectacular crash that catapulted it into a row of three parked aircraft. All three occupants were unhurt while the aircraft was destroyed.