United States of America

Following an engine failure in flight, all 11 crew members bailed out and abandoned the aircraft that dove into the ground and crashed in a prairie located near Cullman. All 11 crew members were uninjured while the aircraft was destroyed.

The twin engine aircraft was performing a flight from Malmstrom AFB (Great Falls) to March AFB (Riverside) with an intermediate stop at Hill AFB in Ogden. After takeoff from Ogden-Hill AFB, bound for the south, the crew encountered poor weather conditions (stormy weather) and low visibility when the aircraft hit the east side of Mt Timpanogos (11,751 feet high) located about 28 miles southeast of Salt Lake City. As the aircraft failed to arrive at March AFB, SAR operations were conducted and the wreckage was found three days later about 300 feet below the summit. All five occupants have been killed.
Crew:
Maj Daniel C. Howley, pilot,
2nd Lt Howard E. St John Jr., copilot,
A2c Doyle Dempsey, flight engineer.
Passengers:
Donald R. Cubbage,
Maurice McNulty.

Crashed on landing for unknown reason. There were no casualties.

Crashed in unknown circumstances. There were no casualties.

The crew was completing a local training mission at Loring AFB. Upon landing, the aircraft hit a snow bank with its wing tip, went out of control and came to rest in flames. All 11 occupants were rescued, some of them were injured. The aircraft was destroyed.

On final approach to Hagerstown-Washington County Airport, the Flying Boxcar was a bit too low and landed few yards short of runway threshold. When it struck the concrete runway, the undercarriage were sheared off. The airplane skidded on the runway, eventually veered off and came to rest in flames. While all 13 crew members evacuated safely, the aircraft was destroyed by fire.

While conducting a night refueling mission, the aircraft suffered an engine failure. The captain elected to make an emergency landing but the airplane went out of control and crashed in a field located 3,5 miles northwest of Windsor. Nine crew members were killed while two others were injured.

Flight 260 received an IFR clearance from the tower at 0703 hours: "ATC clears TWA260 for approach at the Santa Fe Airport via Victor 19 climb northbound on the back course of the ILS localiser". The flight departed Albuquerque at 0705 hours. The tower requested the flight to report over-the Weiler Intersection (formerly the Alameda Intersection), however, after taking off there were no further radio contacts with the flight. The aircraft was last seen at an estimated altitude of 3000 feet (8300 feet mean sea level) in a high speed shallow climb continuing its heading towards Sandia Ridge, the upper portion of which was obscured by clouds. The wreckage was sighted the following morning at 9243 feet mean sea level, just below the crest of Sandia Mountain, approximately 13 miles north-east of the Albuquerque Airport and almost directly on a straight line course of 30 degrees magnetic from that airport (elevation 5340 feet mean sea level) to the Santa Fe Airport (elevation 6 344 feet mean sea level). An investigation was initiated by the Civil Aeronautics Board immediately after the accident. This included examination of the wreckage at the crash site which was discontinued because of deep snow and dangerous footing in the mountainous terrain. On May 3, 1955, a second trip was made to the scene of the accident and study of the wreckage was continued. On October 12, 1955, the Board’s Accident Investigation Report was released. The probable cause was determined to have been lack of conformity with prescribed en route procedures and a deviation from airways at an altitude too low to clear obstructions ahead. Because of controversy over certain elements of the report of October 12, 1955, additional study was given to the facts and circumstances of the accident and an amended report thereon was issued by the Board on August 26, 1957. The probable cause of the accident in this report was identical to that of the first report although the analysis portion was altered to revise the statement that the direct course was intentional. On October 10, 1958, the Air Line Pilots Association presented to the Bureau of Safety certain factual information and theories concerning the cause of the accident. On November 24, 1958, a third trip to the accident site was made. While there a new determination was made of the airplane’s heading at the time of impact. Because of these developments since the August 26, 1957, accident report was issued, active investigation and study was resumed. Additional testimony and documentary material were received from representatives of the ALPA, TWA, CAB, Eclipse-Pioneer Division of the Bendix Aviation Corporation, and the Collins Radio Company at Kansas City, Missouri, on January 15 and 16, 1959. In addition, a later study and presentation of facts concerning the instrumentation of the airplane and an analysis of tests made of the fluxgate compass system by Eclipse-Pioneer and ALPA were considered.

The crew was returning to Elmendorf AFB following a training mission. While descending to the altitude of 2,000 feet, the airplane hit the slope of a mountain located 28 miles northwest of Elmendorf Airbase. The aircraft was destroyed upon impact and all 11 crew members were killed. For undetermined reason, the crew started the approach to Elmendorf prematurely, causing the aircraft to his the mountain.

Following an uneventful training flight from Biggs AAF, the pilot-in-command started the approach to Carswell AFB but was too low. On short final, the airplane hit the ground, lost its undercarriage and came to rest. There were no casualties but the aircraft was written off.