United States of America

The crew was engaged in a medical evacuation from a vessel on the Mississippi River. Upon landing, the Catalina struck a submerged obstacle that caused the aircraft to water loop, separating the wing from the fuselage. The aircraft quickly sank and was lost. Three crew members were killed while three others were injured.
Crew killed were:
Ens V. C. Fleck,
Ad2 J. C. Netherland,
Aic M. L. Sweet.

The crew was completing a training sortie out from Patuxent River NAS. While cruising at an altitude of 10,000 feet, the pilot-in-command started a turn to the left when the tail broke off. The airplane dove into the ground and crashed in a prairie located about three miles north of Centreville and 100 yards from the Chester River. The tail was recovered into the Langford's Bay, about two miles west of the wreckage. All six occupants were killed.

The aircraft was on a cross-country flight. Following an overnight stop in La Crosse, Wisconsin, due to poor weather, the aircraft departed the next morning for nearby Fort McCoy, to refuel. After refueling, the airplane departed Fort McCoy for Wright-Patterson AFB but during initial climb, the left engine lost power. The pilot-in-command elected to return and completed a turn to the left when the aircraft stalled and crashed. The aircraft was destroyed and all four occupants were killed.
Crew:
Lcdr LeWayne N. Felts,
Cpt Phillip M. Clinton,
1st Lt Rory G. Jahn,
Cwo Kenneth Ziegler.

The crew was completing a maritime patrol flight over the North Pacific Ocean when the radio operator informed ATC he would divert to Adak for an emergency landing due to a fire on board. While approaching Adak Airport, the seaplane hit the water surface and crashed into the ocean few miles off shore, killing all 12 crew members.

The airplane was cleared by the tower at 1723 for takeoff on Runway 25R, for a local VFR flight. On takeoff run at 1725, just when becoming airborne, and near the intersection of Runway 25R with Runway 22-4, it appeared that control of the aircraft had been lost. The right wing dropped and shortly struck the ground. The aircraft was then 15-20 feet high and the right wing remained down and the tail rose. It then veered to the right of the runway cartwheeled over its nose, and came to rest upside down. Fire broke out a few seconds later in the forward portion of the fuselage. Captain Johnson received minor injuries, Copilot Williams was seriously burned, and Company Chief Inspector Stromisky, sitting in the jump seat, was killed. Tower personnel had alerted emergency equipment when the aircraft first appeared to be in trouble, and fire apparatus arrived at the scene within a few minutes and extinguished the fire. The gross weight of the aircraft at the time of takeoff was 21,203 pounds, well below the prescribed maximum of 25,346 pounds, which was distributed within the approved C. G. limits. Weather at the time and place was good, with unlimited ceiling and visibility and a southwest wind at 10 mph.

On a flight from Vancouver to San Diego, the four engine aircraft crashed on the Iron Mountain located in the Syskiyou Mountain Range, southern Oregon. All ten crew members were killed.
Crew:
F/O Joseph Yvon Aurele Elias Bourgeois,
F/O John William Brownie,
F/O Robert James Calder,
F/O David Fair Lancaster Ellis,
F/O Kenneth Edgar Elsden,
LAC John Haraldson,
F/O Harry Charles Maddick,
Cpl Donald Gordon Lancaster Spence,
F/O Cyril Jerome Lancaster Williams,
LAC William Henry Waldron.

The crew was taking part to SAR operations for a missing Beechcraft Bonanza registered N8449A. En route, an engine failed. All five crew members decided to bail out and abandoned the aircraft that crashed in the Kings Park National Park. All five occupants were recovered uninjured while the aircraft was destroyed.

Meteor Air Transport is an irregular carrier, and in this instance was transporting a Pratt and Whitney R-2800 engine and four company employees from Teterboro, New Jersey, to Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, where the engine was to be installed in a company C-46 aircraft. The flight departed Teterboro for St. Louis, Missouri, at approximately 2300, May 23, 1953, on a VFR Flight Plan filed by Captain Harold Carr with an estimated flight time of six and one-half hours. An instrument flight plan filed en route was approved from over Troy, Ohio, intersection via Green Airways 4 to St. Louis, Missouri, cruising at 4,000 feet. The flight proceeded in a routine manner and reported over Terre Haute, Indiana, at 0259, May 24, and at 0324 the following clearance was given to Vandalia radio for delivery to the flight: "ATC clears N 53596 to the Alton intersection to cross Alton at 3,000, Maintain 3,000, no delay expected, contact approach control approaching Alton." At 0357, N 53596 made its initial contact with the St. Louis Tower with the information that it was approaching Alton intersection at 3,000. In reply to an inquiry, N 53596 advised the tower that it carried ILS equipment and was recleared to the ILS Outer Marker 2 to maintain 3,000 with no expected delay and to report when over the Alton intersection. The flight was given the current St. Louis weather: ceiling measured 400 overcast, visibility 3 miles, fog and smoke, altimeter 29.93. It was cleared for an ILS approach to Runway 24 or l2, 3 wind south variable 5, to report leaving 3,000, passing Alton and the Outer Marker. N 53596 reported leaving 3,000 at 0408, passing Alton intersection at 0410 1/2 and inbound over the Outer Marker at 0414. While the controller was watching the approach end of Runway 24 expecting N 53596 to come into view at any moment, a surging of engines was heard; and almost simultaneously a message was received from the flight stating that it was over the field with an engine out. The time as noted by the controller was 0415 at which time all runny and approach lights were turned up to full intensity and the standby emergency alarm sounded. The pilot of the aircraft was advised that the surface winds were calm and to use any runway he could make. Shortly thereafter, the controller for the first and only time observed N 53596 at a position south of the field flying on a southeasterly heading above Natural Bridge Highway which runs parallel to Runway 12. The altitude of the aircraft was estimated at 300 feet and it appeared to be descending with the landing gear in a down position. Upon reaching an altitude of 200 feet, according to the controller, it started a climbing left turn and disappeared in the overcast. Repeated efforts to contact the flight were unsuccessful. It was learned shortly thereafter through the county sheriff's office that the aircraft had crashed adjacent to Brown Road near the McDonnell Aircraft Plant gate number 6. Navy emergency equipment was immediately dispatched to the scene. There was no fire. The occupants of the aircraft were Senior Captain S. J. Rankin, Captain Harold Carr, First Officers Edward J. Raftery and Arthur A. Ravitz, Stewardess Anne Marie Delicata, Superintendent of Maintenance John Swart and Floyd Evans, mechanic. Mr. John Swart was the only survivor.

The aircraft arrived at Cheyenne, Wyoming at 0038, May 22, on a Civil Air Movement flight (military contract) from New York International Airport. The incoming pilots had no mechanical or radio discrepancies to report. After the aircraft was serviced, Captain Bowen F. Marshall and Copilot Samuel B. Aronson relieved the incoming crew for the purpose of ferrying the aircraft to Chicago, at which point, the pilots were to turn it over to another crew. Both pilots visited the U. S. Weather Bureau Airport Station at Cheyenne for weather briefing; all current weather information through 2330 (including three severe weather warnings) was on file and available to them. The aircraft departed Cheyenne at 0132, on an instrument flight plan to O’Hare Airport, Chicago, via Green Airway 3 and Red Airway 42 at 7,000 feet. Neither passengers nor cargo was carried and the center of gravity was within permissible limits. Routine position reports were made over Sidney, North Platte, Grand Island, and Omaha, Nebraska. In the last position report, at 0337, the flight reported to Omaha INSAC (Interstate Airways Communication Station) that it was over Omaha at 7,000 feet, estimating over Des Moines at Ohio. Three minutes later, the pilot again contacted Omaha INSAC and requested a change of altitude to 3,000 feet. Air Route Traffic Control, through Omaha INSAC, advised the flight that the 3,000-foot altitude was unavailable until arrival over Des Moines owing to a westbound flight proceeding at 2,600 feet between Des Moines and Omaha, and the request for descent would have to be disapproved. The flight was given the latest weather information between Omaha and Chicago, and the Des Moines 0327 weather, and there were no further radio contacts after this. Des Moines tower personnel received a telephone call at 0517 notifying them of the crash. The aircraft was destroyed and both pilots were killed.

Flight 318 departed Dallas, Texas, on a VFR Flight Plan at 1310, on time, for Atlanta, Georgia, with a scheduled stop at Shreveport, Louisiana. The crew consisted of Captain Douglas B. yolk, First Officer James P. Stewart and Stewardess Joanne Carlson; there were 17 passengers including one infant. The aircraft’s gross weight on departure from Dallas was 24,099 pounds, which was within the allowable weight of 25,200 pounds, and the center of gravity was within the prescribed limits. Flight 318 proceeded normally and at 1352 reported to the company station at Longview, Texas, that it was then west of Gladewater, Texas. Longview gave the flight the latest Shreveport weather which was dark scattered clouds at 1,000 feet, ceiling estimated 4,000 feet broken clouds, overcast at 20,000 feet, visibility 10 miles, thunderstorms, light rain showers, wind south 10. Remarks were thunderstorms south, occasional lightning cloud to cloud south. The flight was also advised by the company’s Longview operator that he had been watching thunderstorms east and southeast of the Longview field and suggested that the flight stay well to the north. Flight 318 answered “OK.” At 1408, in the vicinity of Marshall, Texas, the flight made a routine radio contact with Delta’s Shreveport station, during which it was given the Shreveport altimeter setting of 29.78. At this time the flight advised it was changing over to the Shreveport Control Tower frequency. At about 1412, four minutes later, Flight 318 called the Shreveport Control Tower, which cleared it to make a right-hard turn for landing approach to Runway 13 and gave the wind as southeast 10 miles per hour, Flight 318 acknowledged this message and requested the Shreveport weather which was transmitted as dark scattered clouds at 1,000 feet, ceiling estimated 4,000 feet, overcast at 20,000 feet, visibility 10 miles, thunderstorm, light rain shower. The tower also advised of a thunderstorm approximately 15 miles west of Shreveport. This transmission also was acknowledged by the flight. At 1416 the Shreveport Control Tower asked Flight 318 to give a position report. No reply was received, and a number of unsuccessful attempts were then made to contact the flight. At 1428 the tower was advised that an aircraft had crashed near Marshall, Texas. A passenger was seriously injured while 19 other occupants were killed. The aircraft was destroyed.