World

The seaplane was returning to its base following a maritime patrol flight off the Korean coast. While overflying the South China Sea, the aircraft crashed in unknown circumstances about 250 km east of Hong Kong. The aircraft sank and was lost and all 12 crew members were killed.

The crew was performing a flight from Seoul-Kimpo to the Brady AFB in Japan. En route, the aircraft went out of control and crashed into the Sea of Japan. The aircraft was lost and all four crew members were killed.

The crew left Kadena AFB on a mission over South Korea. While cruising in the region of Seoul, the heavy bomber was attacked by the pilots of three North Korean AF (KPAFAC) Yakovlev Yak-9. The crew was able to leave the area and while over the Yellow Sea, was forced to abandon the airplane that dove into the sea and crashed. All 13 occupants were rescued. This was the first B-29 Superfortress shot down by enemy fire during the Korean War.

While returning to his base following a bombing mission of a railroad located 20 miles north of Seoul, the crew encountered engine problems. The pilot attempted an emergency landing when the aircraft crashed into the Yellow Sea. Two crew members were killed while the third occupant was rescued.

Crashed in unknown circumstances into the Pacific Ocean about 140 miles southeast of Guam Island. Three crew members were killed while eight others were rescued.

Following an uneventful mission, the crew was returning to Kadena AFB, Okinawa, when on approach, he was unable to lower the undercarriage. After several trials, the crew decided to leave the area and went over the East China Sea to abandon the aircraft. After all crew members bailed out, the aircraft was shot down by the pilot of a Lockheed F-80C Shooting Star and crashed into the sea. All occupants were rescued.

The aircraft crashed in unknown circumstances into the North Sea, about 100 km northeast of RAF Sculthorpe, Norfolk, while on a maritime patrol flight. Two crew members were rescued while 11 others were killed.

The flight departed from Isle Grande Airport, San Juan, Puerto Rico, at 1724, June 5, 1950, for Wilmington, North Carolina Joe M Halsey was the captain in command, William Holleran, copilot, and Hector Medina, steward In addition to the 62 passengers and three crew members, the aircraft carried 8,436 pounds of fuel and 1,363 pounds of baggage, which resulted in a total aircraft weight at the time of takeoff of 48,258 pounds This was 258 pounds in excess of the certificated limit. Prior to their departure from San Juan, the crew filed with the CAA (Civil Aeronautics Administration) air route traffic control (ARIC) at San Juan an instrument flight plan which described the intended route to he from San Juan to the Caribbean island of South Caicos, then to the Carp Intersection, which is a point located approximately 144 miles southeast of Wilmington, and from there to Wilmington 3 This over-water route carried the flight more than 400 miles east of the mainland of the United States and north of the Bahama Island chain Cruising altitude was to be 6,500 feet, and the estimated time to destination six hours and 50 minutes. No difficulty was experienced by the crew during the first four hours of flight, and in a report transmitted to the San Juan Communications Station at 2117 the crew estimated that its position at 2148 would be 28 degrees 33' north latitude and 74 degrees 58' west longitude This point is 390 miles east of Melbourne, Florida, and 300 miles northeast of Nassau in the Bahamas A few minutes before the flight arrived over this estimated position the crew noticed that the indicated right engine oil quantity had fallen from 32 gallons to 20 Immediately after this was observed, the left engine backfired and lost power. Application of carburetor heat and adjustment of fuel mixture and other engine controls were ineffectual, so the left propeller was feathered Captair Halsey then took over the flight controls from Copilot Holleran who had been piloting, and the aircraft was headed toward Nassau, the closest island with an adequate landing field He then sent a message at 2146 to the Overseas Foreign Aeronautics Communications Station (OFACS) at Miami, which was intercepted by the CAA Communications Station at San Juan, that the left propeller was feathered and the flight was proceeding toward Nassau Power settings for the right engine were increased to 2400 rpm and 30 in manifold pressure The cruising altitude of .6,500 feet was maintained for about five minutes During the transition to single-engine flight the air speed decreased from 178 to 140 miles per hour. Shortly before the left engine was feathered, a second C-46, N-1246N, operated by the same corporation, passed this flight flying in the opposite direction toward San Juan The crew in the second aircraft was contacted and requested to stand by This was done, and they were able to give assistance by maintaining communications with shore stations in the rescue operations which were to follow. Shortly after the 214,6 message that the left propeller was feathered, the crew in N-1248N observed that the indicated oil quantity for the right engine had fallen from 20 to 15 gallons At about the same time the crew also observed that the right engine was overheating with an indicated cylinder head temperature of nearly 300 degrees centigrade Because of this condition, Captain Halsey said that he began a voluntary descent to ditch before complete right engine failure occurred A message was sent at 2154, "Been losing altitude, at 1500" Six minutes later, at 2200, a second message was sent, "200 feet, losing altitude" And then a third, at 2203, "Just about in the drink". An attempt was made to hold altitude at 200 feet above the water until shore stations could obtain radio bearings According to the captain, the right engine speed decreased from 2400 to 2250 rpm and could not he increased Air speed was then reduced to between 100 and 110 miles per hour by retarding the right throttle, and the aircraft was ditched about 20 minutes after the malfunctioning of the left engine began The wing flaps and landing lights were not used. At the time, the weather was clear and the wind was from the southwest at approximately 10 miles per hour The moon had not risen, but the visibility was such that whitecaps could he seen. As soon as the aircraft came to rest in the water, the crew entered the cabin where they opened the main cabin door and the emergency exits The emergency exits were not opened prior to the ditching as prescribed in the company's Operation Manual Some of the passengers then climbed out onto the wings, and others jumped into the sea All seven of the 10-man life rafts were thrown overboard, five floated away in the darkness because their retaining ropes were not held, two were inflated The three crew members and 34 of the 62 passengers were able to swim to and board the two life rafts. The captain stated that he was the last person to leave the aircraft The crew did not take with them the emergency transmitter known as the "Gibson Girl" (which broadcasts on frequencies of 500 and 8280 kilocycles), and it went down with the aircraft The captain, however, saved a flashlight Much of the other emergency equipment on the two crowded life rafts was thrown overboard by the passengers. During the night five flares were fired at intervals but were not observed The second C-46, which had remained in the search area, reported at 2321, one hour and eighteen minutes after N-1248N had ditched, that they saw a blinking light on the water They requested Miami Communications to obtain a fix At 0018, about one hour after this fix was requested, the Federal Communications Commission reported a "fair" fix had been established on the second aircraft, the position being 28 degrees 10' north latitude and 75 degrees 12' west longitude The following morning a Coast Guard aircraft located the survivors, and shortly afterwards the USS Saufley, a U S Navy destroyer, drew alongside and rescued those in the two life rafts One survivor, who had clung to an uninflated raft during the night, was located, but was killed by sharks before he could be taken from the water The position of the rescue was 27 degrees 51' north latitude and 75 degrees 22' west longitude.

The crew was engaged in the simulation of an aerial attack over the Pacific Ocean. While flying at low height, the crew used the 20 mm cannon for a gunnery practice when several bullets ricoched on water and hit the engine nacelle. An emergency landing was completed about 200 miles southwest of Cape Flattery, Washington State. While all crew members were rescued, the aircraft was lost.

The aircraft left Amsterdam-Schiphol Airport at 0525LT on a cargo flight to London. Fourteen minutes later, it went out of control and dove into the North Sea, about 66 km west of the Dutch coast. All seven crew members were killed. According to the testimony of a Danish boat's captain, an engine was on fire when the aircraft came down.