Date & Time:
May 18, 1942
Type of aircraft:
Consolidated PBY Catalina
Operator:
Registration:
05018
Flight Phase:
Flight
Flight Type:
Training
Survivors:
No
Site:
Lake, Sea, Ocean, River
Schedule:
Pearl Harbour - Pearl Harbour
MSN:
0347
YOM:
1941
Country:
United States of America
Region:
North America
Crew on board:
10
Crew fatalities:
10
Pax on board:
0
Pax fatalities:
0
Other fatalities:
0
Total fatalities:
10
Circumstances:
While performing a training sortie, the seaplane went out of control and crashed into the sea off Pearl Harbor. All 10 crew members were killed.
Crew:
Lt Frank H. Henderson, pilot,
Lt Robert L. Conrad,
Acom Robert Osborn,
Amm1c Bennie R. Summerlin,
Amm1c Glenn A. Jamieson,
Amm2c Phillip M. Campbell,
Amm3c Raymond E. Fehr,
Amm3c Clarence A. Stausebach,
Arm3c John J. Altieri,
Aom Orlando R. Smith.
Crew:
Lt Frank H. Henderson, pilot,
Lt Robert L. Conrad,
Acom Robert Osborn,
Amm1c Bennie R. Summerlin,
Amm1c Glenn A. Jamieson,
Amm2c Phillip M. Campbell,
Amm3c Raymond E. Fehr,
Amm3c Clarence A. Stausebach,
Arm3c John J. Altieri,
Aom Orlando R. Smith.
Probable cause:
Eye witness accounts of the events leading up to the accident indicate that the plane first got into trouble at an altitude of approximately 2,500 feet. The accident was apparently caused by the pilot conducting the check. Lt Henderson, making radical settings on the control tabs, causing the plane to assume dangerous attitudes with violent maneuvers which might have partially incapacitated the pilots from maintaining proper control. The attitude assumed by the plane when the left wing fell and the nose went down and at the same time being thrown into a right skid could well have thrown the plane into an outside turn downward. The forces exerted by such a movement could well have thrown and pinned the pilots against the top of the cockpit in which position neither of them would have been able to contact the controls. This would allow the plane to fall freely in a vertical dive as it was observed to have done.
